(1) Material Objects in Liturgical Use; (2) Liturgical Forms connected
with Them; (3) Festivals Commemorative of the Holy Cross; (4) Rite of
the "Adoration"; (5) The Cross as a Manual Sign of Blessing; (6)
Dedications of Churches, etc. to the Holy Cross; (7) The Cross in
Religious Orders and in the Crusades; (8) The Cross outside of the
Catholic Church.
I. MATERIAL OBJECTS IN LITURGICAL USE
A. The Altar-Cross
As a permanent adjunct to
the altar, the cross or crucifix can hardly be traced farther back than
the thirteenth century. The third canon of the Second Council of Tours
(567), "ut corpus Domini in altario non in imaginario ordine sed sub
crucis titulo componatur", which has sometimes been appealed to prove
the early existence of an altar-cross, almost certainly refers to the
arrangement of the particles of the Host upon the corporal. They were
to be arranged in the form of a cross and not according to any fanciful
idea, of the celebrant (see Hefele, Conciliengeschichte). On the other
hand, Innocent III at the beginning of the thirteenth century in his
treatise on thee Mass says plainly, "a cross is set upon the altar, in
the middle between two candlesticks", but even this probably refers
only to the actual duration of the Holy Sacrifice.. From the ninth to
the eleventh century the rule is several times repeated: "Let nothing
be placed on the altar except a chest with relics of saints or perhaps
the four gospels or a pyx with the Lord's Body for the viaticum of the
sick (cf. Thiers, Sur les principaux autels des églises, l29 sqq.).
This no doubt was understood to exclude even the crucifix from the
altar, and it is certain that in various liturgical ivory carvings of
the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries no cross is shown. At the same
time it should be noted that the ciborium, or canopy over the altar,
was often surmounted by a plain cross, and also that the coronæ, or
ornamental circular frames which were suspended from the inner side of
the ciborium, frequently had a cross hanging down in their midst. Some
auch coronæ are explicitly referred to in the "Liber Pontificalis"
during the ninth century. The best-known existing example is the corona
of
Recesvinthus now at the
Musée de Cluny, Paris, in which the pendent cross is set with large
gems. The papal chronicle just referred to also mentions a silver cross
which was erected not over, but close beside, the high altar of St.
Peter's in the time of Leo III (795-816): "'There also he made the
cross of purest silver, gilded, which stands beside the high altar, and
which weighs 22 pounds" (Lib. Pont., Leo III, c. lxxxvii). It is
probable that when the cross was first introduced as an ornament for
the altar it was most commonly plain and without any figure of Our
Saviour. Such is the cross which a well-known Anglo-Saxon manuscript
represents King Cnut as presenting to Hyde Abbey, Winchester. But the
association of the figure of Christ with the cross was familiar in
England as early as 678, when Benedict Biscop brought a painting of the
Crucifixion from Rome (Bede, Hist. Abb., §99), and we can hardly doubt
that a people capable of producing such sculptural work as the stone
crosses at Ruthwell and Bewcastle, or the Franks' casket, would soon
have attempted the same subject in the solid. We know at any rate that
a gold crucifix was found in the tomb of St. Edward the Confessor, and
a crucifix is mentioned in one of the later Lives of St. Dunstan. That
such objects were sometimes used for the altar seems highly probable.
Still, Innocent III speaks
only of a cross, and it is certain that for several centuries later
neither cross nor crucifix were left upon the altar except at Mass
time. Even so late as the beginning of the sixteenth century an
engraving in the Guinta "Corpus Juris" shows the altar-crucifix being
carried in at High Mass by the celebrant, while in many French dioceses
this or some similar custom lasted down to the time of Claude de Vert
(Explication, IV, 31). At present the Cæremoniale Episcoporum assumes
the permanency of the crucifix on the altar, with its attendant
candlesticks.
B. The Processional Cross
When Bede tells us that St.
