The Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Part 3.

In the year 610, during the Pontificate of Boniface IV., the Holy Face was venerated in the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs, commonly called the Rotunda, by reason of its round form. This was the old Pantheon, built by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, and later dedicated to all the Olympic deities. In the year of our Lord 608, Boniface IV., wishing to purify this temple, and to dedicate it to the Mother of God, went into the catacombs, and brought forth from their subterranean habitations a legion of Christian heroes, and sent them in twenty-eight magnificently decorated carriages, amidst the acclamations of all Rome, into the sanctuary of vanquished Paganism. The new church got the name of St. Mary of the Martyrs. Two centuries later, in 830, Gregory IV. consecrated it again to All the Saints, and commanded that, in memory of this consecration, there should be celebrated every year, and on the 1st November, in the entire Catholic world, the Feast of All Saints.

He wished to give St. Mary of the Martyrs the charge of the holy relic, being a place well fortified and very safe, and being likewise situated almost in the centre of the city, and at the same time sufficiently large to accommodate the multitudes of people who would go there to offer their adoration to our Saviour.

They have, even in our time, in this church, the case or shrine where the Holy Face was preserved. The urn which contained this case is placed in pieces on the table of the altar of the holy crucifix, with the following inscription: "Arca in qua sacrum sudarium, olim a diva Veronica delatum Romam ex Palestina, hac in Basilica, annis centum enituit"—" The case in which the Holy Towel brought from Palestine by Blessed Veronica, was kept with honour in this Basilica for a hundred years." This case or shrine had ten locks, the keys of which were entrusted to the care of the chiefs of the ten old Rioni, or Roman regions, so that' the holy Relic was committed to the care of the entire city, and its case could only be opened before its united representatives.

The holy Relic was exposed to the veneration of the faithful once a year, May 18, the anniversary of the first consecration of the church, as also in days of calamity to invoke the pardon and protection of God.

A century later the Holy Face was brought to St„ Peter's. Pope John VII., in the year 707, having built an oratory in the Vatican Basilica, which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin "del Presepio" and in which he wished to have his- sepulchre, raised an altar in it in honour of the Holy Face, {quod vocatur Veronica) and placed it there in a beautiful, large, and ornamented tabernacle, with marble pillars, and the chapel took the name, and was called " Santa Maria del Sudario".

Grimaldi the notary and archivist of the Basilica, says that the altars of this Oratory were consecrated on the 24tb November, 707, and that Pope John VII. placed the Holy Relic there on the following day.

Torrigio, in a work of his called "Sagre Grotte Vaticane" assigns the same date for the replacing of the Holy Relic in St. Peter's, it having been for some time in the Rotunda or church of St. Mary of the Martyrs.

He also says that, under Adrian I., the tabernacle was enlarged, and surrounded by a balcony from which the Holy Face was exposed to the people for Veneration.

P. Mabillon, in his Museum Italicum, vol. ii., p. 122, inserts a Roman Ceremonial of 1130, dedicated to Cardinal Guy du Chata!, later Celestine II., where it is said, " afterwards the Pontiff goes to the Towel of Christ, which is called Veronica, and incenses it."

Alvieri affirms, with other anthers, that in the time of Innocent II. six noble Roman families were appointed to guard the Holy Face, and to take care of the ease or shrine in which it was enclosed.

Mallio, in his History of Remarkable Things in the Vatican Basilica, dedicated to Alexander III. in 1159, attests the remarkable veneration which was given to the Holy Face daring this epoch, before which burned day and night ten lamps. (Ante Veronicam decem lampades die noctuque.)

We have already spoken of the medals called Veronicas, which had impressed on them the likeness of the Holy Face, and the keys of St. Peter. The pilgrim's to the tombs of the apostles, Who had great confidence in the holy relic, attached them to their clothes.

Such was the veneration given to the Holy Image that it was often represented on the Pontifical coins. Scilla, in his treatise, Delle Monete Pontificie, shews different sorts of these coins, with the likeness of the Holy Face struck on them.

Cancellieri rays that Philip Augustus, King of France, being come to Homo in 1198, Pope Celestine III. showed him " The Veronica; that is to say, a certain linen which Jesus Christ applied to His Face, and which remains so manifestly imprinted even to this day, that you would believe you see the Face itself of Jesus Christ. They call it Veronica, from the name of the woman to whom the linen belonged, whose name was Veronica."

