Jesus is stripped of His garments

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

All is now ready; the wood of the Cross has been screwed together and made perfectly strong and firm; the ropes for raising it are in their places, the holes for nails are bored.  Time presses, not a moment must be lost!  Jesus is now lead forth and the stripping off of His garments begins.  Of course the crown of thorns is the first thing taken off, the "the vesture that is without seam" could only be removed by dragging it over the head of the Saviour.  That "vesture" was soaked with the blood of the Sufferer and stuck to the unhealed wounds inflicted on Him in the scourging, so that when it was torn off much fresh suffering must have been caused by the pulling away with it of portions of lacerated flesh.  The seamless garment removed, nothing was left but the short linen drawers such as are are worn by all Jews.  Certain critics assert that even these were taken off, so as to make the Victim drink the very dregs of shame, and that one of the Holy Women, some say the Blessed Virgin herself, came forward to offer to the Saviour a garment to cover His nudity.  Yet others claim that it was a young man who arrived in the very nick of time to supply the Sufferer's need.

However that may be, there is little doubt that when on the Cross Jesus was girt about the loins with linen drapery.  It would indeed have been a most extraordinary exception had it been otherwise in a Jewish country. Nevertheless, a certain number of the Fathers of the Church have asserted their belief in the complete nudity of the Saviour at His execution, seeing in it many beautiful mystic meanings, such as the parallel which will naturally occur to everyone, between the nudity of the first man and that of the second Adam.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Jesus taken from the old cistern

Jesus taken from the old cistern. J-J Tissot

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

According to an old Greek tradition, this is what happened between the arrival at Calvary and the Crucifixion on a certain spot now enclosed within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and there venerated by the Christian believer.  Some of the escort of the Saviour where engaged in preparing the wood for the Cross, whilst others put the pieces together and placed in the right position the cord for raising the instrument of death when the Victim should be bound to it.  Whilst all this was going on in the very restricted space at the disposal of the executioners, it was only natural that the guards should have cleared the ground as much as possible and are put the prisoners out of the way for the time being.  Jesus, says the tradition referred to above, was therefore removed to an old excavation in the rock, rather like the cistern of a well, situated a few paces off, on the northwest of the platform of Calvary.
The archers pushed Him roughly along making Him fall on His knees more than once in the short distance, and then flinging Him into the cave all bleeding and bruised.  There, His feet were passed through two holes in a stone and fastened together with a chain, and thus bound the Sufferer was left in the pit with a guard on watch.  The two thieves, still bound to the cross beams of their respective crosses, had to lie on the ground, for in that position they were less likely to be able to make any attempt at escape.
The preparations meanwhile went briskly forward, and when they were on the point of completion, the soldiers went to fetch the chief Victim and drew Him forth from the pit to lead Him to the platform of Golgotha.  "As He took the last few painful steps to what was to be the scene of His Crucifixion," says Anne Catherine Emmerich, "the archers never ceased to rain blows and outrages upon Him.  The people standing by and seeing what was going on, also insulted Him, whilst the Roman soldiers, cold and indifferent as was their custom, contented themselves with nearly maintaining order."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Disciples watch from afar

Saint Luke - Chapter 23

The Disciples watch from afar. J-J Tissot

[49] Stabant autem omnes noti ejus a longe, et mulieres, quae secutae eum erant a Galilaea, haec videntes.
And all his acquaintance, and the women that had followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The time wears on, the hours of this fateful Friday pass slowly by, in suffering for Jesus, in anxiety four His disciples.  After their first moment of terror they have come forth from their hiding place in the tombs Hinnom.  They climb up the Valley of Gihon and cautiously advance under cover of the walls of Herod's Palace and can see the crowd surrounding Golgotha.  Step by step they creep along, deeply moved by what they rightly imagine to be going on.  By skirting along the height on the northwest of the town, they can look on from a distance and the gradual development of the mighty drama of the Cross.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Holy Women look on from afar

Saint Luke - Chapter 23

The Holy Women stood afar off, beholding these things. J-J Tissot

[49] Stabant autem omnes noti ejus a longe, et mulieres, quae secutae eum erant a Galilaea, haec videntes.
And all his acquaintance, and the women that had followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The crowd had now been driven away from the scene of the approaching Crucifixion by the soldiers on guard.  The Cross was being made ready and had assumed its final form by the addition of the title set up above it, which had been carried thus far by the herald.  The enemies of Jesus tried to cause the tumult on account of the tenor of this description: "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." They understood well enough that Pilate, in inscribing such a title as this, intended to mock them by an allusion to their dependence on Rome, and they had tried to make him alter it by saying " Write not the King of the Jews; but that he said: I am the King of the Jews"; to which Pilate had replied haughtily enough: "What I have written, I have written."

The holes for the nails were made beforehand by piercing the wood so as to save trouble at the end.  The nails were, in fact, used like pegs, and of course preliminary measurements are to be taken, which occupied a good deal of time.  Whilst the men whose duty it was to prepare the Cross were going to and fro, a cordon of sentinels, chosen from amongst the Roman soldiers, surrounded the little hill.