Augustine of England and his companions came before Ethelbert "carrying
a silver cross for a standard" (veniebant crucem pro vexillo ferentes
argenteam) while they said the litanies, he probably touched upon the
fundamental idea of the processional cross. Its use seems to have been
general in early times and it is so mentioned in the Roman "Ordines" as
to suggest that one belonged to each church. An interesting specimen of
the twelfth century still survives in the Cross of Cong, preserved in
the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. This is made of oak
covered with copper plates, but much decoration is added in the form of
gold filigreework. It lacks most of the shaft, but is two feet six
inches high, and one foot six inches across the arms. In the centre is
a boss of rock crystal, which formerly enshrined a relic of the True
Cross, and an inscription tells us that it was made for Turloch
O'Conor, King of Ireland (1123). It seems never to have had any figure
of Christ, but other processional crosses of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries are for the most part true crucifixes. In a great
number of cases the shaft was removable, and the upper portion could be
set in a stand to be used as an altar-cross. Indeed it seems not
impossible that this was the actual origin of the altar-cross employed
during Mass (Rohault de Fleury, La Meese, V, 123-140). Just as the
seven candlesticks carried before the pope in Rome were deposited
before or behind the altar, and probably developed into the six
altar-candlesticks (seven, it will be remembered, when a bishop
celebrates) with which we are now familiar, so the processional cross
seems also to have first been left in a stand near the altar and
ultimately to have taken its place upon the altar itself. To this day
the ritual books of the Church seem to assume that the handle of the
processional cross is detachable, for in the funeral of infants it is
laid down that the cross is to be carried without its handle. All
Christians are supposed to be the followers of Christ, hence in
procession the crucifix is carried first, with the figure turned in the
direction in which the procession is moving.
C. Archiepiscopal and Papal Cross
It is not easy to determine
with certainty at what period the archiepiscopal cross came into
separate use. It was probably at first only an ordinary processional
cross. In the tenth "Ordo Romanus" we read of a subdeacon who is set
aside to carry the crux papalis. If this specially papal cross had been
in existence for some time it is likely that it was imitated by
patriarchs and metropolitans as a mark of dignity which went with the
pallium. In the twelfth century the archbishop's cross was generally
recognized, and in the dispute regarding the primacy between the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York the right to carry their cross
before them played a prominent part. In 1125 Pope Honorius II
admonished the Southern bishops of England that they should allow
Archbishop Thurstan of York crucem ante se deferre juxta antiquam
consuetudiem. In all ecclesiastical functions an archbishop in his own
province has a right to be preceded by his cross-bearer with cross
displayed. Hence an archbishop when solemnly giving his blessing gives
it with head uncovered out of reverence for the cross which is held
before him. An ordinary bishop, who is not privileged to have such a
cross, blesses the people with his mitre on. As regards form, both the
papal and the archiepiscopal cross consists in practice of a simple
crucifix mounted upon a staff, the material being silver or silver
gilt. The crosses with double and triple bars, which are sometimes
termed distinctively archiepiscopal, patriarchal, or papal crosses,
have for the most part only a heraldic existence (see Barbier de
Montault, La croix à deux croisillons, 1883). An archiepiscopal cross
is borne with the figure turned towards the archbishop.
D. Pectoral Crosses
These objects seem
originally to have been little more than costly ornaments upon which
much artistic skill was lavished and which usually contained relics. A
jewel of this kind which belonged to Queen Theodelinda at the end of
the sixth century is still preserved in the treasury of Monza. .Another
of much later date, but wrought with wonderful enamels, was found in
the tomb of Queen Dagmar and is at Copenhagen. When the present Queen
Alexandra came to England in 1863 to marry the then Prince of Wales,
she was presented with a facsimile of this jewel containing, among
other relics, a fragment of the True Cross. Such encolpia were probably
at first worn by bishops not as insignia of rank, but as objects of
devotion. For example, a famous and beautiful jewel of this kind was
found in the tomb of St. Cuthbert and is now at Durham. When they
contained relics they often came later on to be enclosed in
processional crosses. This no doubt was the case with the Cross of
Cong, mentioned above, upon which we read in Irish characters the Latin
verse: Hac cruce crux tegitur qua passus conditor orbis.- See Journ.
Soc. Antiq. Ireland, vol. XXXI (1901). As a liturgical cross, and part
of the ordinary episcopal insignia, the pectoral cross is of quite
modern date. No word is said regarding it in the first edition of the
"Cæremoniale Episcoporum" of 1600, but later editions speak of it, and
its liturgical character is fully recognized by all modern rubricians.
It is worn bishops at Mass and solemn functions, and also forms part of
their ordinary walking-dress. It is usually a plain Latin cross of gold
suspended round the neck by a gold chain or a cord of silk and gold.
Its use seems gradually to have been introduced during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries in imitation of the pectoral cross which we
know to have been regularly worn by the popes from a much earlier date.