Innocent III., who filled the chair of St Peter in 1198, had a great veneration for the Holy Face; be composed some prayers in its honour, ordered them to be recited before it, and attached to them certain indulgences. Cancellieri, without specifying the date, says that the Holy Face was transferred to the hospital of the Holy Ghost; he mentions an old chronicle, from which it appears that the holy towel was at the house of S. Spirito in Sassia, in a little chamber entirely made of iron and marble, secured with six locks and keys, which were confided to six Roman families. It was exposed only once a year, and the gentlemen who had the honour of holding the keys, enjoyed the Franchise; they were not bound to do any civil service, and if one of them were appointed to to a senechal, &c, he was not obliged to do so. Each time that the holy relic was shown, they should be present, each with twenty companions, all armed around the holy image, to accompany it to the place appointed, and secure it. It was probably in memory of this temporary guard of the Holy Face in the church of the Holy Ghost, that Pope Innocent HI. instituted by a bull, in 1208, the procession which was usually made every year on the first Sunday after the Octave of the Epiphany, and in which was solemnly borne the Holy Face, from the Vatican Basilica to the church of the Holy Ghost. They likewise distributed a great amount of alms to poor strangers and to hospitals. The holy relic remained some time in the church of the Holy Ghost, and was afterwards brought back again to the Vatican Basilica, Later, about the year 1471, Sixtus IV., for just motives, abolished this procession, and decreed that instead the people should go every year, on the same day, to venerate the Relic in the Vatican Basilica.  The members of the Archconfraternity of St. Peter, in Sassia, which existed in 1198, and which had the honour to guard, for some time, the Holy Relic, having undoubtedly succeeded the six gentlemen already mentioned, now formed the procession to St. Peter's, on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, also on Whit-Monday, and, by a privilege, had an exposition of the Holy Face, which exposition was also made three times a year to the foundlings of both sexes, and to the ecclesiastics of the hospital of the Holy Ghost, in remembrance of the time it was formerly kept there. Boniface VIII. re-established in 1300, at Rome, the celebration of the " Holy Year," in the midst of an immense concourse of people, who came to Borne to gain the plenary indulgence. For the consolation of the pilgrims, he exposed the Holy Face every Friday and on solemn feasts. The same Pope exposed it to Charles II., King of Sicily, and James II, King of Aragon.

Rinaldi informs us, that in the year 1328, at the time when Louis of Bavaria, with his heretics and schismatics, and a number of courtiers, came to Rome, the city was interdicted, and many of the Faithful, as also many ecclesiastics and religious fled. The canon of St. Peter's, who had charge of the holy towel, concealed it, because this crowd of atheists were not worthy to behold it. , Clement VI., residing at Avignon, issued an order to celebrate at Borne, in 1350, the second General Jubilee. It is impossible to conceive the great concourse of pilgrims on this occasion; the crowd was so great, that, many times, numbers of the people died, as Matteo Villani, who was present, testifies. The Pope wrote to the canons of the Vatican, ordering them to have many expositions of the Holy Face, on account of the great devotion of the people for this Holy Relic.

Louis I., King of Hungary, asked, and obtained permission of the Sovereign Pontiff, to venerate it every day.

Cancellieri, in" his work, " Settimana Santa" says that the Holy Face was brought to the Castle of St. Angelo, as appears from an old journal, which says: "The 4th of October, 1409, the towel of St. Veronica was brought from the sacristy of St. Peter's to the Castle of St. Angelo, where it might be safe from the insults of the soldiers." 1

A contemporary journalist, Antonio de Pietri, adds: " January 1, 1410, at the hour of Tierce, Jacomo de Cafoi, canon, vicar and sacristan of the Basilica of St. Peter, accompanied by six other canons went to the castle of San-Angelo, and brought from it to St. Peter's the Veronica, or Holy Face."

Nicholas, in 1450, had three little bells made, with silvery and harmonious sounds, to announce the exposition of the Holy Relic, as is the practice at this present time. On the bells was the following inscription, " Nicolaus Papa V. fecit anno Jubilæi 1450."

During this "Holy Year,-" the multitudes of pilgrims, haying recourse to venerate the Holy Relic, were bo great that, in one day alone, eighty-seven persons fell from the bridge of San Angelo, into the Tiber, and were drowned.

We know from Torrigio, that Nicholas V., in 1452, after having crowned the Emperor, Frederic III., and created him Canon of the Vatican, as was customary, gave him the special power, in canonical costume, to expose in the tabernacle the Holy Face, and to venerate with awe and respect the Holy Relic, a favour not usually accorded even to the beneficed canons. It i& necessary here to remember that the emperors, after their coronation by the Pope, became canons of the chapters of the Lateran, and the Vatican, and wore the rochet, cope, and biretta. The emperors who wished to venerate the Holy Relic, through devotion, were obliged to do so in canonical costume.

The Emperor of Turkey having made a present to Innocent VIII., of the holy lance, which pierced the side of our Redeemer, the Pope kept it in his room, intending to build a sumptuous chapel for it, in the Basilica of St. Peter; but, finding his end approach, he ordered that the Relic should be placed in the chapel of the Holy Face.

