“And that’s important because…?”
“The most famous weaver of byssus back then in all of Jerusalem was…” he said, pausing to gauge my reaction, “… Princess Berenike, the daughter of King Herod.”
“The king who ordered the slaughter of all infant boys when he heard about the birth of a new king of the Jews? Wow. That is hard to believe!”
“Faith is hard to sustain without belief, Ms. Roussel.”
“Yes. I know. But the possibility that the Veil that Veronica allegedly used to wipe the face of Jesus could have been made by Princess Berenike, the daughter of the man who tried to kill Jesus as an infant, is, well, incredible.”
He didn’t answer.
“Whew. So where are all these Veils and ‘authentic copies’ now?”
“One is in Vienna, there are two in Spain, one in Genoa, and one in the Matilda chapel in Saint Peter’s Basilica.”
“Surely that must be the real one?”
“Not unless this so-called woman Veronica wore a veil made of wood,” he sniffed. “It’s a painted image on wood, you see.”
I smiled. “I see.”
“Not yet do you see, not yet.” He continued, “I am one of the only people who have been granted permission to see the cloth imprinted with the image of Jesus that is kept in the Vatican since 1907. This image is stored in the chapel behind the balcony in the southwest pier—one of the supports of the dome.”
We entered Saint Peter’s from a side door, again blocked by two members of the Swiss Guard. Badde showed his credentials, and they opened the doors without hesitation. He began describing to me the significance of Veronica’s Veil within the Catholic Church.
“The four pillars of the church, and the statues that adorn each in the niches below, support the dome,” he explained as we walked around the magnificent basilica, pointing up. “They celebrate the greatest relics kept by the Vatican—which were all kept in one place.”
“Which is?”
“The Veronica pier.”
“The saint represented in the Sixth Station of the Cross?”
“Yes, exactly. It is the fourth pillar,” he said, pointing to the four pillars.
The fourth pillar represents the Sixth Station—“Go forth for I am six!”
“Is the Veil of Veronica kept here?”
“Yes, and no. I will get to it in a minute.”
A minute? My heart was coming out of my chest wondering how I would manage to steal the precious relic out of the cathedral with the highest security in the world. I mean, they have their own army!
As I was overcome with the vastness, he kept up his guided tour of the reliquary.
“The pillars that support the Church—literally—are named for Saint Veronica, Saint Helena, Saint Longinus, and Saint Andrew.”
As we walked around, he picked up a guidebook to show me what we were seeing in person. “Each pier has a huge statue of a saint in each pillar’s niche representing each of the basilica’s Reliquae Maggiori, or four ‘major relics,’” he said, pointing to the northwest pier and its statue of Saint Helena.
“In this statue, created by Andrea Bolgi, Helena, Constantine’s mother, is holding a large cross, which represents the one ‘true cross,’ which she said she found in Jerusalem.”
We took the long walk to other side. “Here on the northeast pier is the statue of Saint Longinus, by Bernini. Longinus was the Roman soldier who thrust a spear into Jesus’ side at the Crucifixion, from which poured water and blood. Longinus converted and was later martyred. The relic is the spear.”
We headed south in the cathedral, pushing past literally thousands of tourists.
“Here at the southeast pier is the Saint Andrew pillar. The statue is by François Duquesnoy,” he said, shaking his head at the enormous crowds. “It’s much more crowded lately, if possible. The line outside must stretch to the Capitoline Hill!”
“Folks suddenly getting religion?”
“I think it has to do with that terrorist on trial who claims to be descended, or whatever he’s saying, from Jesus himself. It has brought out all the conspiracy theorists and fanatics, I’m afraid!”
I let it slip by without comment as we reached the next pillar.
The Saint Andrew statue was against the diagonal cross upon which he was martyred.
“Is the relic then a piece of that cross?”
“Hardly. It is Andrew’s head.”
“They keep his head?” I tried not to look too disgusted and instead asked, “Do you think that’s the Baphomet?”
“Have you been reading the conspiracy Web sites, Ms. Roussel?”