Thursday 14 September 2023

The Feast of the Cross

Crucifixion by Zurbaran

Today the church commemorates the day when St Helena found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Being the mother of Emperor Constantine, who ended the persecutions in 313AD, Helena was determined to find the abandoned cross on which Jesus was crucified. The excavations actually found three crosses buried in Jerusalem close to Mount Calvary. To verify which was the actual cross of Christ, they asked a sick person to touch each cross.  When he touched the third one, the person was completely healed, and thereby they concluded which was Jesus's cross. King Constantine later on had a vision whereby he would see the Cross and the words inscribed IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, which means ‘With the sign of the Cross you shall win.’ Peace then reigned for a few centuries. Just about every artist painted the Crucifixion of Christ, and among them was Francisco de Zurbaran who left quite a few versions of this solemn moment. We adore you o Christ and we praise you, because by Your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

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