One of St. Francis’s original stations of the cross was when St. Veronica let Jesus wipe off his bloody face on her veil. Some of you have already heard this story, or bits of it.
And others of you are going, “Where’s that found in the bible?” Well, it’s not found in the bible at all. It comes from Christian tradition. It’s a really old tradition, and a really popular story. So popular, it’s still in the traditional stations of the cross. And while I’m trying to discuss the biblical stations of the cross, I feel I still need to give a mention to St. Veronica… ’cause a number of Christians aren’t entirely aware this story’s not in the bible. Some of ’em even remember seeing it in a bible somewhere. But that’s a false memory. It’s really not there. I’m not kidding.
As for whether St. Veronica herself is in the bible… she actually is. She’s traditionally identified as the woman in this story:
Mark 5.25-34 KWL - 25 For 12 years, a woman had a bloodflow, 26 and had suffered greatly under many witch-doctors,
- spending everything she had, and never improving. Instead she was much worse.
- 27 Hearing of Jesus, joining the crowd behind him, she grabbed his robe,
- 28 saying this: “When I grab him—even his robe—I’ll be cured.”
- 29 Instantly her bloodflow dried up, and she knew her body was cured of its suffering.
- 30 And instantly Jesus recognized power had gone out from him.
- Turning round to the crowd, he said, “Who grabbed my robe?”
- 31 His students told him, “You see this crowd swarming you, and you say, ‘Who touched me’?”
- 32 Jesus was looking round to see who’d done it,
- 33 and the woman, in fear and trembling, knowing what was done to her,
- came and fell down before Jesus, and told him the whole truth.
- 34 Jesus told her, “Daughter, your faith saved you.
- Go in peace. Be free from your suffering.”
Christian tradition named this woman Vereníki/“victory-bearer,” which in English becomes Bernice, but in Latin becomes Veronica.