Feast day of St Veronica

Saint Veronica derives from a late-medieval legend. She was supposedly a woman of Jerusalem; when Christ passed carrying the cross on his way to Golgotha, she wiped his face of sweat and blood with her veil (or a towel). His image stayed on the cloth, which became Vera-Icon (Latin: true image) and is still a relic at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. She thus became ‘St Veronica’, although her name may come from the Latin for veil, vernicula, suggesting that the story preceded the naming of her.

A variant of the name ‘Veronica’ is Berenice, who, by tradition, was the (Biblically unnamed) woman with a 12-year-long “issue of blood”, cured by Jesus at Capernaum (Mark 5:26). This traditional connection with Veronica no doubt came from the ill woman’s faith that by merely touching the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be cured. In medieval times it was noticed that the bright blue flowers of the plant speedwell supposedly resemble the face of Christ and thus are named Veronica spp. after her.

In bullfighting the most classic movement with the cape is called Veronica, as the cape is swung slowly before the face of the beast, like Veronica’s wiping of Christ’s face ...