According to certain traditions which have come down to us, the legion then on duty at Jerusalem consisted of men from Switzerland and Gaul.  They dispersed the spectators and kept them at a distance, so that Mary the Mother of Jesus and the other Holy Women were not able to approach near to Jesus.  Amongst the Holy Women were Mary, the wife of Cleophas and sister of the Blessed Virgin; the mother of James the Less and of John Salome with Mary Magdalene.

From the distance they could only see the general stir of preparation for the execution; but no doubt Saint John, who, as already stated, could circulate freely amongst the authorities, came to them now and then within news of such details as he observed.  The spot where the Holy Women are supposed to have waited is indicated in the church of the Holy Sepulchre by an iron grating.  According to tradition, it was not until Jesus was laid upon the Cross and the first moans were wrung from Him by the anguish caused by the driving of the nails into His hands, that the loving watchers unable any longer to refrain themselves, forced their way onto the Mount Calvary, the sentinels letting the Mother of the condemned Victim pass, and with her her immediate attendants.

They are said to have taken up their stand at the edge of the platform, on the spot overlooking the rock above a natural excavation which had there been hollowed out.  Later, Saint Helena, when she was superintending the preparation on Calvary of the site for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, raised that portion of the ground which overlooked the scene of the Crucifixion.  The actual spot where the Virgin had stood was, however, venerated and indicated by a commemorative chapel.

Even now, 2000 years afterwards, we regret the changes made in the sacred sites by Saint Helena, but, at the time, no one gave any special care to the preservation intact of spots which have since become so celebrated.  The Empress and her contemporaries were content if they marked the scene of any great event, and, for that point secured, the architects levelled or shored up the ground and built over it at their leisure.  Porticoes rose up on every side, ornate basilicas enclose, with the columns upholding their roofs, the venerated sites always, alas, at the expense of the original appearance of those sites.

The Mussulmans, on the other hand have set us Christians an example we should have done well to follow in their Es-Sakhra Mosque, built on the site of an ancient temple, for in it we see to our surprise a great rough unhewn rock in exactly the same condition as it was at the time of Abraham, enshrined within one of the richest Muhammad places of worship in the world.  The columns of the porphyry known as verd-antique come from the old Temple; they uphold a cupola adorned with mosaics in various shades of greenish blue and the whole sanctuary serves as the reliquary to these rude and primitive mass of rock, producing an effect of transcendental vitality.

There is nothing in the least resembling this in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; everything is over- laden and disguised by marble slabs, bas-reliefs and ornaments in gold repoussé work, which dazzle and bewilder the spectator.  In spite of all this, however, the church is very impressive, and the memory of all that took place where it stands pierces, so to speak, through the marble and the gilding, and touches the believer to the heart.

What we have said with regard to the spot where the Virgin Mother prayed applies with equal force to the tomb which received the body of the Saviour.  Originally it was hewn in the living rock, so that it was subterranean and was backed by a mass of rock which has since disappeared.  Of the actual sepulchre nothing has been preserved but the stone trough in which the body was laid and part of the partition which formed the two chambers of the tomb with their contiguous entrances.  This partition is faced with marble and is about five feet high.  The actual tomb was cut away and replaced by a little monument in a court, which court gradually grew into a covered-in basilica.

As a matter of course the same fate befell Golgotha itself: it was cut about and levelled; the slopes were done away with and it was covered over by yet another monument, which was eventually joined on to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the same time, all the sites indicated by tradition as worthy of the veneration of Christians were covered over and protected.  The well or system in which the crosses were found became a special chapel, and the vast agglomeration of monuments grew in the time of Saint Helena into a magnificent temple.  After it had been burnt by Chosroes and the Persians it was rebuilt and gradually added to. The Muslims really did that Church of the Holy Sepulchre very little harm, and, though the Crusaders added various buildings, they did not change in any way the actual character of the venerated sanctuaries on the sacred sites, for they have remained much the same since their restoration.

All that was done when the domes of the buildings were burnt was to replace them with others, more or less in harmony with a taste of the day, so that at present this vast church is made up of the most diverse elements: lofty domes alternating with low cupolas, small chapels, dark passages, mysterious-looking staircases, gloomy crypts, nooks and corners dimly lit up by burning tapers; sanctuaries one blaze of decoration, all massed together and jostling each other in a manner so extraordinary, yet so wonderfully effective, that they make an indelible impression upon the mind of the Pilgrims whose privilege it is to visit them.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The procession arrives at Calvary

Saint Mark - Chapter 15

The procession arrives at Calvary. J-J tissot

[22] Et perducunt illum in Golgotha locum : quod est interpretatum Calvariae locus.
And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Many paths lead up the slopes of Calvary, and Jesus is compelled to take the shortest, which is also the steepest.  Simon the Cyrenian, with his two sons, Alexander and Rufus, at a little distance behind, come to help Him to rise as He falls for the last few times.  The thieves follow Him, each bearing the upper portion of his own cross, called in Latin the patibulum, which, according to Plautus, condemned criminals were compelled to carry all round the town before their execution.  The assistants bring up the rear laden with everything which will be required for the erection of the crosses and for the carrying out of all the legal formalities; one has the nails, hammers and ropes, another the vinegar and the wine mixed with myrrh, etc.  The Pharisees and the Chief Priests, mounted on horses or essays, take easier path, which makes more of a detour, to reach the platform of Golgotha, where they look forward to gloating on all the terrible details of the execution.  On the left can be seen the wall enclosing the Garden of Joseph of Arimathæa in which is a sepulchre hewn out of the living rock, where Jesus was soon to be buried.

