By Jacqueline Kelly –
The most wonderful thing that we know of Christ is that He was willing to undergo the infinite sacrifice of Calvary. He voluntarily laid down His life to become our ransom-price. He stooped to take our fallen nature upon Himself.
When the Old Covenant was made, it was sealed by the sacrifice of animals. The new and eternal covenant was sealed with the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. His blood is the blood of the “New and Eternal Covenant”.
Eve who was the mother of sinful mankind had been formed out of the side of Adam. The Church, mother of redeemed mankind, came forth from the side of the dying Saviour. Jesus’ death won life for His Church.
Crucifixion in those days was a punishment of escaped slaves and rebels against the Roman Empire. It was regarded as the most degrading kind of punishment. On this Good Friday, we come together to participate in the death of Jesus. Our perspective begins to change as we gaze at the Crucified Christ.
Saint Helena, built in Rome, the original Basilica known as Santa Croce in Gerusalemme to house the Passion Relics, which she brought to Rome from the Holy Land. Later, Benedict XIV [1740-1758] built the existing Basilica.
It was about eight in the morning when Jesus was led like a criminal before Pilate. The brutal guards dragged Jesus to the foot of the flight of stairs which led to the judgement-seat of Pilate. Now Pilate resorts to desperate measures. He handed Jesus over to a band of soldiers to scourge Him. They drove needles into the holes of His uprooted beard. Then they tied His hands behind His back and led Him walking out of prison with strikes and blows.
The Column of Scourging
The pillar where criminals were scourged stood to the north of Pilate’s palace, near the guard-house, and the executioners soon arrived, carrying whips, rods, and ropes. They were criminals from the frontiers of Egypt, who had been condemned for their crimes to hard labour. They struck our Lord with their fists, and dragged Him by the cords with which He was restrained from moving his arms and legs, and finally, they barbarously knocked Him down against the pillar. Jesus trembled and shuddered as He stood before the pillar, His hands were bloody and swollen. His brutal executioners took off His clothing and struck and abused Him. Jesus put His arms around the pillar, and when His hands were thus raised, the archers fastened them to the iron ring which was at the top of the pillar; they then dragged His arms to such a height that His Feet, which were tightly bound to the base of the pillar, scarcely touched the ground. One could hear the noise of the scourges, the moans of Jesus, the curses of the soldiers and the bleating of the Paschal lambs which were being washed in the pool not far away. They alone appeared to unite their lamentations with the suffering moans of our Lord. The archers passed cords around His waist, under His arms, and above His knees, and having bound His Hands tightly into the rings which were placed at the upper part of the pillar, they continued scourging Him with even greater fury than before; and one among them struck Him constantly on the Face with a new rod. He slipped out and fell down. Overwhelmed by this torture, He wept bloody tears. They struck Him with stones and burnt Him with blazing embers and torches. Jesus remained for a short time on the ground, at the foot of the pillar, bathed in His own blood. The soldiers then made our Lord put on His garments and awaited to inflict even greater insults and torments upon Him.
Saint Gregory Nazianzen who lived in the 5th Century said that the Scourging Column of Christ was shown on Mount Zion. A portion of this column is now kept in a glass and bronze reliquary in one of the side Chapels in the Basilica di Santa Prassede, a 9th century Church named after an early Christian martyr. At the top of the column is the metal loop where Christ was bound to during His scourging.
In 1009, Caliph Al-Hakim ordered the destruction of the Church of the Apostles, where the pillar had been moved. To avoid destruction, the pillar sculpted from Oriental Jasper, was first brought from Constantinople to Rome in 1223 by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, a 13th century prelate appointed by Pope Innocent III, who had been serving as Papal legate in the Holy Land during the 6th Crusade. The Latin Emperor gave him the pillar as a gift for Pope Honorius III in order to get his support The Cardinal accepted the gift, since Colonna in Italian means “pillar”.
The base of the column is kept in Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. Saint Charles Borromeo loved the Church of Saint Prassede and when he visited Rome, he celebrated Mass every morning in the Chapel of the Column.
