Part 7 (1/2)

[Sidenote: 1. Relic of the cross.]

1. The relic of the cross was placed here in 1629 by Urban VIII; but it was formed of some pieces taken from the churches of S. Anastasia and S. Croce in Gerusalemme. The Jews were accustomed to bury the instruments of punishment in or near the place where the persons executed were buried; but on this subject I must content myself with referring to Baronius, Calmet, Menochius, Gretser etc. who cite the Rabbins in proof of this a.s.sertion. Now according to the ancient historians, Eusebius, Sozomen and Socrates: the Emperor Adrian erected a temple of Venus over the tomb of the G.o.d of purity, after he had covered it with a great quant.i.ty of rubbish. Helen the saintly mother of the emperor Costantine, after many searches (according to Eusebius in his life of that emperor) at length discovered the sacred tomb, in which was found, according to Sozomen, the inscription placed over the cross by Pilate, ”Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”[106]. Near the tomb in another part of the cave were found three crosses: but here a difficulty arose on which of these three was our Saviour crucified?

At the suggestion of Macarius Bp. of Jerusalem, a woman at the point of death, as Ruffinus, Socrates, Theodoret, Sozomen and Nicephorus relate; or a dead man, according to Paulinus and Severus Sulpicius, was brought to the spot, and restored to health or to life, when placed on _one_ of the three crosses. If we consider, that it is related in the 2nd book of Kings c, XIII, that when some persons ”were burying a man, they cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus.

And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life and stood up on his feet,” we may not be unwilling to admit the possibility or probability, that such a miracle may have occurred at the sepulchre of the G.o.d of Eliseus. Besides the authors whom I have mentioned, this history is attested by S. Ambrose, S. Chrysostom, and S. Cyril of Jerusalem. This great bishop and Eusebius lived at the time when the event is said to have happened: the other writers lived not long after, and Ruffinus and Theodoret pa.s.sed part of their lives in Syria. The same historians mention, that S. Helen divided the Cross into three parts, one she left in Jerusalem, another she sent to Costantine, according to the author of the life of Pope Sylvester published by Pope Damasus towards the close of the 6th cent.; and the third she reserved for herself, to Rome. She placed the last mentioned piece in the Sessorian Basilica, called also the Basilica of Helen, because erected by her, in the Horti Variani: hence is derived its t.i.tle of S. Croce in Gerusalemme. On this subject additional information may be found in the work of the late Padre De Corrieris, De Sessorianis praecipius D.N.J.C. reliquiis, in Trombelli De cultu SSrum and Ben. XIV. De festis. From Santa Croce a piece of the cross was taken to S. Peter's, and is one of the relics shewn on good friday. Even in the fourth century S. Cyril of Jerusalem testifies, that particles of the true cross had been sent to every Christian country.

[Sidenote: 2. of the lance.]

2. The lance also with which our divine Saviour's side was pierced, was found by S. Helen, as the Bollandists shew: and it was preserved in Jerusalem, as S. Gregory of Tours and our venerable Bede observe: but towards the end of the 6th cent., the iron part of it was transfered to Costantinople; of this the point was placed in the imperial palace; the other part in the church of S. Sophia, and afterwards in that of S. John. William of Tyre and Anna Comnena mention it as existing there in the 11th and 12th centuries. Towards the close of the 13th century the point of the lance with other relics pa.s.sed into the possession of S. Louis of France: the other part of the lance still remained at S. John's in Constantinople, as Buondelmount, who saw it, bears witness. When Mahomet subdued Costantinople, he preserved all the relics, as Theodore cited by Benedict XIV relates in his history of the Turks, and his son Bajazet sent an amba.s.sador with the relics of the lance to Pope Innocent VIII, in order to induce his Holiness not to protect Zizimus, who disputed with him the succession to the Turkish throne. The Pope received it with great reverence, and placed it in the Vatican. As some suspicion was entertained about the veracity of the Turkish amba.s.sador, Benedict XIV, as he mentions in his very learned work on the Canonisation of the Saints, from which I have extracted this account, sent for an exact cast of the point preserved at Paris, which perfectly corresponded with the piece preserved in the Vatican; and thus were confirmed the a.s.sertion of the Turk[107].

[Sidenote: 3. _Volto Santo_.]

3. As for the _Volto Santo_, or image of our Saviour it was placed in an Oratory of the Vatican Basilica by John VII as long ago as 707, as may be seen in Marlinetti, Dei pregii della Basilica Vat. Who S.

Veronica or Berenice was, who is said to have wiped our Saviour's face with the handkerchief is another question, as Benedict XIV observes, to whom and to Marlinetti I shall content myself with referring. It appears that this ancient likeness of our Saviour was afterwards kept at S. Spirito: six Roman n.o.blemen had the care of it; and to each of them was confided on of the six keys, with which it was locked up.

They enjoyed various privileges, and among others, says an ancient MS.

Chronicle quoted by Cancellieri, ”havevano questi sei ogni anno, da Santo Spirito, due vacche in die S. Spiritus le quali se magnavano li con gran festa”. In 1410 the _Volto Santo_ was carried back to S.