It was during the pontificate of Urban VIII., in 1625, that the Holy Face was solemnly borne into the new Basilica of St. Peter, on its completion, and placed in the niche where it is venerated at the present day. For a long time, the old church, built by Constantino, threatening decay, Pope Nicholas V. the great protector of letters and of arts, conceived the design of raising around the old Basilica, a temple sufficiently large to represent by its form the universal Church. The labours commenced in 1450. Julius II, admirably assisted by Bramanta, forwarded the execution by the energy and ardour of his resolute character; after him, Leo X. and Raphael continued the work, without interruption. Michael Angelo laboured during seventeen years, under five successive Popes. This great man, in a moment of sublime inspiration, taking on the wings of his genius, the Pantheon, the greatest work of ancient art, had borne it into the air to the height of 300 feet, on four enormous pillars of pentagonal form, afterwards raising the crown-work of the papal altar, the cupola of St. Peter's, that sublime cupola which pilgrims hail in the distance, with tears in their eyes, and which cannot be thought of without emotion, by any one who has had the happiness to behold it.

Urban VIII., on his elevation to the papal throne, found this great work very near completion, and gave a great impetus to it. He ordered Bernin to make in the pillars of the admirable cupola the four niches, with places for the exposition of the holy relics, and, on the 23rd December, 1625, the Holy Face and the Holy Lance, which had been previously deposited in the archives of the Basilica, and enclosed in a case, or shrine, of iron, covered with rich cloth, were borne in a procession, under a canopy, to a niche, since called the "Holy Veronica" The canopy was carried on the occasion by the Archduke Leopold, son of the Emperor Ferdinand III, and by other great personages.

1 Ladislaus, King of Naples, taking advantage of the schism, occupied Rome, whence Paolo Orsini drove him to December 1407.

The Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Part 1.

The Holy Face, or Veronica, is one of the three great, remarkable and very holy relics which the patriarchal Basilica of St. Peter of the Vatican preserves with a jealous care, and which have been in every age of the Church, the object of the veneration of the faithful. The Veronica, is a veil, or handkerchief, on which is impressed the true likeness of the adorable face of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, miraculously imprinted, not produced by artificial colours, but by the divine power of God the Son made Man.

These precious relics are preserved in an oratory situated in the interior of one of the four large pentagonal pillars, which support the magnificent cupola, at the epistle side of the papal altar. Paul V. placed the Holy Face there in 1606, and Urban VIII., the holy Lance in 1625, and the wood of the true Cross in 1629.

From a constant tradition, which is founded on the most authentic documents, we are informed, that whilst our Saviour was on the painful journey to Calvary, loaded with the heavy wood of the cross, the altar on which He was to sacrifice His life for the redemption of mankind, a holy woman, moved by compassion, presented Him a handkerchief, or towel, to wipe His face, all covered with sweat, spittle, dust, and blood; and that Jesus, having used it, gave it back to her, having impressed on it His majestic and venerable image, so full of the deep sorrow into which He was then plunged by the weight of the sins of the world.
It is for this reason, that this holy woman is usually represented near our Saviour, holding in her hands the Holy Face, as may be seen in the sixth station of the holy way of the cross.

The learned Piazza, in his work entitled, "Emerologio di Roma," which was published in 1718, relates this pious tradition on the feast of St. Veronica, the 4th of February. St. Veronica, a noble lady of Jerusalem, lived about the year 88 of the Christian era, during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. It is believed that she is the woman that was cured of the bloody flux by our Lord, and whom Baronius calls Berenicia, being called Veronica, from the circumstance of her having possessed the blessed relic of the Holy Face. After Jesus had left the house of Pilate, and was on His way to Calvary to be put to death, being all covered with blood from the scourges which He had received, and the wounds of His blessed temples, which were caused by the crown of sharp thorns; after having gone 450 steps, He came near to a house which formed an angle, where, Veronica seeing Him approach in the distance, through compassion, went to meet Him, and, taking the veil from off her head, presented it to Him to wipe His face, all covered with sweat and blood. Our Lord benignly received it from her hands, having wiped His face with it, returned it to her with the impress of His Holy Face printed on it. (Brev. Ambr. Petr. in Catal) A gracious acknowledgment, but with a resemblance so natural, that the marks of the fingers of the cruel man who had given Him the sacrilegious blow, are quite visible. Veronica, full of joy at possessing so precious a treasure, piously cared it till the arrival at Jerusalem, from Rome, of the ambassadors whom Tiberius on being informed by Pilate of the great number of miracles which Jesus had performed, had sent in the hope that he likewise might be cured of a malady with which he was afflicted. When the envoys of the Emperor arrived, they found that Jesus had been crucified, and heard from the Jews the fable of His disciples stealing His body, and pretending that it had arisen, but Veronica undeceived them by showing them the towel with the Holy Face of our Lord impressed upon it. She promised to accompany them to Home, and likewise told them that at the eight of the holy relic the Emperor would be cured. Having placed the Holy Face in a case, or shrine, she set out with the ambassadors for Rome, where, having presented it to the Emperor, he was instantly cured.

