True Cross, Christian relic, said to be the wood of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Legend has it that the True Cross was found by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 326.
Relic of the True Cross for sale on Relics.es
In 326, Constantine's mother, Empress Helena , goes on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Helen is a devout Christian, and it is even said that she was the one who encouraged her son to convert to Christianity.
On the hill of Golgotha, at the very spot of the crucifixion, Helen had the ancient temple of Venus demolished and ordered the construction of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre . During the work, the place of Jesus' torture and three wooden crosses were discovered under the ancient slabs of the temple. The Empress went to the site and identified the Cross of Christ thanks to its titulus on which is engraved the inscription "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews". This major event is known as the Inventio Crucis or “Invention of the True Cross”.
Romanesque reliquary cross relic of the True Cross on Relics.es
The Cross was kept for a long time in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, with the exception of a small piece that Helen sent to her son, and the titulus that she takes with her to Rome.
Reliquary of the so-called Palatine Cross, contains the relics of the true Cross and the holy nail currently part of the treasure of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The fate of the True Cross from its discovery by Helen was tumultuous. Over the centuries, the Cross was cut into several parts and was subject to multiple removals for the making of relics . As the market for holy objects grew considerably during the Middle Ages, fakes began to circulate, some of which are still visible today in Europe and around the world.
The True Cross, first kept in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, was stolen by the Persians in 614. It was returned to the Christians in 630, an event celebrated under the name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross . But in 635, fearing the advance of the Muslims, the Christian emperor of the East decided to transfer it to Constantinople. For religious reasons, however, he left part of the Cross, probably half of the crosspiece (the patibulum ), in the Holy Sepulchre.
In 638, Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Muslims. At first, the cult of the fragment remaining in the Holy Sepulchre continued, with the occupants showing a certain tolerance. But in 1009, faced with the destruction of the churches and the increase in persecutions, The Christians of Jerusalem decide to hide him.
In 1099 , the fighters of the First Crusade, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, took Jerusalem and founded the Latin States of the East. On August 5, they unearthed the fragment kept secret and reinstalled it in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Pilgrims flocked in large numbers. This piece of the Cross became the symbol of the brand new Kingdom of Jerusalem and the knights took it to meet the enemy in each battle.
In 1187 , The crusaders suffered a terrible defeat during the Battle of Hattin , near the Sea of Galilee. The King of Jerusalem Guy de Lusignan is taken prisoner and hundreds of knights are massacred. Sultan Saladin seizes the fragment and conquers Jerusalem a few weeks later. The Christian world is in shock. The trace of this part of the Cross is lost forever.
The relics of the true cross on the site relics.es
The fate of the other parts of the True Cross.
Let us now consider the fate of the other parts of the Cross, the most considerable, preserved by the Eastern emperors. in Constantinople.
In 1203, the Pope launched the Fourth Crusade with the aim of retaking Jerusalem, but the expedition turned into a fratricidal war. The crusaders seized Constantinople, which was an ally, and founded the Latin Empire of the East which will survive for several decades. The leaders of this fragile territory claim the holy relics kept in the church of Notre-Dame du Phare. On the verge of bankruptcy, they decide to put them up for sale.
The acquisition of the True Cross by Saint Louis.
In 1238, the King of France Saint-Louis acquired the entire Bois, which were transferred to Paris three years later. See our article on the acquisition of the True Cross by Saint-Louis.
To house the precious relics, Saint-Louis had an exceptional building constructed in the heart of Paris: the Sainte-Chapelle . The True Cross will be exhibited there for a long time in the Great Shrine, a monumental safe and a true masterpiece of goldsmithing.
However, on the night of May 9-10, 1575 (reign of Henry III), the part of the True Cross that was usually presented for the devotion of the faithful for Holy Week was stolen. It was never found again. In 1576, Henry III replaced it with a copy inspired by the missing work. It would later be said that it was the king himself and his mother, Catherine de Medici, who was short of money, who organized the theft of this relic, in order to pledge it to Italy.
The story of the Cross of Jesus: its disappearance during the Revolution.
The fate of the True Cross changed when France entered the Revolution. The property of the clergy was seized, and voices were raised demanding the destruction of sacred objects. In 1794, at the height of the troubles, the relics are scattered and what remains of the True Cross disappears . It will never be found. Only a small piece of 24 cm will emerge a few years later (this piece is today attached to the treasure of Notre-Dame de Paris).
The earliest historical reference to the veneration of the True Cross dates back to the mid-4th century. By the 8th century, the accounts were enriched with legendary details describing the history of the wood of the cross before it was used for the Crucifixion.
The worship of the True Cross gave rise to the sale of its fragments, which were sought after as relics. Some Roman Catholic theologians who held that the blood of Christ gave the True Cross a kind of material indestructibility, so that it could be divided indefinitely without being diminished. These beliefs led to the multiplication of relics of the True Cross wherever Christianity developed in the medieval world, and fragments were deposited in most large cities and in many abbeys. Reliquaries for the fragments also multiplied, and some precious objects of this type survive.
The desire to reconquer or obtain possession of the True Cross was invoked to justify military expeditions, such as that of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius against the Persians (622-628) and the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204.
The Feast of the Finding of the Cross was celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on May 3 until it was removed from the Church calendar in 1960 by Pope John XXIII.
Barnard, John. The True Cross: History and Legends . London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
Brown, Raymond E. The Death of Jesus: Understanding the Cross . New York: HarperCollins, 1980.
Gow, Andrew. The Relics of the True Cross: A Historical Overview . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Kitzinger, Ernst. Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Relic . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Krejci, Milan. The True Cross: A Historical and Archaeological Perspective . Berlin: Springer, 2010.
Leclercq, Jean. The History of the Holy Cross: From the Early Church to the Middle Ages . Paris: Cerf, 1996.
Miller, William. The True Cross and Its Historical Significance . New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
Stewart, C. J. The Exaltation of the Cross: From Antiquity to the Present . London: Routledge, 2003.
Tugwell, Simon. Saint Helen and the True Cross: A History . New York: Routledge, 1999.
Van Loon, Hendrik Willem. The Relics of Christianity: An Introduction . Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2011.
1 comment
Extraordinaire