3 ways to get more out of Holy Mass
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Sources and credentials
St. Veronica Giuliani’s Diario remains one of the most extensive mystical writings in Christian history. Her diary is comprised of >22,000 handwritten pages. Only a fraction has been published. Most knowledge of her visions comes through cross-verified, reliable summaries written by her fellow Capuchin Poor Clares. These include canonization documents, her diary and other writings combined with secondary sources. Sources consistently affirm that her visions were interior, symbolic, and theological, rather than physical manifestations in the external world. Allegedly, peers witnessed her sweet-smelling stigmata which remained after death upon her incorrupt remains, later destroyed in a flood. Her full diary is not publicly accessible. She was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839 based on her heroic virtues and miracles continually experienced at her tomb.
Purification
The published summaries of St. Veronica’s visions describe Purgatory as a realm of ordered purification, where the soul undergoes healing through symbolic forms of suffering corresponding to its earthly faults. This aligns with the traditional Catholic understanding of poena sensus—purifying experiences that reflect the nature of one’s sins. In Veronica’s accounts, these symbols are not punitive spectacles but expressions of divine mercy, revealing the soul’s gradual restoration to holiness.
Eucharistic irreverence
The most frequently cited vision summaries include souls with burning hands. They indicate purification for handling the Eucharist without proper reverence. Contemporary biographies and Catholic commentaries note that Veronica saw other souls suffering in ways that corresponded to their ill-treatment of the Blessed Sacrament, including negligence, indifference or sacrilegious reception. These accounts appear consistently in secondary sources corroborating her diary. The burning-hands theme is attested in reputable summaries, from writers without access to her diary. Based on her visions and diary, what are modern implications with Eucharistic Ministers and those who take communion in the hand?
Priests in burning vestments
Several summaries also describe St Veronica’s visions of priests in Purgatory with burned vestments as a sign of purification for irreverence or rushing to finish celebration of the Holy Mass. These images emphasize the extreme gift borne by clergy to sacredly handle the Eucharist and conduct the liturgy. While many descriptions come from secondary sources, they are consistent across accounts and reflect the accountability of those with consecrated hands who perform the sacred ministry.
Physical evidence
Despite the vivid symbolic imagery in her visions, there is no evidence—in published diary excerpts, canonization records, or scholarly biographies—St. Veronica Giuliani never reported physical phenomena such as burned handprints, scorched furniture, or concrete material traces left by souls in Purgatory. Such claims appear in devotional literature about other mystics but are not part of Veronica’s documented experience. Her visions remain firmly within the realm of interior revelation rather than external physical manifestations.
The integrity of her witness
The consistency across reputable summaries underscores St Veronica’s spiritual testimony. Her visions emphasize the gravity of Eucharistic reverence, the dignity of the liturgy and the merciful nature of divine purification. They do not offer sensational accounts or physical proofs. Instead, we see her deeply theological visions of the soul’s purification before being received in perfection by God. Her writings are a call to renew our seriousness about the spiritual consequences of our actions and attitudes regarding both the Holy Mass and our approach to the Holy Eucharist.
Sobering reflections
St. Veronica Giuliani’s visions do not seek to frighten or to provide dramatic evidence of the afterlife. Instead, they confront each soul with a quiet, more demanding truth. Holiness is not accidental and reverence is not optional. Her symbolic images—burned hands and smoldering vestments—are reminders. Every encounter with the sacred leaves an imprint on the soul. Her testimony invites not fear but responsibility, urging us to reconsider our sacraments with the seriousness they deserve. What is treated lightly on earth has purification implications in eternity. St Veronica's feast day is July 9.
Sources:
Science cannot explain suffering. As Lay Passionist and nurse, she challenges modern health care assumptions; contraception, abortion, euthanasia, herd immunity and more. Behind every health dilemma, God asks us to abide in Him. Author of 7 books & >20 peer-reviewed nursing journal articles; she also writes as "The Catholic Nurse" on Substack, see "Archives." She is a veteran of the Army Nurse Corps. Her primary charism is mercy through which she explores redemptive suffering, spiritual healing and the joy of bringing of souls to God.