This is why Tiberius wished to honour Jesus Christ by placing a statue to Him in the Lararium, or chapel, where the Romans kept their household gods ; but the Roman Senate would not allow it, ''on the principle" says Baronius, " that they would not give that worship to a mortal which was due to a god." 1

Cardinal Baronius, in his "Ecclesiastical Annals" 2 of the year of our Lord, 34, after he had spoken of the shroud which enveloped the head of our Saviour in the sepulchre, said, "Now, this shroud is different from that which Berenicia gave our Blessed Redeemer to wipe His Face all covered with sweat and blood, and on which remained the impress of His adorable Face, according to the tradition of the Christians, and testimony of an ancient manuscript 3 which is preserved in the Vatican library, and that mentions it was brought to Rome." Bishop Methodius, an ancient chronographer, speaks of this Berenicia, likewise called Veronica, and of the image of our Saviour impressed on the veil.

Very many writers testify the truth of this fact, authenticated by a perpetual and uninterrupted tradition; we will quote some in the course of this notice. We will content ourselves to cite in this place what the learned Bishop of Samelli affirms in his " Letters on ecclesiastical subjects that all the writers on the Holy Land, and especially Adricomio, say that the house of Veronica was situated on the same route on which Jesus went to Calvary, and that everything occurred that we have already related.

Although the act attributed to Veronica may appear to us somewhat extraordinary, we are, however, less astonished when we know that a custom prevailed among the Jewish women of wearing on the head or neck a veil of linen or cotton, which they presented to persons as a mark of friendship, when they saw their face covered with sweat or bathed in tears. Such is, in effect, the primary meaning of the word suaire, which Bergier thus defines in his theological dictionary : " A handkerchief or linen, used to wipe the face." Veronica not only conformed to the received custom of her nation, hut she had to hrave the fury of the cruel soldiers, and also the wicked treatment of the violent and bloodthirsty populace. But she merited by her devotion to Him, in having His sacred image impressed on her handkerchief, as a mark of eternal love; this is why the heroic action of this woman will be glorified in every age, and pious souls will not cease to bless her for this service and this honour rendered to Jesus in His dolorous agony.

Valerius Maximus speaks of another Berenicia, which Pliny calls Pherenicia, who, by an exceptional favour, was allowed to be present at the Olympic games, which was not allowed to other women. But far greater and still more exalted was the glory given to our Berenicia, by the image of the Holy Pace being impressed on her handkerchief by our Saviour. The prize obtained by the conquerors at the Olympic games, was a laurel crown; for Berenicia, the highest glory was a head crowned with thorns; it is for this reason, that the hymn composed in honour of Holy Face, by Pope John XXII., who was created Sovereign Pontiff at Avignon in 1316, says—

"Salve, sancta Facies nostri Redemptoris, 

In qua nitet species divini decoris 

Impressa panniculo nivei candoris 

Dataque Veronicæ signum ob amoris."

Hail! O Blessed Face of our Redeemer, 

Face pure, where shines celestial splendour 

Upon linen white divinely impress'd, 

A pledge of love to Veronica blest.

As we have seen in. the touching relation of Piazza, it is generally believed, that St. Veronica is no other than the woman cared of the bloody flux by our Saviour. In an historical manuscript in the Grecian language, translated into Latin by P. Combefis, and printed at Paris in 1664, we read: "That the woman's name was Berenicia, who was cured by our Saviour of the bloody flux; to which the learned Sarnelli adds: "As to the name, Berenicia, which we call Veronica, it means the same person whom people honour and invoke in all sickness from the flow of blood, in very many places in France." Although, in changing the name, instead of Berenicia, or Veronica, they say in some places, Venizia. in others, Veniza, it is evident from the paintings, that this is the very same saint, for she is always represented as having at "her side the towel, or handkerchief, on which is represented the Holy Face, as a distinctive mark, as Bollandas truly observes in his " Historical Commentaries of St. Veronica."

1 It appears that the senate was angry because Pilate sent the account of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ to the Emperor Tiberias, and not to them, as was customary. It is likewise certain that the governors of provinces wrote directly to the emperor on great and urgent occasions.

2 Translated by Pierre Coppin, D.D., Cure of Notre Dame du Vailes, Paris.

3 Alveri, in his ,c Roma in ogni Stalo," vol. ii., page 210, gives us the history of Veronica, taken from an ancient manuscript of Nicholas Signorile, inscribed in the Vatican library, No. 3351.