Peter's, where it has ever since remained[108].

[Sidenote: Reflections.]

The Council of Trent, in the 25th Session, teaches that veneration and honour are due to relics of the Saints, and that they and other sacred monuments are honoured by the faithful not without utility. We all honour the memorials of the great, of the wise and of the brave; who has not venerated the oak of a Ta.s.so or the house of a Shakespeare?

While _We_ revere the relics of a Borromeo at Milan, of a Francois de Sales at Annecy, of a Luigi Gonzaga, a Filippo Neri, a Camillo de Lellis at Rome, others respect the chair and table of Wickliffe at Lutterworth, or the room of Luther at Eisenach. If infidels unite in paying homage to the house of the impious _philosopher_ of Ferney, let all Christians, however they may be otherwise unhappily divided, join in shewing their respect for the image of their Saviour, and for those instruments which touched his sacred body, and were sanctified by his precious blood. O let them gaze with reverential awe on that lance which entering into his adorable side drew from it blood and water, and on that cross to which he was nailed and on which he died for our salvation. The early Christians, our forefathers in the faith, manifested great respect for the bodies and the blood of the martyrs, because they were faithful _followers_ of Christ. Thus, in the letter of the faithful of Smyrna preserved by Eusebius, they mention that they gathered up the bones of their bishop Polycarp, (a disciple of S. John the Apostle) ”more precious than pearls, and more tried than gold, and buried them. In this place, G.o.d willing”, say they ”we shall meet and celebrate with joy and gladness the birthday of this martyr”.

SS. Praxedes and Pudentiana, and many other devout females used to collect the blood of the martyrs with sponges and cloths, as if they feared that one drop of it should be lost. Read the poems of Prudentius, observe the phials of blood[109] placed before the martyrs' tombs in the catacombs, and you will not doubt the truth of such a.s.sertions[110]. The shadow of Peter, the handkerchiefs which had touched the body of Paul, could cure diseases, as the Scripture witnesseth; but here are the relics of a greater than Paul, of a greater than Peter: O then let us kneel, and love, and venerate them; for they were closely united to Him who is the author and object of our faith, the only foundation of our hope, the centre and the consummation of our love.

[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]

It does not fall within my plan to speak of the devotion of the three hours of agony, practised on this day in many churches, as at the Gesu, S. Lorenzo in Damaso etc. or of that which is practised after the _Ave Maria_ at S. Marcello, Caravita etc. or of the elegies recited by the Arcadian pastors over their Redeemer. Let us rather briefly recapitulate with Morcelli the princ.i.p.al ceremonies of the day: Station at S. Croce; service in the Sixtine chapel, the veneration of the Cross; the B. Sacrament carried thither in procession from the Pauline chapel, Ma.s.s of the Presanctified and Vespers. In the afternoon Tenebrae, and veneration of the relics at S.

Peter's.

[Footnote 82: See a MS. Apamean Pontifical ap. Marthene T. 3, p.

132, Benedict Canon of S. Peter's in his _Ordo Roma.n.u.s_, Marangoni, _Istoria dell antichissimo Oratorio o Cappella di S. Lorenzo nel Patriarchio Lateranense_. Roma 1747. S. Louis of France used to walk barefooted on this day to the churches, praying and giving abundant alms, as did also William, king of the Romans. (Chronicon Erphordense ad ann. 1252), S. Elisabeth of Hungary used to devote the day to similar acts of piety, walking barefooted and in the dress of a poor woman to the churches, and there making her humble offerings at the altars, and distributing copious alms. On her practices of piety during holy-week see her life by Le Cte de Montalembert c. 9.]

[Footnote 83: The Corporal, which was anciently much longer than at present, was spread in this manner at all ma.s.ses before the offertory.

See Cancellieri, De Secretariis T. I, Fleury, Moeurs des Chretiens.]

[Footnote 84: The lessons, the prayer, and the pa.s.sion are found in the ancient ordo Gelasia.n.u.s for this day.]

[Footnote 85: According to the Gelasian Sacramentary all were to genuflect at the prayer for the Jews, as well as at the other prayers; not so according to the Gregorian Sacramentary.]

[Footnote 86: ”G.o.d our Saviour”, says S. Paul (1 Tim. II, 4) ”wishes all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. The Catholic church is animated by the same spirit of charity, as the admirable prayers of this day might alone prove. If she teaches exclusive salvation. Christ taught the same ”He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved: he that believeth not shall be condemned”

Mark XVI, 26. We cannot therefore consistently accuse the church of want of charity, when she proclaims the general conditions of salvation, without at the same time charging Christ himself, who first taught them, with the same fault. True charity desires the salvation of all but she warns others of their danger; and does not cruelly conceal it from them till it is too late.]

[Footnote 87: After these prayers the faithful used anciently to leave the church, and the Priests to go to their own churches, to perform the ceremonies till the evening-service: so that what follows was then a totally distinct service. See Sacram S. Gregorii, ant. Ord. Roman, etc. ap. Martene lib. IV, c. 23.]