Certain metropolitans (e.g. the Patriarch of Lisbon and the Archbishop
of Armagh) are accustomed to wear a cross with two bars or transoms
(Anal. Jur. Pont., 1896, 344). The privilege of wearing a pectoral
cross has also been conceded to certain canons.
E. Consecration Crosses
These are the twelve
crosses, usually merely painted on the wall, which mark the places
where the church walls have been anointed with chrism in a properly
consecrated church. A candle-bracket should be inserted immediately
below. Some of these consecration crosses are even yet distinguishable
on the walls of old churches which go back to the Romanesque period.
The Carlovingian oratory in Nimeguen preserves, perhaps, the most
ancient known example. In other cases e.g. at Fürstenfeld, some of the
old Romanesque candle- brackets also remain. Owing to the number of
unctions, it was not infrequently the custom to place these
consecration crosses on shields, each borne by one of the twelve
Apostles. In the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, built by St. Louis in the
thirteenth century, we find twelve statues of the Apostles carrying
discs cases, used for this purpose. In England it was the custom to
mark twelve consecration crosses on the outside walls of the church as
well as twelve on the inside. The Roman Pontifical only prescribes the
latter. (See CONSECRATION.) Salisbury cathedral still preserves some
remarkable examples of consecration crosses. At Ottery St. Mary, Devon,
the old crosses are carved in high relief on shields borne by angels
within moulded panels, a quatrefoil in a square. Those inside have
marks of the remains of iron brackets for candles or a lamp. (See, on
English examples, Middleton in "Archæologia", XLVIII, 1885.)
F. Churchyard or Monumental Crosses
In the contemporary life of
St. Willibald (born c. 700) we have a significant mention of the
Anglo-Saxon custom of erecting a cross instead of a church as a
rendezvous for prayer. Many ancient stone crosses still surviving in
England are probably witnesses to the practice, and the conjecture of
Prof. Baldwin Browne (Arts in Anglo-Saxon England), that the cross and
graveyard often preceded the church in date, has much to recommend it.
Certain it is that the earliest known forms for blessing a cemetery
contain five blessings pronounced at the four points of the compass one
in the centre, thus forming a cross, while crosses were later on
planted in the ground at each of these places. Throughout the Middle
Ages, both in England and on the Continent, there seems always to have
been one principal churchyard cross. This was commonly an object of
great importance in the Palm Sunday procession when it was saluted with
prostrations or gunuflexions by the whole assembly. There was also a
scattering of boughs and flowers, and the cross was often decorated
with garlands or box. For this reason it was often called crux buxata
(cf. Gasquet, Parish Life, 1906, pp. 171-4). Many beautiful churchyard
crosses are still preserved in England, France, and Germany; the most
remarkable English examples being perhaps those of Ampney Crucis, near
Cirencester, and Bag Enderby, Lincolnshire. The famous ancient
Northumbrian crosses at Bewcastle and Ruthwell (whichEnglish scholars
still assign to the seventh and eighth centuries, despite the plea for
a much later date put forward by Prof. A. S. Cook of Yale) may possibly
have been principal churchyard crosses. The fact that they were
probably memorial crosses as well does not exclude this.
When St. Aldhelm died in
709, his body had to be transported fifty miles to Malmesbury, and at
each stage of seven miles, where the body rested for the night, a cross
was afterwards erected. These crosses were still standing in the
twelfth century (William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pont., 383). An even more
famous example of such memorial crosses, but of much later date, is
supplied by the removal of the body of Eleanor, Queen of Edward I, from
Lincoln to London. Several of these crosses in a more or less mutilated
form exist at the present day. The most famous of the series, however,
Charing (? Chère Reine) Cross in London, is a modern reconstruction.
The route followed by the body of St. Louis of France on its way to St.
Denis was similarly honoured, and it seems probable that a large number
of wayside crosses originated in this manner. No stronger testimony of
the early connection of the cross with the cemetery could be desired
than the directions given by St. Cuthbert for his own burial: "Cum
autem Deus susceperit animam meam, sepelite me in hâc mansione juxta
oratorium meum ad meridiem, contra orientalem plagam sanctæ crucis quam
ibidem erexi" (Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti).
