Origins of the liturgical veneration of the Roman Veronica

Pope Innocent III's efforts to promote devotion to the Roman Veronica also gave rise to a liturgical veneration of the Holy Face of Christ. The widespread devotional office includes several psalm verses and versicles that invoke the Old Testament search for the Lord's countenance and present it as being fulfilled in the contemplation of the face of Christ. The concluding prayer is the stable, recurring feature in the later liturgical formularies in honor of the Holy Face, which otherwise show considerable diversity. A manuscript missal from the Capitular Archives of St Peter's in the Vatican contains an added set of Mass orations, probably not earlier than the fifteenth century, with the heading Collecta ad faciem Christi. These orations are analyzed according to their literary forms, biblical motives, and theological contents. The paper also includes a brief overview of the complete Mass formularies of the Holy Face, including proper readings and chants, which are found in early printed diocesan missals from the late-fifteenth and earlysixteenth centuries.