Is Veronica mentioned in the Bible?

216 Luke 8:43. — Cf. Lev. 15:19. Some MSS. of the "Gospel of Nicodemus" give her name as "Bernice" in Greek, the "Veronica" of Latin.

The Issue Staunched. — Surrounded by multitudes, the Lord was on His way to the house of Jairus, at the earnest request of that anxious father. But ere the daughter was to be raised up from death, a poor woman, who for twelve long years had suffered from an issue of blood, was to rejoice in the flowing out of healing virtue from Christ. Her case, humanly speaking, hopeless, and all her resources having been already spent on physicians, but in vain, her cure, if it was to be effected, must be a gratuitous one, and a miraculous one. She spoke to no one. She solicited not the friendly offices even of an Apostle; nor did she, like Jairus, fall down at the Lord's feet and supplicate for His compassion, and entreat of Him a cure. But, believing that contact with only the hem of His garment would without doubt procure for her what she wanted, she went behind Him, and touched His garment, and was healed — an example of the efficacy of faith. No one saw her do it. No one knew what had taken place but One, the Lord Himself. Behind Him she was. One of the throng, she touched not His person, but His garment only. It was the touch of faith. She was healed. Power for healing, she proved, was ready for any who had faith in Him to draw upon it. Faith was the requisite. That in exercise was all that was needed. Not a word had passed between them. She touched the hem of His garment in faith, and found herself immediately made whole. Her name, like that of other women, as the woman in Simon's house (Luke 7), the woman of Samaria (John 4), and the woman taken in adultery (John 8), has not been handed down. We cannot name her, but we all know her, as the woman who had faith to touch but the hem of His garment, and so as one in whom is illustrated the blessing resulting from simple faith.

N*. It is a curious history enough. There was a story, as there are many such, that some woman gave a handkerchief to wipe the face of the blessed Lord on His way to Calvary, and, as a reward, His likeness was imprinted on it. This was copied, and sold everywhere in Italy at any rate. The word Veronica is a corruption of true likeness, and then was taken to be the name of a woman; and she is in the calendar, and worshipped as such, and the handkerchief exposed to the worship, I must call it, of the multitude at St. Peter's in Rome. One dreads mixing up the very name of the blessed Lord with such things, but it is well to know how that blessed name has been brought down to profanation by the system of Roman superstition. Sure I am, if any one did so serve in truth that blessed One, she will not lose her reward. Happy she to have been permitted such a service. But it is not in having a handkerchief worshipped in St. Peter's, and what is a fable in itself turned into the name of a woman. Roman superstition really debases all it touches. Forgive me, Mr. O., if the feeling which bringing the holy name of the Lord into such things has led me to express itself severely.

Is it not singular that perhaps the most remarkable history of a woman given in the Bible should give neither her name nor the place of her abode? It only shows how little store God sets by posthumous fame, or all the honors this world can bestow. But before the image of this nameless woman the world has stood in much admiration for nearly two thousand years — as a living monument of the Saviour's compassion and a sinner's hope.

And the challenge of Jesus to Simon, "Seest thou this woman?" has been ringing through all the ages of the past, and hundreds of thousands have beheld her and rejoiced in the glorious truths illustrated in this nameless woman with a power and pathos the world can never match.

184 Luke 7:37. — "A woman … a sinner." The chapter-heading of Bibles still in use and the "Pilgrim's Progress" have given currency to the idea of Latin Fathers (Augustine, etc.) that she was the same as Mary of Magdala: to this Farrar was inclined to adhere on the sentimental ground of its associations in sacred art! But see B. Weiss and Norris.