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WALKING TOURS OF ROME

The Fallen Angel!

5/3/2019

 
Map
Angel with Veronica's Veil (Sudarium) by Cosimo Fancelli, Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome.
Angel with Veronica's Veil by Cosimo Fancelli

The Ponte Sant' Angelo is lined with ten gloriously gyrating stone angels. The angels, which bear the Instruments of Christ's Passion, were designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680); two were carved by the master himself (later replaced by copies) and the rest were farmed out to a team of sculptors.
​
The pedestals on which the angels stand have inscriptions in Latin. However, the inscription, RESPICE FACIEM CHRIST TUI (Look upon the face of your Christ), on the pedestal that supports the angel holding Veronica's veil has been almost obliterated by a rather large dent. 

The dent was made by a stray cannonball, which was fired from the Castel Sant' Angelo during the half-hearted papal defence of Rome on September 20th, 1870. The shot knocked the statue, 
the work of Cosimo Fancelli (1618-88), clean into the river. Thankfully, the angel was not seriously damaged. It was fished out of the river and reunited with its pedestal.

The legend of Veronica's veil comes from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which relates that when Jesus was on his way to be crucified, a woman in the crowd lining the route took pity on his sufferings and wiped the sweat from his brow with her veil, or handkerchief. The cloth, it is claimed, miraculously retained an imprint of Christ's face. The woman 
is identified as Veronica, a name which combines the Latin word for true (vera) with the Greek word for icon (eikon). 

For centuries what is believed to be the veil of Veronica has been preserved in St Peter's Basilica, its most prized relic. The veil, and other holy relics, is displayed on the fifth Sunday of Lent. 

Veronica's act of charity is commemorated in the fourteen Stations of the Cross. 

The feast of St Veronica, who happens to be the patron saint of laundry workers and photographers, is celebrated on July 12th. 

Angel holding the Sudarium (Veil of St Veronica) by Cosimo Fancelli, Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome
Angel holding the Sudarium (Veil of St Veronica) by Cosimo Fancelli
Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome
The Ponte Sant' Angelo
Ponte Sant' Angelo leading to the Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome
The Angel with the Veil of Veronica is the first on the right

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    Walking Tours For Discerning Travellers

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private and
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  • Home
  • Private Tours
  • Small-Group Tours
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • St Peter's Basilica
    • Altars >
      • Altar of St Joseph
      • Altar of St Gregory the Great
      • Altar of the Madonna of Succour
      • Altar of St Sebastian
      • Altar of the Lie
      • Altar of the Presentation of the Virgin
      • Altar of St Jerome
      • Altar of the Transfiguration
      • Altar of Pope Leo the Great
    • Monuments >
      • Countess Matilda of Canossa
      • Maria Clementina Sobieska
      • Queen Christina of Sweden
      • Pope Innocent VIII
      • Pope Paul III
      • Pope Gregory XIII
      • Pope Gregory XIV
      • Pope Leo XI
      • Pope Urban VIII
      • Pope Alexander VII
      • Pope Clement X
      • Pope Innocent XI
      • Pope Alexander VIII
      • Pope Innocent XII
      • Pope Benedict XIV
      • Pope Clement XIII
      • Pope Pius VII
      • Pope Leo XII
      • Pope Pius VIII
      • Pope Gregory XVI
      • Pope Pius X
      • Pope Benedict XV
      • Pope Pius XI
      • Pope Pius XII
      • Pope John XXIII
      • The Stuarts
    • Portico >
      • Door of Death
      • Door of Good and Evil
      • Central Door
      • Door of the Sacraments
      • Holy Door
    • Pieta
    • Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
    • Cathedra Petri
    • Crossing >
      • Baldacchino
      • Confessio
      • Dome
      • St Longinus
      • St Helena
      • St Veronica
      • St Andrew
    • St Peter
    • Chapel of the Choir
    • Chapel of the Baptistery
    • Nave
  • Sistine Chapel
    • North Wall
    • South Wall
    • East Wall
    • Ceiling: Part One >
      • Ceiling: Part Two
      • Ceiling: Part Three
    • The Last Judgement
  • Fountains
    • Trevi Fountain
    • Fontana della Barcaccia
    • Fountain of the Triton
    • Fountain of the Bees
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    • Fountain of the Four Rivers
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    • Fountain of the Turtles
    • Fountain of the Naiads
    • Fountain of the Cannonball
    • Piazza del Popolo
    • Fountain of the Pantheon
    • Fountains of Piazza Farnese
    • Fountain of Goddess Roma
    • Rioni Fountains
    • Street Fountains
    • Venice Marries the Sea
    • St Peter's Square
    • Fountain of the Moor
    • Fountain of Neptune
    • Fountain of the Porter
    • Fountain of the Seahorses
  • Gallery
    • Piazzas >
      • Piazza del Campidglio
      • Piazza del Quirinale
      • Piazza del Popolo
      • Piazza di Spagna
      • Piazza Navona
      • Piazza S. M. in Trastevere
      • Piazza San Pietro
    • Mosaics
    • Fountains
    • Churches
    • Ancient Rome
    • Palaces
    • Domes
    • Papal Coats of Arms
    • Street Shrines
    • Old Photographs
    • Borromini & the Baroque