Legendary pious woman who, according to
Jacobus de Voragine’s
The Golden Legend, was a devoted follower of
Christ who wanted a painting of him as a
keepsake.
Veronica, by chance, met
Jesus on his way to
Calvary. She pressed the cloth against his face and miraculously imprinted his image upon it. In the 13th century a new version of this story appeared, supplanting the earlier one: during the climb up to Calvary Jesus stumbled under the weight of his
cross, Veronica stepped forward from the
crowd and mopped his brow and later found the
imprint of his face on the
cloth.
A cloth, known as the sudarium, vernicle or volta santo, bearing the image of Christ’s face, has been one of the most precious relics preserved in St. Peter’s in Rome since the 8th century. Considered a true likeness of Christ’s face, it has been suggested that perhaps the legends of Veronica developed to explain the relic.