ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the object itself and its peregrinations across various locations, each of which affected its viewership, including the periodic inability to view it. Belting asserted that the two “true image” cult objects – the earlier Eastern one and its Western counterpart – should be considered together because the veronica inherited the legends of the Mandylion, which served as the basis of the relic’s reverence in the West. Although Pope Innocent III’s procession was short in distance, it proved to be important for public exposure and papal endorsement of the veronica relic. Collectively, the processions, displays, prayers, hymns, Mass orations, and related indulgences increased the popularity of and widespread devotion to the relic from the first quarter of the thirteenth century forward, enticing pilgrims across Europe to make arduous journeys to see it. Contemporaneously, Giraldus Cambrensis commented on the difficulty in viewing the relic in the basilica.