In Palestine the grass, continually browsed on as it is by a sheep and goats, is cropped extremely short, and, after the rains of the winter and the spring, it resembles a very closely-woven carpet which disappears altogether during the first try weeks of summer.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Golgotha / Calvary (Notes)

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

With a view to helping the reader to form an accurate idea of the scene of the Crucifixion, which is so much importance for all who would follow the Gospel narrative, we have done our best to give a faithful restoration of Calvary and the districts surrounding it, as they were to 1000 years ago.  At the present day, all the sacred sites are covered over with buildings: temples, chapels, galleries, courts, domes, etc., enshrining them like relics in a reliquary, and these various structures at first sight appear very complicated and confusing, too much so, perhaps.  As a matter of fact, the erection of these various works necessitated a very considerable levelling of the soil, and the slopes of the little mountain have been constantly tampered with from early Christian times until the present day.

Jerusalem. J-J Tissot

Our plans will serve to give some idea of the original appearance of the district.  To begin with, here is the elevation known as Calvary or Golgotha which was, has already stated, but a few feet high.  The first of these names is the Latin translation of the second, which signifies "the place of a skull" or merely a skull.  What was the origin of this name it is difficult to say.  Some are of opinion with  Saint Jerome that it simply indicates the place where capital sentences were carried out; but in reply to this we must call attention to the fact that amongst the ancients there were no special spots set apart for execution, and, moreover, if this interpretation were correct, the word skull should be in the plural.

Others suggest that the name of skull merely referred to the form of the hill, which originally more or less resemble that of a cranium, and this is the interpretation more generally have received by writers of the present day, who in this respect follow Cyril of Alexandria.  Lastly, according to an old legend, the hill was called the ''place of a scull'' because the skull of Adam, which had been preserved by Noah, was buried in it.  Saint Jerome, alluding to this tradition, says: "it tickles the ears of the people, but for all that it is not true."

Calvary as seen from the Gate of Judgement. J-J Tissot

On the summit of Calvary can be seen the holes in which the three crosses were placed, a low wall encircling the sacred spot.  In the foreground a ruin will be noticed, at the bottom of which is a pit into which the beams which had formed the instruments of the execution, that is to say, the crosses of the Saviour and of the two thieves, were thrown after the crucifixion.  It was Saint Helena who in the first instance discovered them, when she was having some excavations made under the guidance of an old Jew who knew the tradition relating to the site. 

At the top of the slope leading down to this pit is the spot where the soldiers cast lots for the garments of Jesus, and a little lower down is the cistern to which the Master is said to have been allowed to retire was the cross was got ready for His execution.  Beyond Golgotha, on the slope to the right, can be seen the entrance to the Garden of Joseph of Arimathæa, surrounded by low wall, above which is seen the top of the Holy Sepulchre, whilst in the background rises the Palace of Herod, with its towers standing out against the landscape between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Calvary as seen from Herod's Palace. J-J Tissot

In this restoration, the three holes in which crosses were placed can be seen again in their little enclosure, whilst behind them are the walls of the town and the Gate of Judgment.  In the distance, beyond the massive buildings of the Temple and the Antonia Tower, rises the Mount of Olives with Mount Scopus on the left where Titus encamped when he besieged Jerusalem.  Below the summit of Calvary is the cave named after Melchisedech. 

According to the legend quoted above relating to the skull of Adam, that skull was placed in this cave by Shem, who received it from Noah as a special privilege, on account of his having been the founder of the favoured race which was to give birth to the Messiah.  And Shem, actuated by prophetic insight, deposited the skull on the very spot on which she knew that the Messiah was to die, and, continues the legend, when the Saviour died and the rocks were rent in twain, the blood which flowed from the cross ran down through the fissures of the cave till some of it reached the skull and washed away the sins of the first man.  The words of St. Paul (in Ephesians, chapter 5 verse 15): " Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" are by some critics supposed to refer to this incident. 

Hence Saint Ambrose, commenting on the Gospel of Saint Luke, teaches that Christ was crucified on Golgotha because it was fitting that the life which we should receive through the Redeemer should begin where he through whom death first entered the world was buried.  It is necessary to add, however, that the Doctors of the Church never gave any serious credit to this quaint legend, which was, moreover, rendered still more incredible from the childish details added to it from time to time.  If the early Christian writers did sometimes turn it to account, it was only out of condescension to the popular belief, and they have generally, even then, referred to it in a doubtful kind of way.  In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas quotes the legend only to refute it as altogether untrue, and he confirms what was said on the subject by Saint Jerome.  He adds that it is but at clumsy invention, for, on his part, he fails to see the special significance of the presence of the skull on Golgotha which is the foundation of the story, pointing out that if the blood of Christ did flow onto the skull of Adam, that could only be looked upon as a sign of the personal salvation of the first man, but that if, as is more generally supposed, that blood flowed into the common sepulchre of those who had suffered death on this place of execution, the symbol at once assumes a far higher signification, in that it shadows forth the salvation of the whole human race and the rescue from eternal damnation brought about by the death of Christ upon the cross.