G. Rood, Rood-Screen, and Rood-Loft
From very early times it
seems to have been not unusual to introduce a plain cross in such a way
into the mosaics of the apse or of the main arch (Truimphbogen) as to
dominate the church. Notable examples may be found at S. Apollinare in
Classe at Ravenna, at S. Pudenziana in Rome, and at the Lateran
basilica. There are also, as already noticed, incontestable examples
both of crosses surmounting the ciborium over the altar, and of the
large crosses suspended, with or without a corona, from the under side
of the ciborium. It must, however, be pronounced very doubtful whether
the rood, which in so many churches of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries occupied the great arch, can be regarded as a development of
this idea. This point will be more fully treated under ROOD-SCREEN. It
will be sufficient to notice here that in the thirteenth century a
practice grew up of screening off thechoir from the nave of the greater
churches by a structure broad enough to admit a narrow bridge or
gallery spanning the chancel arch and most commonly adorned by a great
crucifix with the figures of Our Lady and St. John. The rood-loft of
the cathedral of Sens, as described by J. B. Thiers (Traité sur les
jubés) affords a valuable hint of how this process was effected. It
consisted, he tells us, of two stone pulpits quite separate from each
other, supported by columns, and with a crucifix between them, each
having an entrance on the choir side and an exit down into the nave, on
either side of the principal door of the choir. From this it seems
probable that the two ambos from which the Gospel and Epistle were sung
in earlier times became gradually connected by a continuous gallery
upon which was erected a great crucifix, and that in this way we may
trace the development of the rood-loft, or jubé, which was so
conspicuous a feature in later medieval architecture. There can at
least be no doubt that this loft was used on certain occasions of
ceremony for reading the Epistle and Gospel and for making
announcements to the people. The great rood above the rood-screen was
saluted by the whole procession, as they re-entered the church on Palm
Sunday, with the words: Ave Rex noster.
H. Absolution Crosses
These have already been
spoken of in the article CHRISTIAN BURIAL. They seem for the most part
to have been rude crosses of lead laid upon the breast of the corpse.
It is only in some few examples, of which the most important is that of
Bishop Godfrey of Chichester (1088), that a formula of absolution is
found inscribed upon them entire. We may infer that the practice in the
West was always in some measure irregular, and it is only the
absolution paper which is uniformly placed in the hand or on the breast
of the corpse in the Eastern Church, which explains them and gives them
a certain imporance as a liturgical development.
J. Crosses on Vestments, etc.
Rubrical law now requires
that most of the vestments, as well as some other objects more
immediately devoted to the service of the altar, should be marked with
cross. Speaking generally this is a comparatively modern development.
For example, the great majority of stoles and maniples of the Middle
Ages do not exhibit this feature. At the same time Dr. Wickham Legg
goes much too far when he says without qualification that such crosses
were not used in pre-Reformation times. For example the stole of St.
Thomas of Canterbury preserved at Sens has three crosses, one in the
middle end one at each extremity, just as a modern stole would have.
That the archiepiscopal pallium, like the Greek omophorion was
always marked with crosses, is not disputed. The large cross
conspicuous upon most modern chasubles, which appears behind in the
French type and in front in the Roman, does not seem to have been
originally adopted with any symbolic purpose. It probably came into
existence accidentally for sartorial reasons, the orphreys having been
so arranged in a sort of Y-cross to conceal the seams. But the idea,
once suggested to the eye, was retained, and various symbolical reasons
were found for it. In somewhat of the same way a cross was marked in
the Missal before the Canon. and this the priest was directed to kiss
when beginning this portion of the Mass; probably this cross first
arose from an illumination of the initial T, in the words: Te igitur
clementissime Pater. As Innocent III writes, "Et forte divinâ factum
est providentiâ ut ab eâ literâ T [tau] canon inciperet quæ sui formâ
signum crucis ostendit et exprimit in figurâ"; and Beleth further
comments, "Unde profecto est, quod istic crucis imago adpingi debeat"
(SeeEbner, Quellen und Forschungen, 445 sqq.). The tradition is
perpetuated in the picture of the Crucifixion which precedes the Canon
in every modern Missal. The five crosses commonly marked on
altar-atones depend closely on the rite of the consecration of an altar.
K. Crosses for Private Devotion
These may all be held to
wear a liturgical aspect in so far as the Church, in the "Rituale,"
provides a form for their blessing, and presupposes that such a cross
should be placed in the hands of the dying. The crosses which surmount
the Stations of the Cross, and to which the Indulgences are directly
attached may also be noticed. In the Greek Church a little wooden cross
is used for the blessing of holy water, and is dipped into it in the
course of the ceremony.