The Crown of Thorns
A gallery encircled the inner court of the guard-house where our Lord was crowned with thorns. The soldiers tore off the garments of Jesus, thereby reopening all His wounds, threw over His Shoulders an old scarlet mantle; dragged him to the seat prepared and pushed him roughly upon it, having first placed the crown of thorns upon His Head. The crown of thorns was made of three branches plaited together; the greatest part of the thorns being deliberately turned inwards so as to pierce our Lord’s Head. Having placed these twisted branches on His forehead, they tied them tightly together at the back of His Head and put a large reed in His Hand. They then seized the reed, and struck His Head so violently that His eyes were filled with Blood; they knelt before Him, spat on His Face and punched Him. Then they threw down His stool pulled Him up again from the ground on which He had fallen, and re-seated Him with utmost brutality. He trembled all over, His flesh was torn to pieces, His tongue contracted, and the only refreshment He received was the Blood which trickled from His Head on to His parched lips.
The Crown of Thorns was made in a helmet- type shape and covered the whole Head of Jesus. It was a cactus-like interior plant with oval leaves and brightly coloured flowers. The hoop of the crown, about 12 centimeters large, is made of Juncus Balticus, a plant species typical of the Eastern Mediterranean basin.
In the Turin Shroud, scientists discovered a very high concentration of pollen grain from Gundelia Tournefortii, a species of thistle, found only in Judea, around the head area on the linen. This same thistle is one of the plants used in the Crown of Thorns.
Saint Paulinus of Nola wrote: “The Crown of Thorns was honoured together with the Holy Cross and the Pillar of the Scourging. Saint Gregory of Tours said: “The Thorns of the Crown still look green and fresh and this miracle is renewed each day.” The Crown of Thorns was venerated in Jerusalem for many years but in 1063, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine X ordered the Crown to be moved to Constantinople. In 1238, the Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, offered the Crown to King St. Louis of France, so that he would give Constantinople his support. At that time the Crown was being held by the Venetians because of a loan and in 1239, St Louis took the relic to Paris and had the Sainte-Chapelle built [1241-1248] to house it. The Crown is kept in a reliquary of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and is exposed for public veneration on Good Friday. All the thorns are removed from the Crown and placed in reliquaries- but the round woven part of the Crown is in a sealed glass reliquary. It survived a devastating fire in April, 2019 that destroyed the Church’s roof and spire.
The Crucifixion Nails
The executioners fearing that Jesus might die, and thus deprive them of the barbarous pleasure of crucifying Him, placed Him on the Cross so that, they might nail Him to it. Then seizing His right arm, they dragged it to the hole prepared for the nail, and having tied it tightly down with a cord, one of them knelt upon His sacred Chest, a second held His Hand flat, and a third taking a long thick nail, pressed it on that adorable Hand. Our Lord uttered one deep but suppressed groan, and His blood gushed forth and splashed on the arms of the archers.
When the executioners had nailed the right Hand of our Lord, they saw that His left Hand did not reach the hole they had gouged to receive the nail. Therefore, they tied ropes to His left arm, and having steadied their feet against the cross, pulled the left Hand violently until it reached the place prepared for it. This dreadful process caused our Lord indescribable agony. His chest heaved. They again knelt upon Him, tied down His arms, and drove the second nail into His left Hand; His Blood flowed afresh, and, His feeble groans were once more heard between the blows of the hammer.
The executioners had fastened a piece of wood at the lower part of the cross where the Feet of Jesus would be nailed, to prevent the bones of His Feet from being broken when nailed to the cross. They then fastened His left Foot on to His right Foot, having first made a hole through them with a sort of piercer. Next, they took a very long nail and drove it completely through both Feet into the cross below. This act was extremely painful, on account of His Body being completely stretched out.
At the descent from the Cross, Joseph of Arimathea took out the nail from the left Hand and Nicodemus took out the right nail. The centurion Abenadar, with great difficulty, drew out the large nail which transfixed the Feet. Longinus, devoutly received the nails, and laid them at the feet of the Blessed Virgin.
Saint Ambrose informs us that three nails were found with the Holy Cross of Jesus. Saint Helena put one of the nails in Constantine’s crown and the other in the bridle of Constantine’s horse. Thus, fulfilling the prophecy of Zacharias: “In that day, that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord.”
According to Theodoret of Cyrus, the two places where the horse’s harness is venerated is in Carpentras, France and the other in Milan, Italy
One of the two nails which was placed in the crown of Constantine is now housed in the Cathedral of Monza, Italy and has long been known as the “Iron Crown of Lombardy”. This crown was used for the crowning of Charlemagne.
The third nail was sent to the Holy Cross Basilica in Rome where it is kept in a beautiful reliquary.