Plan of the Holy Sepulchre Church. J-J Tissot

In front of the cave is a flat stone called the Stone of Anointing, on which the body of Jesus was placed after the deposition from the Cross, to be washed and anointed with spices.  Nearer to the spectator is another flat stone of considerable size, on which it is said some of the Holy Women stood at the beginning of the crucifixion.  Later, the Blessed Virgin with Mary Magdalene and Mary Salome, approached the platform of Calvary on the right, to look on from thence at the execution.  On the left can still be seen the wall of the Garden of Joseph of Arimathæa, which is partly hewn out of the living rock.  Still farther to the left is a suburb of Jerusalem with its numerous houses. 

This is what happened to the spot here depicted after the death of Christ, and which explains how it came about that Calvary is now within the walls of Jerusalem.  That hiatus having destroyed the city, it was rebuild by degrees, and at the time of the revolt of Bar-Coceba there were a very great many Jews in the town.  Hadrian was compelled to besiege it yet again; it was once more converted into a ruin, and Tyrannus Rufus, then Governor of Judæa, was ordered to pass the plough over the site where the Temple had once been, to mark the fact that unless by express order of the Roman senate the spot should never again be built upon.  At the same time Hadrian forbade the Jews under pain of death to return to Jerusalem, and he established in the once Jewish City a Roman colony, which he called Aelia Capitolina.  The new town was not, however, built on exactly the same site as the old had been, but extended father to the north, so that the site of Calvary became almost the centre of Aelia Capitolina, and has remained in that position until the present day.  The site was, in fact determined beyond a doubt twelve years after the death of Christ by the building of an enclosure wall by Herod Agrippa.

Calvary with Church of Holy Sepulchre. J-J Tissot

Certain scholars have of late contested on topographical grounds the authenticity of perhaps Golgotha, that is to say, of the site hitherto recognized as that of Golgotha, and they have made a great fuss about their pretended discovery.  Their assertions can, however, be triumphantly overthrown, and there is absolutely no doubt that the Golgotha we know was the scene of the death of the Saviour.  Authors who recognise it as the usual place of execution with the Jews, remark with good reason what a change was wrought in the fate of the little mountain by the crucifixion of Christ on it.  Instead of an isolated, insignificance spot, it has become so to speak, the centre of the universe; instead of a cursed place, it has become the focus of the veneration and adoration of the whole human race.  For, to quote from the celebrated hymn writer Seduliuss, Christ has clothed suffering with honour and has rendered even torments blessed:

Pœnam vestivit honore
Ipsaque sanctificans in se tormenta beavit

With a view to enabling our readers to understand what Calvary was like in the time of Our Saviour we have given a plan of the ancient Golgotha and also one of the buildings now occupying the site of the scene of the Crucifixion.  A comparison between the two cannot fail to throw some light upon the identification of the various features of the sacred spot, for, as Lamartine has justly remarked (Voyage en Orient, vol. one, page 434), "the Holy Sepulchre and Calvary are confounded together and as it were merged in the vast labyrinth of domes, buildings and streets environing them", and it is equally difficult to determine the exact site of Calvary and that of the Holy Sepulchre, which, in spite of the impression given by the Gospel narrative, must have been upon an isolated hill outside the walls and not in the centre of Jerusalem.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Daughters of Jerusalem

Saint Luke - Chapter 23

Daughters of Jerusalem. J-J tissot

[27] Sequebatur autem illum multa turba populi et mulierum, quae plangebant et lamentabantur eum.
And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him.

[28] Conversus autem ad illas Jesus, dixit : Filiae Jerusalem, nolite flere super me, sed super vos ipsas flete et super filios vestros.
But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

[29] Quoniam ecce venient dies in quibus dicent : Beatae steriles, et ventres qui non genuerunt, et ubera quae non lactaverunt.
For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck.

[30] Tunc incipient dicere montibus : Cadite super nos; et collibus : Operite nos.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us.

