There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Saint Veronica is known as the woman who offered a cloth to Jesus so He could wipe His face on the way to His crucifixion. The cloth is believed to exist today in the Vatican and is considered one of the most treasured relics of the Church.
Most prominent among them were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, and Susanna. There were many others, and we can't underestimate what these unnamed women did for Jesus' ministry.
Key Scripture
“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.
Jesus states this directly in the Gospel of Matthew, where he pronounces that our Final Judgment will be based on whether we saw the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned, and the naked and acted with compassion. It is this compassion that Veronica is compelled by when she moves to wipe Jesus' face.
According to legend, Veronica wiped the sweat from Christ's brow with her veil as he carried the cross to Calvary and, miraculously, an image of Christ's face became emblazoned on the cloth.
Those devoted to the Manoppello veil claim it to be the true relic of Veronica's veil. It is believed that the relic was secreted away from Rome after it was sacked in 1527, on the orders of Pope Clement VII. The veil made its way to the small town in Abruzzo, Italy, where it has remained for the last nearly 500 years.
Veronica was born in early BC, and died in the first century. She was the woman of Jerusalem who wiped the face of Jesus with a veil while He was on the way to Calvary. According to tradition, the cloth was imprinted with the image of Christ's face.
According to Marie of St Peter, in her visions, Jesus told her that he desired devotion to His Holy Face in reparation for sacrilege and blasphemy.
The story of Veronica is not found in scripture, but it is a very popular encounter in Catholic tradition. Veronica was a woman who was watching with the crowds along the path Jesus walked to Calvary. As He approached her, Veronica looked at Jesus with compassion and wiped the blood and sweat from His face.
This article argues that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and the sinful woman in Luke 7 should be identified as one and the same, as long held by Christian tradition but recently challenged. Comparison of the four Gospel narratives of Christ's anointing reveals numerous details supporting this identification.
From the beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means (Luke 8:1-3). He spoke to women both in public and private, and indeed he learned from them.
Mary Magdalene's life after the Gospel accounts. According to Eastern tradition, she accompanied St. John the Apostle to Ephesus, where she died and was buried. French tradition spuriously claims that she evangelized Provence (southeastern France) and spent her last 30 years in an Alpine cavern.
After the death of Jesus, Joseph asked Pilate for permission to take Jesus' body and bury it properly. Permission was granted and the body was taken down. Joseph, helped by Nicodemus, wrapped the body in cloth with the addition of myrrh and aloes.
Mark 15: 21
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Peter's Basilica. There is an image kept in St. Peter's Basilica purported to be Veronica's veil. This image is stored in the chapel that lies behind the balcony in the southwest pier supporting the dome.
In her 2018 book What Did Jesus Look Like?, Taylor used archaeological remains, historical texts and ancient Egyptian funerary art to conclude that, like most people in Judea and Egypt around the time, Jesus most likely had brown eyes, dark brown to black hair and olive-brown skin. He may have stood about 5-ft.-5-in.
We do not know if Veronica was a follower of Jesus before the day he was crucified or if she became a Christian because she was a witness to Jesus' suffering. We do know that Veronica responded to Christ on that first Good Friday by reaching out to comfort him. The Church honors Veronica as a saint.
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
Mary of Clopas is explicitly mentioned only in John 19:25, where she is among the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus: Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Saint Veronica is known for having served Christ on his way to Calvary and his image appeared on her cloth. We are reminded to treat people with utmost respect and kindness because as we do for others we do for Him!
St. Veronica shows us that Christianity isn't just a belief system, but a way of life. Her one gesture encapsulated the simultaneous call to faith and action, and it also taught me that every gesture, no matter how small or large, matters.
St. Veronica, (flourished 1st century ce, Jerusalem; feast day July 12), renowned legendary woman who, moved by the sight of Christ carrying his cross to Golgotha, gave him her kerchief to wipe his brow, after which he handed it back imprinted with the image of his face.