Saint Veronica Medal - Patron Saint of Photographers & The Veil of Christ

About Saint Veronica

The Gospels do not name her. What the tradition records is this: on the road to Calvary, as Christ was being led to his execution, a woman stepped out of the crowd and wiped his face with her veil. When she took the cloth back, his image had been left on it.

According to tradition, she may have originally been named Bernice. The name we know her by, Veronica, is closely tied to the Latin and Greek words for "true image"- vera icon. Whether the woman was named for the act, or the relic named for the woman, the legacy held. The woman who stepped forward when everyone else stepped back has been remembered for two thousand years.

The cloth she carried became known as the Veil of Veronica. It is one of the most venerated relics in Christendom, held at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The act itself appears at the sixth Station of the Cross, prayed by Catholics every Friday of Lent and throughout the year in churches worldwide.

Saint Veronica's feast day is July 12. The Veil is still held at Saint Peter's Basilica and is briefly displayed to the public only once a year on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. The face on it has never been fully explained.

Her Patronage

She is the patron saint of photographers, laundry workers, and people with facial disfigurements or skin conditions. The photography patronage comes from the nature of her act - she preserved a true image of a face on cloth at the moment of greatest suffering, which is as precise a definition of documentary photography as any that has been written since.

Veronica is sought by photographers and visual artists who work with the human face, by people carrying physical marks or conditions they did not choose, and by anyone who has ever stepped forward to offer something small and human in the middle of an overwhelming situation. Her act was not a miracle. It was a choice. She stepped out of the crowd. That's all. The image came after.

She is also one of the most meaningful name-day medals for a woman named Veronica - connecting her name directly to the moment that created it.

The Saint Veronica Medal

This medal depicts Veronica holding the Veil outward, displaying the face of Christ toward the viewer. She holds it with both hands, her expression one of grief and reverence. The face of Christ on the cloth is centered and clearly rendered - the image she preserved on the road to Calvary, held out as an offering two thousand years later. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself - black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive. Two lines, up to 20 characters each. For a woman named Veronica, most people engrave her name and a significant date. For a Lenten or confirmation gift, the date of Easter or confirmation day is the natural choice. A simple engraving that fits the act itself:
Line 1: "She stepped" Line 2: "forward."