[31] Quia si in viridi ligno haec faciunt, in arido quid fiet?
For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The procession has passed through the Gate of Judgment and now halts beyond it for the coming up of the rearguard, which has been delayed by the necessity of keeping back the crowds.  At the small gateway itself the pressure has become immense and the people are wedged together in dense masses; the procession itself, on the other hand, has now emerged from the narrow streets and the precautions against surprise must be redoubled, for the Governor is still anxious, there being always some fear of a revolt.  The many women who have followed at a distance are now able to approach Jesus, with others who happened just then to be in the neighbourhood of the Well of Amygdalum or of Hezekiah.  Their waving and sobs add yet more to the pathos of the scene of which the exhausted and tottering Victim is the central figure.  Jesus, availing Himself of the brief halt at the foot of Mount Golgotha, which He has soon to climb, turns to the weeping women and answers their compassionate outcry with a few solemn words which are His last exaltation before His death: "Weep not for me but for yourselves and for your children." There is now but one more effort to be made, and, still with the aid of Simon of Cyrene, Jesus resumes the painful march.  It is now about 12.30.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Saint Veronica

A holy woman wipes the face of Jesus. J-J Tissot

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Jesus is still painfully toiling up the long narrow street skirting the longer one of the inner walls of the town and leading up to Calvary.  The higher He climbs the more slowly He goes.  He is panting for breath beneath His load, in spite of the help of the Cyrenian.  From time to time He is compelled to pause, altogether overwhelmed with fatigue and exhausted from the loss of so much blood.

Tradition now intervenes with a touching story of how a lady of Jerusalem, a great lady connected with many of the chief Jewish families and, moreover, secretly in intimate relations with the family and friends of Jesus, approached the Sufferer, eager to do something to console Him.  According to some accounts, her name was Berenice, but Catherine Emmerich speaks of her as Sieraphia, the wife of Sirach, a member of the Sanhedrim.  Whatever her original name may have been, however, she has ever since been known in Catholic tradition by the symbolic title of Veronica, from the words vera icon, signifying true portrait, and referring to the miracle said to have been affected by her means.

Learning that the procession would pass her house, this good woman determined to seize the opportunity of showing once more her reverence and compassion for the Master.  She had prepared a cordial which should restore His strength, and just as the group of which the Lord was the central Figure was passing her door, she issued from her house, which was on the left side of the street, so as to meet Him face to face.  "She was veiled", says Catherine Emmerich, "and a piece of linen hung from her shoulders; a little girl of nine years old followed her, and she waited as the procession advanced towards her, holding a vessel full of wine hidden beneath the mantle.

Those who were marching at the head of the procession tried in vain to drive her back.  Inspired by love and by compassion she forced her way, with the child clinging to her robes, through the mob, the soldiers and the archers, till she got close to Jesus, when she flung herself on her knees before Him, offering Him the linen, saying: "Permit me to wipe the face of my Saviour." Jesus took the linen in His left hand and applied it to His bleeding Face; He then pressed it a little between that hand and the right, which was holding the Cross, and gave it back to Seraphia, thanking her for it.

Now Jesus, wishing to recompense Seraphia for this act of pious pity, had so used the linen cloth that, with the blood from His wounds which filled all the hollows of His face, His beard, His eyebrows and His nostrils, He had produced the perfect likeness of His features upon the surface of the cloth.  No doubt the linen was in this case a kind of veil of very fine material such as Jewish women were in the habit of wearing on the head and shoulders.  Saint Veronica treasured it up with pious reference, handing it over later to the care of the Church, and it is now preserved and shown to the faithful at Rome.

It is only fair to add that to other Holy Faces similar to the one just described are shown, one at Jerusalem, the other in Spain.  Father Calmet is of opinion that these are impressions from the first taken, or original vera icon.  Several other impressions of a similar kind are venerated in various places.  At Besançon, before the Revolution, a shroud was preserved and honoured as bearing an impression of the whole body of the Lord, and at Carpentras, in the south of France, there is, I believe yet another such shroud.  As is well known, the body of Jesus was wrapped in shrouds, each of which would, of course, retain the impression of His sacred form.

The Holy Face. J-J Tissot

"After Veronica had wiped the face of the Master", continues Catherine Emmerich, "the young girl timidly raised a vessel of wine towards Jesus, but the archers and soldiers with insulting words prevented Him from receiving that refreshment.  It had been thanks only to her great boldness and to the fact that the crowd had for a moment arrested the progress of the procession that Seraphia had managed to offer the linen cloth.  The Pharisees and archers, enraged at the halt and that the public homage rendered to the Saviour, now began to goad and strike Him, whilst Veronica withdrew into her house.  She had scarcely re-entered her chamber and laid the linen cloth on the table, before she fainted away and the little girl fell on her knees beside her, weeping burning tears.  A friend of the house found them thus, with the linen cloth unfolded, on which was impressed the remarkably lifelike likeness of the bleeding face of Jesus.  Terrified at what he saw, the friend restored Veronica to consciousness and showed her the portrait of the Saviour.  She fell on her knees before it crying: "Now I will forsake everything, for the SavioUr has honored me with a memorial of Him."

