Veiling the Sacred:

The Tradition of Covering Statues from the Fifth Sunday of Lent

During the last two weeks of Lent, as our liturgies focus more and more on the impending passion of Jesus Christ, it is traditional to cover all statues in the church and any images of Jesus on the cross with a purple veil.

At one stage, the Gospel for this Sunday would have been taken from John 8: 46-59, ending with the line: “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” In churches around the world, the images of Jesus were literally hidden from view from this point until Good Friday. Since the readings of the Mass were reformed, however, the Gospel for this Sunday is now the story of the raising of Lazarus. Nevertheless, the practice of covering up images remains.

Some scholars have suggested that the origins of this custom actually go back to the German Church in the ninth century. There, for the whole of Lent, a large purple veil called a hungertuch hid the altar from the view of the people and was torn down on the Wednesday of Holy Week during a reading of the Passion with the words: “And the veil of temple was torn in two.”

Whatever its origins, the custom of veiling adds drama to the end of Lent. The crucifix is hidden from view until we solemnly venerate it on Good Friday, and the statues of saints remain covered until the Easter Vigil. Then, only in the light of the Easter Candle – the symbol of Christ who has risen from the dead – do we see their likeness. This reminds us that the glory of any saint is always a reflection of the light of Christ shining upon them, through them and in them.