Reflection at Stations and Benediction

April 4, 2025

Dr. Barbara Newman

The sixth station: “St. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.”

            If you’re struggling to remember which Gospel tells the story of this woman, fret no more: St. Veronica is completely apocryphal. But legends can be useful, and I have always found this one deeply moving. Tradition tells us that as Jesus stumbled along the Way of the Cross, his face covered with blood and sweat, a woman took pity and gave him her veil to wipe his brow. When he gave it back to her, the veil was miraculously imprinted with an image of his face. Preserved as a relic, that image is the ultimate source for countless icons of our Lord. It is said to have healed a Roman emperor’s leprosy and so converted him; others say it cures blindness. A relic purporting to be Veronica’s veil was displayed in Rome during the Middle Ages, and may or may not still be there. The name of Veronica herself derives from the Greek name Berenice, or more fancifully, from the Latin phrase vera icon, meaning “true image.”

            But enough apocryphal history. If St. Veronica never existed, why do we still celebrate this medieval legend? Why is she inserted in the Stations of the Cross? Let me suggest two reasons. First, have you ever wondered what Jesus looked like? Have you tried to imagine his face? But the Gospels tell us nothing. The whole Bible gives almost no physical descriptions of people, and Jesus is no exception. The evangelists simply didn’t care; they had more important things on their minds. But early Christians wanted his image so badly that they invented it, along with the figure of Veronica to explain it. St. Augustine wrote that countless imaginations pictured Jesus in countless ways, all of them certainly wrong—yet he viewed those images as harmless if they helped to focus the mind in prayer. For the face of Jesus is the universal face of mankind. We are used to seeing him with European features, but this Christmas we introduced a black Jesus in our crèche, and when the Christa sculpture of a naked womanChrist on the Cross was first displayed at St. John the Divine, it created a huge stir. We need infinite images of Jesus, for he is the image of the infinite God—and also the image of your neighbor, especially your most despised and rejected neighbor. For this reason, having just a single image of Jesus is idolatry. The disappearance of Veronica’s veil may be as providential as its miraculous creation.

            But there is another, more obvious reason this Station is important. We honor St. Veronica because she saw a man in agony and did what she could to help. She was powerless to stop the Crucifixion, just as we today may feel powerless before the cruelty of the regime. Yet she performed a simple act of kindness. The Romans drafted Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross, a much heavier burden, but Veronica stepped forth of her own accord. And what she did took courage—more courage than ten of his disciples could muster when they fled from the scene. Showing sympathy for a condemned prisoner, after all, risked unwelcome attention from the men who condemned him. For this kindness Veronica was rewarded with the image of Jesus, both on her veil and in her heart. Let me suggest that to this day, the face of Jesus is imprinted on every act of kindness we perform in his name, however small. I close with a Roman prayer that encapsulates the essence of this Station:

  Lord, grant us restless hearts, hearts which seek your face. Keep us from the blindness of heart which sees only the surface of things. Give us the simplicity and purity which allow us to recognize your presence in the world. When we are not able to accomplish great things, grant us the courage which is born of humility and goodness. Impress your face on our hearts. May we encounter you along the way and show your image to the world. Amen.