In the account of all this given by the clairvoyante, Anne Catherine Emmerich, other more or less probable details are given on the subject of Veronica.  "She was", says this seer of visions, "a relation of John the Baptist; her father and Zacharias were cousins-german.  She was at least five years older than the Virgin and was present at her marriage with Saint Joseph.  She was also related to the aged Simeon and played with his sons from their earliest infancy.  The sonss looked, as did their father, for the coming of the Messiah, and Seraphia shared their longing.  When Jesus, at the age of 12 years, was teaching in the Temple, Seraphia, who was not yet married, sent some food for Him to the house of one of the Essenes situated about a quarter of a league from the town, for He used to retire to it when not in the Temple. Later Seraphia married Sirach, who was descended from the chaste Susanna.  He was a member of the great Sanhedrim, and had had first been very much opposed to Jesus.  Seraphia had to suffer many things at his hands because of her devotion to the Saviour.  Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus converted Sirach to a better way of thinking, and he permitted his wife to follow the teachings of Jesus."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Simon the Cyrenian forced to take up His cross

Saint Mark - Chapter 15

Simon the Cyrenian forced to take up His cross. J-J Tissot

[21] Et angariaverunt praetereuntem quempiam, Simonem Cyrenaeum venientem de villa, patrem Alexandri et Rufi, ut tolleret crucem ejus.
And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Went Jesus fell the second time, his enemies began to be uneasy.  He would never, they feared, get up the ascent to Golgotha without help.  They therefore resolved to let Him have a little assistance, and a man named Simon happening to be at hand, they compelled him to carry the cross.  This Simon came from Cyrene, a province situated on the northern coast of Africa, where there was then a very numerous colony of Jews.  It would appear that he was domiciled at Jerusalem, for the Gospel narrative says he was passing by "coming out of the country".  

He was, adds Saint Mark, the father of Alexander and Rufus, which proves that all three were known to the Evangelists at the time of the compilation of the sacred text.  It is, in fact, supposed that these sons of Simon, Alexander and Rufus, were converted to Christianity later and became deacons of the early Church. In the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans occur the words: "Salute Rufus chosen in the lord", and the Roman martyrology includes Simon of Cyrene amongst the Saints.  Some even say that he became Bishop of Bostra in the Syrian Desert, and that he was burnt to death by the heathen authorities.

Critics and commentators eagerly discuss the question of whether he was or was not a Jew.  Certain indications sanction the belief that he owned a small farm near Jerusalem, and there also seems reason to suppose that he was identical with Simon the tanner mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, who certainly was a Jew.  On the other hand, it seems the most extraordinary thing for a Jew to be compelled to bear the burden of any kind at the time of the great festival.  The question must, therefore, remain undecided for the present, but the assertion that Simon was of Cyrene does not really affect the matter at issue, for, as already mentioned above, there were many Jews in the province.  

Via Dolorosa. J-J Tissot

Another point in dispute is whether the Cyrenian carried the Cross the rest of the way alone or whether he merely shed the burden with the Master.  The Gospel narrative would appear to favour the former interpretation of the incident, but it might also be taken to mean the latter which was the most prevalent belief amongst the early Christians, and as a result was generally adopted by painters.  We think, therefore, that we are fairly justified in assuming that Jesus bore the upper part of the cross with the transverse beam and that Simon merely upheld the long heavy central beam, the dragging weight of which added so greatly to the burden of the Victim.  Another very natural suggestion has been made and that is that we owe to Simon and his two sons the account of all that past until the arrival of the Master at Calvary.  As a matter of fact, they were of course able to see and hear everything; they were indeed the only witnesses who could do so, for none of the Apostles were near; Saint John, the Blessed Virgin, and the other Holy Women were unable to follow Jesus except afar off, on account of the crowds and the narrowness of the streets.  They did not all meet again until they got to Calvary itself.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Jesus meets His Blessed Mother

Jesus meets His Blessed Mother. J-J Tissot

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The meeting of Jesus with His Mother is not referred to in the Gospel narrative, but tradition is unanimous in asserting that it took place at the fourth Station of the Via Dolorosa.  Mary was accompanied by Saint John, Mary Magdalene and Mary Salome, with other Holy women, who, the Evangelists tell us, followed the Master to Calvary.  It was very natural that's the Mother of the Lord should have been present in the Forum at the scourging, though at a distance, and should have witnessed from afar the Ecce Homo incident; in fact, that she should have seen all that the rest of the crowd did.  

When the procession began to move off on its way to Golgotha, Mary, who had just heard the sentence of death passed upon her Son from the Gabbatha and who had seen the cross placed upon His shoulders, tried to get near enough to Him to help Him with His burden, but it was impossible, for the narrow street was already blocked up with soldiers and the crowds accompanying the Victim.  The Virgin was, therefore, compelled to take another route and, after a most careful examination of the district, we feel able to assert pretty confidently which way she went.  A tradition tells us that in the angle formed by the street leading to the Sheep-Gate and the Tyropœon Valley, or valley of the cheese merchants, there was a house with courtyards and out-buildings belonging to Caiaphas, who, as we know, had his Judgment Hall in the Sion quarter.  Now Saint John, as already stated above, had relations amongst the attendance of the High Priest, and it was thanks to this circumstance that he was able to go into the Judgment Hall and to secure the admittance of Saint Peter.  He would thus also be able to let the Blessed Virgin and her companions pass through the courts and gardens of this house and, cutting diagonally across from one street or another, he managed for the little party of friends of the Master to arrive at the fourth Station of the Cross in time to meet Jesus, without having to go up the steep ascent climbed by the procession.

