Veronica’s Veil

Is it not the Veil of Veronica in Manoppello, but the Holy Face (the small burial shroud)?

By Roberto de Mattei*

Simon of Cyrene and Veronica are two figures that the tradition of the Church have placed close to the hearts of the faithful because they participate in the Passion of Our Lord during the Way of the Cross.

Of Simon, the Gospel says: "And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross" (Mk 15:21).

Simon of Cyrene, a city in North African Libya where there was a flourishing Jewish community at the time, happened to be passing by and was forced to carry the cross because Jesus no longer had the strength, and the Jews wanted him to go all the way to Golgotha to have him crucified there. The compulsion to which Simon was subjected became an extraordinary privilege for him. It is therefore permissible to imagine that divine providence chose him because his soul was seized with deep compassion in the face of the shameful spectacle.

Veronica, on the other hand, acted on her own initiative, out of that impulse that often makes women more generous and self-sacrificing than men. The reward for her was extraordinary. According to tradition, the image of the Holy Face of Jesus was imprinted on the linen cloth that she had offered the Savior to wipe the blood and sweat from his face.

Little is known about both, but the fact that Mark's Gospel (15:21) mentions Simon's sons suggests that his family may have played an active role in the early Church, and that the Rufus mentioned by Mark is the same one Paul mentions in the Letter to the Romans when he says: "Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well" (Rom 16:13).

Veronica does not appear in the canonical Gospels, but unlike Simon, she is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, which makes her an undisputed historical figure who, thanks to her veil, which has become one of the most precious relics of Christianity, holds great significance in ecclesiastical veneration.

The Veil of Veronica has been kept in St. Peter's Basilica since at least the beginning of the 8th century, when Pope John VII had a special chapel built in St. Peter's dedicated to the relic, which, like many others, may have come from Constantinople. The recognition of its authenticity is also evident in the fact that Pope Innocent III, in the 13th century, approved its public display, and from then on, it was shown to pilgrims from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on special occasions, attracting a large influx of faithful. This is attested to by Dante Alighieri, who, in a famous passage of the Divine Comedy, compares himself to one of the many pilgrims who came "perhaps from Croatia" to venerate the icon of the Face of Christ in the first Holy Year in the Church's history in 1300:

Like one who perhaps comes from Croatia

to see our Veronica,

who cannot be sated with his ancient longing,

but says in his thought while he gazes:

"My Lord Jesus Christ, true God,

was then your face like this?"

Paradise, XXXI, 103–108

An expression of this veneration is also the large statue of Veronica by the sculptor Francesco Mocchi from 1640, located in a niche of the four pillars of St. Peter's Basilica.

The Jesuit Heinrich Pfeiffer (1939–1921), professor of art history at the Pontifical Gregorian University, argues in his book Il Volto Santo di Manoppello ("The Holy Face of Manoppello," Carsa Edizioni, Pescara 2000) that the precious relic, which was kept in St. Peter's Basilica for centuries, was allegedly stolen and secretly brought to the small Abruzzese town of Manoppello between 1608 and 1618.

Veronika Maria Seifert, lecturer in Church history at the Sant’Apollinare Higher Institute of Religious Sciences, concludes in her meticulously researched book Il sudario della Veronica e il Volto Santo. Storia e devozione ("The Sudarium of Veronica and the Holy Face. History and Devotion," Velar, Bergamo 2024) that the relic removed from St. Peter's Basilica in the 17th century was not the Veil of Veronica, but the Holy Face, that is, the small burial shroud that John saw in the empty tomb (Jn 20:7). The Mother of God, the apostles, and the disciples had carefully collected all the objects that had come into contact with Jesus, explains the author of this study, and the two relics, which were kept in the Church from generation to generation, both came to Rome. The Veil of Veronica is still in the Vatican, while the Holy Face was brought to the Capuchin monastery of Manoppello in the 17th century. There are unfathomable points of contact between the two relics, but also profound differences: from the closed or open eyes to the more or less recognizable "image" imprinted on the cloth.

St. Peter's Basilica has claimed possession of the Veil of Veronica since the Early Middle Ages and last publicly displayed it on April 6, 2025, as on every fifth Sunday of Lent, from the Veronica Loggia. The holy relics considered "Acheiropoieta," that is, images not painted by human hands that show the faithful the image of the suffering, dead, and risen Christ, are therefore three: the Veil of Veronica, the Holy Face of Manoppello, and the Shroud of Turin.

Regardless of the number of these relics and the place where they are kept, the Holy Face of Jesus has always been deeply venerated. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face was an ardent devotee. She contemplated with immense love the Face of Jesus, which, despite the traces of all the wounds, blows, and humiliations suffered, expressed an impressive mercy, gentleness, and noble features.

The Church is the mystical body of Christ and stands before us like Christ before Veronica. In the Holy Face that Veronica has transmitted to us, we contemplate today the sufferings of the Church, which suffers on its Good Friday but preserves the extraordinary dignity that made the Face of Christ shine in his suffering. The saints of all centuries have wept over the suffering of Christ. May the Mother of God at least moisten our eyes and stir our hardened hearts, uniting us closely with her redeeming compassion during the Holy Triduum.

*Roberto de Mattei, historian, father of five children, professor of Modern History and History of Christianity at the European University of Rome, president of the Lepanto Foundation, author of numerous books, most recently in German translation: Verteidigung der Tradition: Die unüberwindliche Wahrheit Christi, with a foreword by Martin Mosebach, Altötting 2017, and Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil. Eine bislang ungeschriebene Geschichte, 2nd expanded edition, Bobingen 2011.

Books by Prof. Roberto de Mattei in German translation and the books by Martin Mosebach can be obtained from our partner bookstore.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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