II. LITURGICAL FORMS CONNECTED WITH THE MATERIAL OBJECTS
A. Blessing of Consecration Crosses
The "Pontificale Romanum"
directs that towards the close of the dedication ceremony the twelve
consecration crosses previously marked upon the walls of the church,
three upon each wall, are to be each anointed by the bishop with
chrism, the following form of words being spoken over each: "May this
Temple be hallowed + and consecrated + in the name of the Father + and
of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost + in honour of God and the glorious
Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, to the name and memory of Saint N.
Peace be to thee." This is prescribed in practically identical terms in
English pontificals of the tenth century; and the Pontifical of Egbert
(? 768) describes the anointing of the walls, though it does not give
the words or the form. What is more, an analogous ceremony must have
existed in the Celtic Church from a very early date, for a liturgical
fragment in the Leabar Breac describes how the bishop with two priests
is to go round the outside of the church marking crosses upon the
"tel-columns" with his knife, while the three other priests do the same
within (see Olden in "Trans. St. Paul's Eccles. Soc.", IV, 103). In
this case, however, the use of chrism is not mentioned. From this
Celtic practice the Anglo-Saxon and Sarum uses seem to have derived the
custom of affixing consecration crosses outside the church as well as
within.
B. Consecration of the Altar
In the consecration of an
altar, also, crosses are to be marked in chrism upon the altar-slab
with almost the same form of words as that used for the walls. This
practice may equally claim Celtic analogues, whose antiquity is shown
by the fact that the altar to be consecrated must have been of wood.
The Tract in the "Leabar Breac" says: "The bishop marks four crosses
with his knife on the four corners of the altar, and he marks three
crosses over the middle of the altar, a cross over the middle on the
east to the edge, and a cross over the middle on the west to the edge,
and a cross exactly over the middle." This makes seven crosses, but the
Roman usage for many centuries has provided five only.
C. Pontifical Blessings of Crosses
The consecration crosses on
the walls of churches and on altars are clearly not substantive and
independent objects of cultus; the blessing they receive is only a
detail in a longer ceremony. But the "Pontificale Romanum" supplies a
solemn form of episcopal blessing for a cross, under the title,
Benedictio novæ Crucis, which, besides containing several prayers of
considerable length, includes a consecratory preface and is accompanied
with the use of incense. At the conclusion of the ceremony we find the
rubric: "Tum Pontifex, flexis ante crucem genibus, ipsam devote adorat
et osculatur." This rite is of great antiquity, and many of the prayers
occur in identical terms in pontificals of the tenth century or
earlier, e.g. in the Benedictional of Archbishop Robert (Henry Bradshaw
Soc.). But in the ancient ceremony the cross was first washed with holy
water and then anointed with chrism precisely as in the form for the
blessing of bells (see BELLS). For cemetery crosses in this connection,
see CEMETERY.
D. Blessings of Crosses in the Ritual
The "Rituale Romanum" (tit.
VIII, cap. xxiv) supplies an ordinary blessing for a cross which may be
used by any priest. It consists only of a short prayer, with a second
prayer whose use is optional, and only holy water is used; but the same
rubric directing the priest to kneel and "devoutly adore and kiss the
cross" is added, which we have just noticed in the solemn episcopal
benediction. Furthermore, the Ritual, in an appendix, reprints the
longer form from the Pontifical under the heading: "Benedictiones
reservatæ, ab episcopo vel sacerdotibus facultatem habentibus
faciendæ". It may be noted thatSt. Louis, King of France, regarded it
as unseemly that crosses and statues should be set up for veneration
without being previously blessed. He accordingly ordered search to be
made for a form of blessing in the ancient episcopal ceremonials. The
form was found and duly used first of all in St. Louis' own private
chapel; but the incident seems to suggest that the practice of blessing
such objects had partly fallen into desuetude. (See Galfridus, De Bello
Loco, cap. xxxvi.)
