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Veil of Veronica
The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle, the Veronica and the Holy Face, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by miraculous means (an acheiropoieton). Various existing images have been claimed to be the original relic or an early copy of it; representations of it are also known as vernicles.
The story of the image's origin is related to the sixth Station of the Cross, wherein Saint Veronica, encountering Jesus along the Via Dolorosa to Calvary, wipes the blood and sweat from his face with her veil. According to some versions, St. Veronica later traveled to Rome to present the cloth to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The veil has been said to quench thirst, cure blindness, and even raise the dead.
The first written account of the story is from the Middle Ages, and during the 14th century, the veil became a central icon in the Western Church. In the words of art historian Neil Macgregor, "From [the 14th Century] on, wherever the Roman Church went, the Veronica would go with it." The act of Saint Veronica wiping the face of Jesus with her veil is celebrated in the sixth Station of the Cross in many Anglican and Catholic churches.
There is no reference to the story of Veronica and her veil in the canonical Gospels. The closest written reference is the miracle of Jesus healing the bleeding woman by touching the hem of Jesus' garment; her name is later identified as Veronica by the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate". The story was later elaborated in the 11th century by adding that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured Tiberius. The linking of this with the bearing of the cross in the Passion, and the miraculous appearance of the image, was made by Roger d'Argenteuil's Bible in French in the 13th century, and gained further popularity following the internationally popular work Meditations on the Life of Christ of about 1300. It is also at this point that other depictions of the image change to include a crown of thorns, blood, and the expression of a man in pain, and the image became very common throughout Catholic Europe, forming part of the Arma Christi, and with the meeting of Jesus and Veronica becoming one of the Stations of the Cross.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name Veronica is a colloquial portmanteau of Latin vera 'truth' and Greek eikon 'image'. The encyclopedia suggests that a description of the relic as "vera icon" over time developed into a name for the relic and was mistaken as the name of a person associated with it. Subsequently various legends about Veronica developed in different regions.
That there was a physical image venerated as the Veil of Veronica and displayed in Rome from the 14th century on is clear, but the provenance of this image is uncertain.
It has often been assumed that the Veil of Veronica was present in the Old St Peter's in the papacy of Pope John VII (705–708), since a chapel known as the Veronica chapel was built during his reign. In 1011 a scribe was identified as the keeper of the cloth, indicating that the Veil was there.
Firm records of the Veil begin only in 1199, when two pilgrims, Gerald de Barri (Giraldus Cambrensis) and Gervase of Tilbury, made two accounts at different times of a visit to Rome, making direct reference to the existence of the Veil of Veronica. Shortly after that, in 1207, the cloth became more prominent when it was publicly paraded and displayed by Pope Innocent III, who also granted indulgences to anyone praying before it. This procession, between St Peter's and the Santo Spirito Hospital, became an annual event and on one such occasion in 1300 Pope Boniface VIII, who had it translated to St. Peter's in 1297, was inspired to proclaim the first Jubilee in 1300. During this Jubilee the Veronica was publicly displayed and became one of the "Mirabilia Urbis" ("Wonders of the City") for the pilgrims who visited Rome. For the next two hundred years, the Veil, retained at Old St Peter's, was regarded as the most precious of all Christian relics; there Pedro Tafur, a Spanish visitor in 1436, noted:
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Veil of Veronica AI simulator
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Veil of Veronica
The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle, the Veronica and the Holy Face, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by miraculous means (an acheiropoieton). Various existing images have been claimed to be the original relic or an early copy of it; representations of it are also known as vernicles.
The story of the image's origin is related to the sixth Station of the Cross, wherein Saint Veronica, encountering Jesus along the Via Dolorosa to Calvary, wipes the blood and sweat from his face with her veil. According to some versions, St. Veronica later traveled to Rome to present the cloth to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The veil has been said to quench thirst, cure blindness, and even raise the dead.
The first written account of the story is from the Middle Ages, and during the 14th century, the veil became a central icon in the Western Church. In the words of art historian Neil Macgregor, "From [the 14th Century] on, wherever the Roman Church went, the Veronica would go with it." The act of Saint Veronica wiping the face of Jesus with her veil is celebrated in the sixth Station of the Cross in many Anglican and Catholic churches.
There is no reference to the story of Veronica and her veil in the canonical Gospels. The closest written reference is the miracle of Jesus healing the bleeding woman by touching the hem of Jesus' garment; her name is later identified as Veronica by the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate". The story was later elaborated in the 11th century by adding that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured Tiberius. The linking of this with the bearing of the cross in the Passion, and the miraculous appearance of the image, was made by Roger d'Argenteuil's Bible in French in the 13th century, and gained further popularity following the internationally popular work Meditations on the Life of Christ of about 1300. It is also at this point that other depictions of the image change to include a crown of thorns, blood, and the expression of a man in pain, and the image became very common throughout Catholic Europe, forming part of the Arma Christi, and with the meeting of Jesus and Veronica becoming one of the Stations of the Cross.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name Veronica is a colloquial portmanteau of Latin vera 'truth' and Greek eikon 'image'. The encyclopedia suggests that a description of the relic as "vera icon" over time developed into a name for the relic and was mistaken as the name of a person associated with it. Subsequently various legends about Veronica developed in different regions.
That there was a physical image venerated as the Veil of Veronica and displayed in Rome from the 14th century on is clear, but the provenance of this image is uncertain.
It has often been assumed that the Veil of Veronica was present in the Old St Peter's in the papacy of Pope John VII (705–708), since a chapel known as the Veronica chapel was built during his reign. In 1011 a scribe was identified as the keeper of the cloth, indicating that the Veil was there.
Firm records of the Veil begin only in 1199, when two pilgrims, Gerald de Barri (Giraldus Cambrensis) and Gervase of Tilbury, made two accounts at different times of a visit to Rome, making direct reference to the existence of the Veil of Veronica. Shortly after that, in 1207, the cloth became more prominent when it was publicly paraded and displayed by Pope Innocent III, who also granted indulgences to anyone praying before it. This procession, between St Peter's and the Santo Spirito Hospital, became an annual event and on one such occasion in 1300 Pope Boniface VIII, who had it translated to St. Peter's in 1297, was inspired to proclaim the first Jubilee in 1300. During this Jubilee the Veronica was publicly displayed and became one of the "Mirabilia Urbis" ("Wonders of the City") for the pilgrims who visited Rome. For the next two hundred years, the Veil, retained at Old St Peter's, was regarded as the most precious of all Christian relics; there Pedro Tafur, a Spanish visitor in 1436, noted: