In their hearts, every saint aspires to be an image of God to people. Saints hope that when people see their good deeds, they might worship the God who is their source: ‘Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’ (Matt 5:16). In most cases, the image is an imperfect one: even a St Peter is sometimes a coward; a St Paul, a man with a chequered past.
For one saint, however, being a true image of God as well as receiving a true image of God is the essence of her sainthood. That saint is Veronica, whose name itself may be a synthesis of two ancient words, ‘vera’ and ‘eikon’, which together meant ‘true image’.
Veronica is, famously, a woman represented in the Stations of the Cross decorating the walls of every Catholic church. Originally just seven, then later elaborated to 14, the stations have always included the incident about Veronica, although Pope John Paul II introduced a variation known as the Scriptural Stations of the Cross, which omits her.
In the sixth station of the traditional sequence, Veronica is depicted wiping sweat and blood from the face of Jesus – and being rewarded by a perfect image of his face on the cloth which she had used.
PROOF OF EXISTENCE
The incident is not mentioned in the New Testament, and on this rather flimsy foundation, sceptics have asserted that Veronica never existed, and the idea of her arose by accident, linked to an early desire by pious Christians to know exactly what the Saviour looked like – his ‘vera–eikon’.
It is always a silly thing to judge the veracity of a Christian legend merely by whether or not the event is mentioned in the New Testament. After all, written record of St Peter’s life journey evaporates midway through The Book of Acts, and yet tradition makes sturdy assertions that he travelled to Rome, became the first of what our heritage came to call ‘popes’, was crucified upside-down and buried in a tomb directly beneath what was later built over the top, namely the high altar of, yes, St Peter’s Basilica.
After 2000 years of this Petrine legend, during World War II, that tomb was discovered, and the bones of a man his age, with feet bones missing (as if he had been urgently cut from a cross to which the ankles were firmly nailed to take the weight of a body hanging beneath them) were found secreted close by.
Not that archaeology could ever prove the tale of Veronica in the same way. But then, in her case, no further proof of her saintly example is needed beyond the story itself.
Consider: Jesus is made to carry his own cross to Golgotha (John 19:17), briefly assisted by a man whom scripture does identify, Simon of Cyrene – who reluctantly is made to help the Saviour (Matt 27:32; also, in Mark and Luke). A group of female sympathisers weep alongside the torturous path, whom Jesus advises to ‘ . . . weep rather for yourselves. . .’ (Luke 23:28). So far, everything fits a familiar pattern: men are reluctant to be associated with Jesus at his hour of crisis; women endure with him.
WOMEN OF FAITH AND BRAVERY
And what women! Women whose faith is proven by their public fidelity to an alleged criminal; women who recognised the Lord; who thirsted after justice; whose very tears bear witness to their purity of heart.
Then, impulsively, kindly, compassionately, charitably, one of them hurries forward and relieves the agonised features of the prisoner. Thus, does she represent everything Jesus sought in a saint. We call her Veronica.
Peter Fleming is a writer and teacher. He doesn’t own a mobile phone and thinks ‘facebook’ is something you should do after taken one off the shelf to read.
ST VERONICA
First century
Feast day: 12 July
Patronage: Images, laundry workers, pictures, photos, photographers