E. Blessings of Crosses for Indulgences etc.
The indulgences most
commonly attached to crosses, crucifixes, etc., are: first, the
so-called "Apostolic Indulgences", which are the same as those attached
to objects blessed by the Holy Father in person. These are numerous
and, amongst other things, entitle the possessor who has habitually
worn or used such a cross to a plenary indulgence at the hour of death;
secondly, the indulgences of the Stations of the Cross, which under
certain conditions may be gained by the sick and others unable to visit
a church upon the recitation of twenty Paters, Aves, and Glorias before
the indulgenced cross which they must hold in their hand; thirdly, the
so-called "Bona Mors" indulgence for the use of priests, enabling the
priest by the use of this cross to communicate a plenary indulgence to
any dying person who is in the requisite dispositions to receive it;
Special faculties are needed to communicate such indulgences to
crosses, etc., though in the case of the "Apostolic Indulgences" these
faculties are easily obtained. The only blessing required is the making
of a simple sign of the cross over the crucifix or other object with
the intention of imparting the indulgence. For further details, the
reader must be referred to the article INDULGENCES and to such
treatises upon indulgences as those of Beringer, "Les Indulgences" or
of Mocchegiani, "Collectio Indulgentiarum" (Quaracchi, 1897). (See also
BLESSINGS.)
III. FESTIVALS OF THE HOLY CROSS
A. The Invention of the Holy Cross
This is now kept by the
Western Church upon 3 May, but so far as our somewhat uncertain data
allow us to judge, the real date of St.Helena's discovery was 14
September, 326. Upon this same day, 14 September, took place the
dedication of Constantine's two churches, that of the Anastasis and
that of Golgotha Ad Crucem, both upon Calvary, within the precincts of
the present church of the Holy Sepulchre. The portion of the Holy Cross
preserved in Jerusalem afterwards fell into the hands of the Persians,
but was recovered by the Emperor Heraclius, and, if we may trust our
authorities, was solemnly brought back to Jerusalem on 3 May, 629. This
day, strangely enough, seems to have attracted special attention among
Celtic liturgists in the West and, though disregarded in the East, has
passed through Celtic channels (we meet it first in the Lectionary of
Silos and in the Bobbio Missal) into general recognition under the
mistaken title of "Invention of the Cross". Curiously enough the Greek
Church keeps a feast of the apparition of the Cross to St. Cyril of
Jerusalem on 7 May, though that of 3 May is unknown in the East.
B. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
The Feast of the Exaltation
of the Cross, 14 September, though apparently introduced into the West
somewhat later than the so-called "Invention" on 3 May, seems to
preserve the true date of the discovery of the Cross by St. Helena.
This festival has always been kept in the East, and especially at
Jerusalem, on that day, under the name of, i.e. "elevation" which
probably meant originally the "bringing to light".
C. Other Feasts of the Cross
We might in some sense
regard such a festival as that of the Holy Lance and Nails as a
festival of the Cross, but it should perhaps rather be grouped with
feasts of the Passion. In the East, however, we find other celebrations
strictly connected with the Cross. For example, on 1 August theGreeks
commemorate the taking of the relic of the Holy Cross from the palace
in Constantinople to the church of St. Sophia, and on 7 May, as we have
seen, they recall an apparition of the Cross to St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
The Armenians, on the other hand, observe one principal feast of the
Cross, under the name Chatz, which occurs in autumn almost immediately
after the feast of the Assumption. It is counted as one of the seven
principal feasts of the year, is preceded by a week's fast, and
followed by an octave or its Armenian equivalent.
