ABSTRACT
A traditional definition of gender represents an expansion of the word’s original meaning, which referred to grammatical forms of nouns and pronouns associated with concepts of male, female, or neuter. Veronica, as a female character synonymous with the relic of the Holy Face, is a complex hagiographical subject, which can be nuanced by consideration from a gendered perspective. The apocryphal character of Veronica, with her holy cloth as an extension of her identity, symbolized the grace necessary to bridge disease to a cure, or as an expansion of that metaphor, from sin to salvation. The Gospel accounts of the Haemorrhoissa and the apocryphal legend of Veronica were then thematically connected not only by a female protagonist but also by the leitmotif of blood, because the miraculous visage on Veronica’s sudarium was imprinted by Christ’s blood and sweat. Veronica’s charitable act underscored the roles of the other females present during the Passion.