The locality speaks for itself in a remarkable way, and no one who is considered the matter on the spot, can fail to feel sure that the meeting between the Mother and Son took place on the spot indicated above and nowhere else.  It is generally supposed that the fall of Jesus occurred at the very moment of the touching meeting.  This is what an Catherine Emmerich says on the subject: "Then one of the executioners asked of those standing by: Who is that woman lamenting so bitterly?  And someone replied: it is the Mother of the Galilean.  Then the wretches loaded the unhappy Mother with insult and mockery, they pointed at her with their fingers, and one of them took the nails which were to fasten Jesus to the Cross and struck Him with them, mocking Him before the eyes of the Blessed Virgin.  As for her, she gazed upon Jesus and, overwhelmed with grief, was obliged to lean against the door to save herself from falling.  She was as pale as death and her lips were livid."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Christ falls beneath His Cross

Saint Luke - Chapter 23

Christ falls beneath his Cross. J-J Tissot

[27] Sequebatur autem illum multa turba populi et mulierum, quae plangebant et lamentabantur eum.
And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The street is terribly steep and the big stones with which it is paved are slippery, so that Jesus, exhausted with fatigue, falls beneath His burden.  Those in attendance on Him are in no mood to give Him any assistance, they only jeer at and insult Him, pouring out opprobrious epithets upon Him.  All around, however, are crowds whose attitude is rather noisy and excited than positively hostile.  "A great company of people followed him", says Saint Luke, and there was nothing surprising in the numbers which had come together, for executions always attract a concourse of people.  Moreover, it was the time of the Passover and, as is well known, that festival was always attended by vast multitudes, all of whom had been from the commencement of the trial deeply interested in the fate of the Prophet about Whom there had been so much discussion.  Jesus as He falls seems in my picture to be appealing to the bystanders for a little help in His need.  Shall we not do well to remember that it was for us that the Saviour suffered so long ago as well as for those living at the time?

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Via Crucis - The Way of the Cross

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Jesus was now led away to be crucified and began to tread that Via Crucis or Way of the Cross with its many stages, which were to prove so full of fresh suffering to the already exhausted Saviour.  Since the evening before, He had had but a few minutes of rest, and what arrest must that have been after all the humiliations and agony to which He had been subjected!  It was very evident that He would not be able to reach Calvary without sinking by the way, but what did that matter?  His enemies would make Him carry His cross all the same.  It was in fact customary for the condemned himself to carry the instrument of his execution, and the Jews would never have sanctioned sparing their Victim this last culminating agony and humiliation.

For the rest, we know that Pilate, good Roman though he was, was punctilious in his observance of every tradition of the Praetorium, however petty and trivial.  The march of the melancholy procession commenced, a centurion on horseback leading the way, to whom had been confided the superintendence of the execution.  This was the official to whom Tacitus gave the title of the exactor mortis, or death overseer, whilst Seneca calls him the centurio supplicio præpositus, which may be translated, the centurion who presided at executions.  This officer was succeeded by a herald bearing a scroll or tablet on which was written the crime for which sentence had been pronounced.  The herald shouted out this condemnation at the top of his voice.

Behind him came the cruciarius, the divine Saviour, painfully dragging the heavy cross, with the executioners nearby whose task it would soon be to bind Him to it and watch beneath it till death put an end to His sufferings.  A double row of soldiers kept the way clear, for the crowd was great and there was a possibility that people might be moved to compassion at the sight of the patient Sufferer and attempt to rescue Him.  Everyone knew, Pilate himself included, that Jesus had been made the Victim of a few jealous and envious enemies, and that the consent of the populace to His condemnation had only been obtained by surprise. There would, therefore, have been nothing surprising if a reaction had taken place; the friends of Jesus, the Holy Women especially, were very sure to have worked hard to bring it about.  As I said before, every possible precaution was therefore taken.

Behind the procession escorting the Saviour, in which were included the two thieves also bearing their crosses, came a crowd of the Chief Priests and some were on horseback and others riding on asses which were much employed as beasts of burden in the East.  The Via Dolorosa was to them the path of triumph and they pressed joyfully a long it on their way to witness the execution of their Enemy.  On leaving the Forum, the procession had to pass through the archway which forms the entrance to it from the side of the town and then to follow the steep street which starts from the Sheep-Gate and leads to a level tract between it and another steep street going up in a westerly direction to the Gate of Judgment.  That gate once passed, the procession was not more than 30 paces from the ascent to Golgotha.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Christ bearing His Cross

Saint John - Chapter 19

Christ bearing His Cross. J-J Tissot

[17] And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha.
Et bajulans sibi crucem exivit in eum, qui dicitur Calvariae locum, hebraice autem Golgotha :

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Christ bearing His Cross (Notes)

Saint John - Chapter 19

Christ bearing His Cross. J-J Tissot

[17] And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha.
Et bajulans sibi crucem exivit in eum, qui dicitur Calvariae locum, hebraice autem Golgotha :

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Crucifixion, as is well known, is a very ancient mode of execution, and the form of the cross varied greatly.  It seems to have been at first a mere stake to which the condemned was either bound or nailed, modified later by the addition of a transverse beam or branch.  The name of the cross was determined by the way in which this transverse piece of wood was fastened on.  If it sloped much it was called a crux decussata,[1] literally, an oblique cross.  This was the form now called Saint Andrew's cross, and it resembled the Greek letter X.  If the second branch or beam was placed across the top of the main stake the cross became a crux commissa,[2]  Now often called Saint Antony's cross, but when the central beam rose somewhat above the transverse one it formed a crux immissa, which is now known by the name of the Latin cross.