IV. THE "ADORATION"
From a theological
standpoint this is treated above under ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CROSS AND
CRUCIFIX. (See also LATRIA.) As a liturgical function the veneration of
the Cross on Good Friday must no doubt be traced back, as Amalarius
already in the ninth century correctly divined, to the practice of
honouring the relic of the True Cross at Jerusalem which is described
in detail in the "Pilgrimage of Etheria", c. 380 (see TRUE CROSS.) The
ceremony came to prevail everywhere where relics of the True Cross
existed, and by a very natural development, where relics failed any
ordinary cross supplied their place as an object of cultus. As
Amalarius again sensibly remarks, "although every church cannot have
such a relic, still the virtue of the Holy True Cross is not wanting in
those crosses which are made in imitation of it." Neither was this
veneration, in the case at any rate, of relics of the True Cross,
confined to Good Friday. St. Gregory of Tours uses language which may
possibly imply that in Jerusalem the True Cross was honoured every
Wednesday and Friday. It is certain that at Constantinople a Sunday in
Mid-Lent, the first of August, and the 14th of September were similarly
privileged. Even from early times there was no hesitation about using
the word adoratio. Thus, St. Paulinus of Nola, writing of the great
Jerusalem relic (c. 410), declares that the bishop offered it to the
people for worship (crucem quotannis adorandam populo promit), and
first adored it himself. (See P. L., LXI, 325.) A curious practice was
also introduced of anointing the cross, or, on occasion, any image or
picture, with balm (balsamo) before presenting it for the veneration of
the faithful. This custom was transferred to Rome, and we hear much of
it in connection with the very ancient reliquary of the True Cross and
also the supposed miraculous portrait of Our Saviour (acheiropoieta,
i.e. not made by the hand of man) preserved in the Sancta Sanctorum of
the Lateran, both of which recently, together with a multitude of other
objects, have been examined and reported on by papal permission (see
Grisar Die römische Kapelle Sancta Sanctorum und ihr Schatz, Freíburg,
1908, 91, 92). The objects mentioned were completely covered in part
with solidified balm. Pope Adrian I, in vindicating the veneration of
images to Charlemagne, mentions this use of balm and defends it (Mansi,
Concilia, XIII, 778). The ceremony of the adoration of the Cross on
Good Friday must have spread through the West in the seventh and eighth
centuries, for it appears in the Gelasian Sacramentary and is
presupposed in the Gregorian Antiphonarium. Both in Anglo-Saxon England
and in the England of the later Middle Ages the "Creeping to the Cross"
was a ceremony which made a deep impression on the popular mind. St.
Louis of France: and other pious princes dressed themselves in
haircloth and crept to the cross barefoot. At present, instead of
creeping to the cross on hands and knees, three profound double
genuflexions are made before kissing the feet of the crucifix, and the
sacred ministers remove their shoes when performing the ceremony. The
collection now commonly made on this occasion for the support of the
Holy Places seems also to date from medieval times.
V. MANUAL SIGN OF THE CROSS
For the Figure of the Cross
as a Manual Sign of Blessing the reader must be referred to the article
SIGN OF THE CROSS, also subtitles (4) of ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CROSS and
(1) of TRUE CROSS.
VI. DEDICATIONS OF CHURCHES, ETC. TO THE HOLY CROSS
Possibly one of the
earliest dedications to the Cross, if we put aside Constantine's church
upon Calvary known in Etheria's time as Ad Crucem and also the
Sessorian basilica which was its Roman counterpart, was the monastery
erected at Poitiers by St. Rhadegund in the sixth century. In behalf of
this foundation the saint begged and obtained a relic of the True Cross
from the Emperor Justin II at Constantinople.
The bringing of the relic
to Poitiers was the occasion of the composition of the two famous hymns
by Venantius Fortunatus, "Vexilla regis" and "Pange, lingua, gloriosi
prælium certaminis". In England perhaps the most famous monastery
bearing this dedication was the Holy Cross Abbey at Waltham, founded by
King Harold. At present about sixty ancient English churches are
dedicated to the Holy Cross, while twenty more bear the same dedication
in the distinctively-English form of "Holy Rood". The famous Holyrood
Palace in Edinburgh, once occupied by Mary Queen of Scots, derives its
name from a monastery of the Holy Rood upon the site of which it was
erected, and its church, now in ruins, was originally the church of the
monks.
VII. THE CROSS IN RELIGIOUS ORDERS AND IN THE CRUSADES
Although the older orders
were earnest in conforming to the general usage of the Church as
regards the veneration of the Cross, no distinctive cultus seems to be
attributable to the monasteries. The practice of carrying a crucifix as
part of the ordinary religious habit seems to be of comparatively
modern date. It is significant that, although in most modern
congregations of nuns the bestowal of the crucifix is a prominent
feature of the ceremony of profession, the service in the Roman
Pontifical, "De Benedictione et Consecratione Virginum", knows nothing
of it. It provides for the giving of rings and crosses but not of
crucifixes. Probably much of the stimulus given to devotion to the
crucifix may be traced ultimately to Franciscan influences, and it is
not mere coincidence that the development in art of the agonized and
thorn-crowned type of figure upon the Cross coincides more or less
exactly with the great Franciscan revival of the thirteenth century.