[Footnote 88: It would appear, that, before Costantine abolished the punishment of malefactors on the cross, the Christians, who well knew with S. Paul that Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the gentiles foolishness', prudently abstained from representing our Saviour nailed to the cross, and used rather to depict a lamb with a cross near it, of which instances may he seen in Rork's Hierurgia p. 520. The first mention of the _crucifix_ in the church is believed to occur in the poem t.i.tled _De Pa.s.sione Domini_ referred to the fourth century. That the use of the sign and the image of the _cross_ was much more ancient and very prevalent among Christians will appear from the following facts. ”At every step and movement” says Tertullian (in the early part of the third century) ”whenever we come in or go out, when we dress and wash ourselves, at table, when lights are brought in, whether we are lying or sitting down; whatever we are doing, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross”. Eusebius mentions that Constantine placed a magnificent cross De Vit. Const. I. 3. In the fourth century in his palace S. John Chrysostom in one of his eloquent homilies observes ”Every where the symbol of the cross is present to us. We inscribe it very diligently on our houses, and walls, and doors, and brows, and thoughts”. S.

Basil (De Spirit. S. ad Amphilochium c. 27.) derives the sign of the cross from Apostolic tradition. That this custom universally prevailed among Christians might be proved from S. Jerome, from the historian Socrates and others, and from monuments of the early Christians still preserved in Egypt: but why travel so far? we have only lo look around us in the catacombs, or in the Vatican Museum and Library. The cross is the chosen, the beloved sign of Christians; they repeated it a thousand times on their lamps, on their rings, on their cups and sacred vessels, that they might have the sign of their redemption ever before their eyes, they kissed it at the hour of their death, and had it marked on their tomb, as a sign of their hope of salvation. No sooner had peace shone upon the church, than crosses were erected on high roads, and in many places of public resort: and would to G.o.d that those sacred ancient monuments, which once adorned our own country, bore public testimony to the faith of its inhabitants, and recalled to the minds of pa.s.sers-by the sufferings of their Saviour, had not been too rudely treated in the first heat of religious and political frenzy! For some ancient representations of the cross see the learned work of Dr. Rock on the ma.s.s. I shall content myself with noticing an interesting instance, which he has not mentioned. At Pompeii the house of Pansa, as it is called, is one of the most remarkable yet excavated on account of its extent and regularity. Some parts of it were used as shops, and appear to have been let out, (as is still the custom in some palaces of Rome): for they have no communication with the body of the building. Between two parts thus separated is an entrance from a side street to the peristyle or open court surrounded by columns; and on the pier between the two doors is, or rather was a painting representing one of the guardian-serpents or tutelary deities, who were sometimes represented under that form, as we occasionally see at Pompeii, and as we learn from Virgil (lib.) V. Hence as we see in t.i.tus' baths and are informed by Persius, a place was considered sacred, in which serpents were painted. Indeed these reptiles became such favourites, that, according to Seneca, they used to creep upon the tables amid the cups: and some ladies so far overcame natural prejudices, as to place real serpents, if not boas, round their necks, to cool them, instead of using artificial boas to warm themselves.

”Si gelidum nect.i.t collo Glacilla draconem” says Martial. Before the serpent painted in Pansa's house is or was a projecting brick intended to support a lamp: the painting in consequence of its situation could be seen only by persons within the house: but upon the opposite wall there is or was a cross worked in bas relief upon a panel of white stucco, so situated as to be visible to all persons pa.s.sing. It had the form of a Latin cross, which, we may observe, as well as the Greek cross: is found upon ancient Christian monuments; though of course we cannot bring forward other instances so ancient as the monument in question. (See Rock p. 516). ”It is hard to conceive”, says the learned Mazois, ”that the same man should bow at once before the cross of Christ, and pay homage to Ja.n.u.s, Ferculus, Limetinus, Cardia, the deities of the threshold, and the hinges of doors. Perhaps at this time the cross was of a meaning unknown except to those who had embraced the Christian faith, which, placed here among the symbols of paganism, as if in testimony of grat.i.tude, informed the faithful, that the truth had here found an asylum with a poor man, under the safeguard of all the popular superst.i.tions”. So far Mazois, whose opinion is embraced by the author of the interesting work on Pompeii published by the society for promoting useful knowledge: but is it not probable, I may ask, or rather is it not certain that, at that early period, while some members of the same family were pagans, others were Christians? it is not then surprising if in the same house we find both Christian and Pagan emblems: we may suppose, that some such persons may have been inmates of the same house as Mr. Bulwer's pagan gladiator Lydon and his Christian father Medon. Pompeii was overwhelmed by ashes in the year of Christ 79: and if Vesuvius still occasionally lay waste the surrounding country, we are indebted to it for the preservation not only of a thousand cla.s.sical monuments, but also of a representation of the cross of Christ, which cannot be of a much later date than the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 89: St. Helen discovered the cross on which Christ suffered, and erected a church in Jerusalem, in which it was deposited.