NAVIGATION

The ‘Veil of Veronica’ was the most famous relic in Rome preserved in St Peter’s in the Vatican since the 8th century. Writing in the late 16th century the French man of letters, Michel de Montaigne claimed that ‘No other relic has such veneration paid to it. The people throw themselves down before it upon their faces, most of them with tears in their eyes and with lamentations and tears of compassion.’
Christians in medieval Europe would have been confident that they knew what Christ looked like as the image of his face was miraculously imprinted on the ‘vernicle’ or ‘sudarium’, the linen cloth used by Saint Veronica to wipe the Saviour’s face. Gerard of Wales and others held that her name really means ‘vera icon’, ‘true image’, and it seems likely that the legend of Saint Veronica was embellished to explain the relic which had become a focus in the late Middle Ages of increased concern with the humanity of Christ, especially the Holy Face and the physical elements of his Passion.