The mystery of Veronica's veil

The Lenten pilgrimage to the sacred places of Rome has continued these days. Since the third century, this ancient custom has gathered pilgrims to the churches that house relics of saints and martyrs. And how much more the relics of the Lord Jesus.

On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Basilica to participate in a Lenten Mass. exposition of the Holy Face, in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, including the Eucharistic celebration. The veil of Veronica, said the cardinal, “invites us to direct our gaze to Golgotha, where the crucified Christ will manifest his glory”.

According to tradition, because the fact does not appear in any of the four Gospels, but in an apocryphal Gospel, known as the Gospel of Nicodemus, a pious woman wiped the face of the Lord on the ascent to Calvary. 

The Lord left his face imprinted in the veil

Moved by the pains of Christ on his way to Golgotha, Veronica came to wipe away the sweat and blood that covered his face. According to tradition, she used the veil of her head for this purpose, on which was ‘imprinted’ with blood the face of Jesus, the Holy Face, a fact that Dante evokes in canto XXXI of Paradise, for example.

Perhaps St. Luke could have recorded the fact in his Gospel, because after referring expressly to Simon of Cyrene, the evangelist records that “a great multitude of the people and of the women followed him, weeping and wailing for him” (Lk, 23:27). However, Luke does not mention any woman in particular.

At the sixth Station of the Cross

This fact, the Holy Face of the Lord imprinted on the veil of the Veronica, is reflected in the sixth station of the Way of the Cross, whose Roman celebration at the Colosseum will be followed by Pope Leo XIV this Good Friday. Last year, Pope Francis did not physically attend the Stations of the Cross due to his serious health condition, which would lead to his death three days later, on Easter Monday, April 21.

Even so, Pope Francis had written meditations, which were read during the ceremony. And at the Sixth Station, ‘Veronica wipes the face of Jesus’, two Scripture texts were quoted. That of the Transfiguration (“while he was praying, his face was changed and his garments became dazzlingly white”). And the well-known expression of the Psalm 26, 8 (Vulgate), “Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram” (I will seek, Lord, your face).

This is the main reason for the centuries-long pursuit and search for the veil of Veronica: the face of the Lord. A Face object of extreme attention and analysis in literature (Paul Claudel, Dante, etc.), and certainly in theology and theology. spirituality.

Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) maintains in ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ that the “face of Christ” is the visible manifestation of the invisible God, and that contemplating it is the path to the knowledge of God. He also points out that “the true face of Jesus is revealed in his self-giving even to the cross”, and also refers to Psalm 26 (or 27), and the search for the face of Jesus.

Follow-up, Manopello... 

What happened to Veronica's veil?

After the Passion of the Lord, according to tradition, the Veronica went to Rome carrying with her the veil with the ‘Holy Face’. This veil would have been exposed for public veneration, and was permeating the faith of the people, until it was embodied, as we say, in the sixth Station of the Stations of the Cross.

The veil of Veronica has attracted numerous pilgrims to Rome. It seems to have been moved over the centuries and had been lost track of. However, in 1999, the German Jesuit Heinnrich Pfeiffer, professor of Art History at the Gregorian University (who died in 2001), announced that he had found it. The place was the Sanctuary of the Capuchin Friars Minor at Manoppello (Italy). Pope Benedict XVI visited this sanctuary in 2006.

The fact is that on the last Sunday of Lent the ancient rite of the “Volto Santo” was repeated in St. Peter's Basilica, with the exposition of the Veil of Veronica. Was it that of Manoppello? The mystery continues, although the devotion of the people is still there.

In addition to the information reported in Vatican News, the religious priest and journalist Fernando Cordero Morales ss.cc., has picked it up on his X account (@FernandoCorder7), with a short video.