As beautiful a story as the one of Saint Veronica is, we don't know anything about her. Unfortunately the account of her encounter with the Lord on His way to Calvary does not appear in the New Testament or in the oldest records of the saints, and so nothing about her can be documented.
.
However, in apocryphal writings there is mentioned made of a woman who, witnessing the passion of Our Lord, stepped forward and wiped the blood and sweat from his face with a cloth towel. The image of Our Lord's tortured face remained on the cloth. Since her name was unknown, she was called Veronica for the reason given above by the early Christians.
Saint Veronica is venerated as a person who wiped Jesus' face with her veil. The story begins with Luke 23:27-31, which tells us that certain women lamented as Jesus carried his cross to Golgotha. At this stage, there is no mention of Veronica or of her wiping Jesus' face.
An early medieval story expanded on Luke's brief passage, saying that one of these women offered a cloth to wipe the face of Jesus which then resulted in a portrait on the cloth (a reproduction of which is now kept as a relic in Saint Peter's basilica in Rome). Her name was given as Veronica (vera + ikon = "true image"), and she now has a place in the popular exercise of the Stations of the Cross.
It seems unlikely that the medieval authors, well known for their pious creativity, could have known something that the author of Luke did not know. It is even more unlikely that the woman's name happened to coincide with what she was famous for in this story - wiping Jesus' face and receiving a true image of his face. We can say with some certainty that St. Veronica never lived, but she remains important in Catholic liturgy
People in the first century rarely moved far from their place of birth. An article in www.catholic.org refers to Veronica as a woman of Jerusalem, and so we should assume that she was born in Jerusalem. This article goes on to say, "Unfortunately, there is no historical evidence or scriptural reference to this event, but the legend of Veronica became one of the most popular in Christian lore and the veil one of the beloved relics in the Church."
The story begins with Luke 23:27-31, which tells us that certain women lamented as Jesus carried his cross to Golgotha. At this stage, there is no mention of Veronica or of her wiping Jesus' face. An early medieval story expanded on Luke's brief passage, saying that one of these women used her veil to wipe the face of Jesus which then resulted in a portrait on the cloth (a reproduction of which is now kept as a relic in Saint Peter's basilica in Rome). Her name was given as Veronica (vera + ikon = "true image")
It seems unlikely that the medieval authors, well known for their pious creativity, could have known something that the author of Luke did not know. It is even more unlikely that the woman's name happened to coincide with what she was famous for in this story - wiping Jesus' face and receiving a true image of his face. We can say with some certainty that St. Veronica never lived and was therefore never born in Jerusalem.
www.catholic.org says she came from Jerusalem.
We do not even know the real name of Veronica, much less when she was born or died.
St. Veronica's Church - Manhattan - was created in 1887.
There is no record of when St.Veronica was born. (TRUE FACT!)
The purported veil of Veronica is preserved in St. Peter's Basilica.
Veronica witnessed the imprint of the face of Christ on her veil.
Veronica Gedeon was born in 1917.
Veronica Perez was born in 1987.
Veronica Franco was born in 1546.
Veronica Sutherland was born in 1939.
Veronica Giuliani was born in 1660.
Veronica Pershina was born in 1966.
Veronica Buckley was born in 1956.