The details of the story may surprise you. In what ways do you resemble her?
Join our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as He traveled along the Way of the Cross on His brutal, bloody, and sacrificial journey to our Redemption on Calvary and be there at the moment that the Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus began.
The following is an account of the moment Veronica approached Jesus with tremendous compassion in a very threatening situation and placed the needs of another above her own. With great love and courage, she offered our Lord her veil so He could wipe His Sacred Face.
This is a retelling of what happened, not the verbatim account provided in a vision to the mystic Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich and shared in The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, Volume Four (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 2004), pp. 252-255.
This is a retelling of what happened, not the verbatim account provided in a vision to the mystic Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich and shared in The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, Volume Four (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 2004), pp. 252-255.
Did you know that Veronica is not the woman's actual name? Did you know that she had one other thing for Jesus when she made her way through the mob that day? Read on.
Simon had helped Jesus carry the Cross about two hundred paces
when a tall, elegant woman came out of a house on the left side of the street. She was seen by Venerable Ann Katherine
Emmerich as a beautiful, majestic woman who seemed to be over fifty years
old. She had already rushed out once before with her nine year old adopted daughter to meet the procession, at the moment when Jesus met His Blessed Mother.
Because of the
ensuing disturbance when Mother and Son met, the woman was unable to carry out her act of compassion. So she returned with her little girl to
the house and waited for an opportune moment to approach Jesus. When that moment arrived, she rushed forward to meet the procession, holding her daughter by the hand.
Today that woman is known as Veronica, but her actual name is Seraphia.
Her intention was to meet up with Jesus along the Way of
Sacrificial Love and refresh our suffering Lord with some costly spiced wine.
As Jesus and the procession drew near, she journeyed into
the street. She was wearing a veil, and a linen cloth hung over her shoulder.
That cloth was a strip of fine wool roughly three times as long as it was wide. By custom it was worn around the neck; sometimes another one was thrown over the shoulder.
That cloth was customarily presented to wipe the face of another person when meeting one who was sorrowful, crying, miserable, sick, or tired, and it was an expression of mourning and sympathy.
That cloth was a strip of fine wool roughly three times as long as it was wide. By custom it was worn around the neck; sometimes another one was thrown over the shoulder.
That cloth was customarily presented to wipe the face of another person when meeting one who was sorrowful, crying, miserable, sick, or tired, and it was an expression of mourning and sympathy.
The little girl
made her way to Jesus while carrying the wine in a mug hidden underneath her mantle.
The people at the head of the procession tried to keep them back, but driven by love and compassion for our Lord, Seraphia and her daughter pressed through the mob at the side of the procession, which included soldiers and executioners.
The people at the head of the procession tried to keep them back, but driven by love and compassion for our Lord, Seraphia and her daughter pressed through the mob at the side of the procession, which included soldiers and executioners.
Just imagine that dramatic moment.When she arrived before Jesus, she fell on her knees, held up the opened linen cloth, and said, “Permit me to wipe the face of my Lord!”
Jesus took the cloth with His left hand and pressed it
against His bloody and beaten face using His palm. Then, He passed it toward His right Hand
which was holding the arm of the Cross.
He pressed the cloth between both of His Palms before handing it back to her
with gratitude.
Seraphia kissed the cloth and hid
it underneath her mantle, pressing it to her heart. Then she stood up.
The little girl courageously held up the mug of wine, but the brutal enemies of Jesus would not permit her to refresh Jesus with it.
The compassionate and courageous act by Seraphia and her daughter stopped the procession
for about two minutes. This delay, along
with the public display honoring our Lord, enraged the executioners and the
Pharisees and they began to beat and pull Jesus.
Seraphia and her daughter retreated and took refuge in their home. She put the veil on a table just after arriving at her house and sank down unconscious. Her daughter knelt by her, still holding the mug of wine. A friend of the family found Seraphia in that state, looked at the cloth and saw "the bloody face of Jesus frightfully, but with wonderful distinctness, impressed. It looked like the face of a corpse.” 1
This friend roused Seraphia and showed her the Lord’s image
on the cloth, which filled her with both grief and consolation. She fell on her knees and before it and
exclaimed, “Now will I leave all, for the Lord has given to me a memento!” 1
Seraphia kept the cloth and hung it at the head of her
bed. After she died, the holy women gave
it to the Mother of God, and finally it came to be possessed by the Church
through the Apostles. The veil is now kept in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy.
Seraphia had married later in life. It is interesting to note that her husband,
Sirach, was a member of the Council belonging to the Temple and at first
he was much opposed to Jesus.
Seraphia's husband mistreated her because of her friendship with Jesus and the holy women. More than once he confined her for long periods of time in a prison cell.
Seraphia's husband mistreated her because of her friendship with Jesus and the holy women. More than once he confined her for long periods of time in a prison cell.
He was eventually converted by Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus, became more lenient toward his wife, and eventually she was free to follow Jesus without being persecuted by him.
Also worth noting is the
fact that when Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph (on what we now celebrate
as Palm Sunday) she and her daughter were among the other women.
At that time, she took the veil on her head and spread it joyfully and with reverence in the Lord’s path. That was the same veil she subsequently presented to Jesus so He could wipe His Sacred Face along the Way of the Cross, which was described as a “victorious and triumphant procession,” and the same veil that gave Seraphia the “new and triumphant name” of Veronica, meaning true (vera) and picture, or image (icon). 2
At that time, she took the veil on her head and spread it joyfully and with reverence in the Lord’s path. That was the same veil she subsequently presented to Jesus so He could wipe His Sacred Face along the Way of the Cross, which was described as a “victorious and triumphant procession,” and the same veil that gave Seraphia the “new and triumphant name” of Veronica, meaning true (vera) and picture, or image (icon). 2
More information on the history of the Devotion to the Holy Face
and the Act of Reparation so necessary in our time is coming soon!
The great Feast of the Holy Face is on February 12th!
The novena begins on February 3rd.
To learn more, please visit:
Feast of the Holy Face of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
The great Feast of the Holy Face is on February 12th!
The novena begins on February 3rd.
To learn more, please visit:
Feast of the Holy Face of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
______________________
Sources
1. Anne
Catherine Emmerich, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, from the
Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, as Recorded in the Journals
of Clemens Brentano. Arranged and Edited
by the Very Reverend Carl E. Schmoger, C.SS.R, Volume Four (Rockford, IL: Tan Books
and Publishers, Inc. , 2004), p. 253.
2. Anne
Catherine Emmerich, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, from the
Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, as Recorded in the Journals
of Clemens Brentano. Arranged and Edited
by the Very Reverend Carl E. Schmoger, C.SS.R, Volume Four (Rockford, IL: Tan Books
and Publishers, Inc. , 2004), p. 255.
Inside images taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A., in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Outside images taken at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township, Michigan, U.S.A.
Love Him and honor Him, all the days of your life.