Somewhat earlier than the time of Francis an Italian Order of crociferi
(cross-bearers), distinguished by carrying as part of their costume a
plain cross of wood or metal, was founded in the neighbourhood
ofBologna to tend the sick, and several other orders, particularly one
established shortly afterwards in the Netherlands and still surviving,
have since borne the same or a similar name. In the case of the
Military Orders, for example, that of St. John of Jerusalem or Knights
Hospitallers, the cross impressed upon their habit has gradually become
distinctive of the order. It seems to have been originally only the
badge of the crusaders, who wore a red cross upon their right shoulders
as a token of the obligation they had taken upon themselves. The Roman
Pontifical still contains the ceremonial for the blessing and
imposition of the cross upon those who set out for the aid and defence
of the Christian Faith or for the recovery of the Holy Land. After the
cross has been blessed the bishop imposes it upon the candidate with
the words: "Receive the sign of the cross, in the Name of the Father +
and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost + in token of the Cross,
Passion, and Death of Christ, for the defence of thy body and thy soul,
that by the favour of the Divine Goodness when thy journey is
accomplished thou mayest return to thy family safe and amended [salvus
et emendatus]. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen." The crosses conferred by
sovereigns in connection with various orders of knighthood may probably
be traced to the same idea.
The various types of cross
have rather to do with heraldry or art than with the history of
Christianity. The names and shapes of the more common varieties can
best be gathered from the annexed table. For the vast majority the form
is purely conventional and artificial. Their divergence from the normal
type is a mere freak of fancy and corresponds to no attempt to
reproduce the shape of the gibbet on which Our Saviour died, or to
convey any symbolical meaning. The crux ansata, or cross with a handle,
and the crux gammata, or "fylfot", are much more ancient than
Christianity. (See in ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CROSS, (1) Primitive Cruciform
Signs.) The chrismon, or chi-rho, has already been mentioned as the
earliest forms in which the cross appear in Christian art [Section I
(4)]. The forms which it took varied considerably and it is difficult
to classify them chronologically. -With regard to the great Celtic
stone crosses, particularly in Ireland, we may note the tendency
conspicuous in so many specimens to surround the cross within a circle.
It is just conceivable that there isfoundation for regarding this
circle as derived from the loop of the Egyptian crux ansata.
VIII. THE CROSS OUTSIDE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
In the Russian Church the
conventional form in which the cross is usually shown is in fact a
three-barred cross, of which the upper bar represents the title of the
cross, the second the arms, and the lowest, which is always inclined at
an angle, the suppedaneum or foot-rest. In England it may be said that
in the early years of Elizabeth's reign a clean sweep was made of the
crosses so long venerated by the people. All the roods were ordered to
be pulled down, and the crosses were removed from the altars, or rather
the communion-tables which replaced the altars. The only check in this
movement was the fact that the queen herself, for some rather obscure
reason, insisted at first on retaining the crucifix in her own private
chapel. The presence of a crucifix or even a plain cross upon the altar
was long held to be illegal in virtue of the "Ornaments Rubrics". In
recent years, however, there has been a notable reaction, and crosses,
or even crucifixes, are quite commonly seen upon the altar of Anglican
churches. Again, in the reredos recently erected in St. Paul's
Cathedral in London a large crucifix, with the figures of St. Mary and
St. John, forms the most conspicuous feature. In Lutheran churches
there has always been much tolerance for the crucifix either upon or
behind the altar.
Written by Herbert Thurston. Transcribed by Wm Stuart French, Jr..
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume IV. Published 1908. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of
New York
Bibliography
It would not be easy to
provide an adequate bibliography for the very wide field covered by
this article. A few works may be mentioned of a more general
kind.--BÄUMER in Kirchenlex., VII, 1054-1088; QUILLIET in Dict. da
théol. cath., III, 2339-2363; HOPPENOT, Le crucifix dans l'histoire
(Lille, 1900); SEYMOUR, The Cross in Tradition, History and Art (New
York, 1898).-Both these last works are very comprehensive in scope, but
unfortunately quite uncritical.--STEVENS, The Cross in the Life and
Literature of the Anglo-Saxons (New York, 1904). ROHAULT DE FLEURY, La
Messe (Paris, 1885), specially valuable tor its illustrations of
liturgical crosses; KRAUS, Geschichte der christlichen Kunst (Freiburg,
1895-1908); COX AND HARVEY, English Church Furniture (London, 1907);
BINTERIM, Denkwürdigkeiten, IV, Part I, 496 sqq.; MARTÈNE, De Antiquis
Ecclesiæ Ritibus; THEIRS, Dissertation sur les principaux autels et sur
les jubés (Paris, 1688)