Via Dolorosa. J-J Tissot

To which of these three types the Cross on which Jesus suffered belonged it is difficult to determine.  It certainly was not that now known as Saint Andrew's; but with regards to the other to forms choice is difficult.  Many authorities consider it as certain that the Latin form was used, relying upon the way in which the early Fathers of the church speak of it, comparing it to the Roman standard, to a man swimming, to a bird in flight, to the four cardinal points, to Moses praying with outstretched arms, all expressions which may be said justly to apply to the traditional form.  Still, this does not really prove anything finally, for figures of rhetoric and popular similes are never particularly exact.  Something far more precise in the way of evidence is needed.  Moreover, it must be observed that whatever was the form of the cross when it was laid upon the shoulders of Jesus and He was compelled to carry it, it must necessarily have been converted into a crux immissa by the addition of the tablet bearing the superscription and which is so enraged the Jews.

As for the examples of Early Christian art which have come down to us, neither do they prove anything finally, for sometimes the Latin cross and sometimes that forming the Greek letter T is introduced.  We may here recall to the memory of our readers a very ancient caricature which was found at Rome, beneath the western corner of the Forum and which bears the blasphemous inscription: "Alexamenos worships God", representing a man with a head of an ass fastened to a cross.  Now the cross in this instance is of the kind known as the jointed or the crux commissa, forming the Greek letter tau with a small cross-piece for the feet, and at the top, above the large transverse beam, but not quite in the middle, a scroll with the inscription quoted above.  The hour of noon is now come. 

[1] dĕcusso, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. decussis, to divide crosswise, in the form of an X, to decussate
[2] com-mitto (con-m-), mīsi, missum, 3, v. a. Of two or more objects, to bring, join, combine into one whole; to join or put together, to connect, unite.
[3] immittō, mīsī, missus, 3, a.: to send upon or to; drive to; bring upon; let in; let fly, go, loosen; hurl, fling, cast; (with sē), rush into; p., immissus, a, um, of the reins of horses, let loose; hence, (fig.), swiftly running; unchecked, unbridled; of the hair or beard, descending, left growing, neglected, long

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

They put on Him His own garments

Saint Matthew - Chapter 27

They put on Him His own garments. J-J Tissot

[31] Et postquam illuserunt ei, exuerunt eum chlamyde, et induerunt eum vestimentis ejus, et duxerunt eum ut crucifigerent.
And after they had mocked him, they took off the cloak from him, and put on him his own garments, and led him away to crucify him.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

Pilate and his assistants had now left the Gabbatha; the scarlet military cloak in which the Master had been put to derision is taken off His shoulders; the blood flows afresh as the wounds are reopened and the crown of thorns is torn from the Victim's brow, in order to pass over His head the seamless vesture for which lots will be cast on Calvary.  The Saviour,s white robe is then restored to Him, together probably with His sash, sandals and lastly His cloak.  According to tradition, certain pious believers had taken charge of the garments of the Master when they were taken off after the ill-treatment He had received in the house of Caiaphas.  There had been time to have them cleaned and mended.  We are, we think, justified in supposing that all through His Passion Jesus was allowed to retain the under-garment of linen which Jews then wore about the loins next the skin and which was fashioned something like the under-drawers of the present day.  If so, He was never perfectly naked even on Calvary, but I feel bound to add but few agree with me on this point.  Their is, in fact, a tradition to the effect that when Jesus was stripped before the crucifixion His modesty was saved from being put to the blush by the charity of one of the Holy Women standing by.  Nothing, however, confirms this touching story, which is probably after all only a pious fiction, and it is infinitely more likely that Jesus wore the light garment referred to above until the end.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Title on the Cross (Notes)

Saint John - Chapter 19

The title on the Cross. Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum. J-J Tissot

[19] Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus, et posuit super crucem. Erat autem scriptum : Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum.
And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

[20] Hunc ergo titulum multi Judaeorum legerunt : quia prope civitatem erat locus, ubi crucifixus est Jesus, et erat scriptum hebraice, graece, et latine.
This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.

[21] Dicebant ergo Pilato pontifices Judaeorum : Noli scribere : Rex Judaeorum : sed quia ipse dixit : Rex sum Judaeorum.
Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

[22] Respondit Pilatus : Quod scripsi, scripsi.
Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

An important fragment of the title which was placed above the Saviour on the Cross is preserved in the Church of Santa Croce de Gerusalemme at Rome.  It was repeated three times, the top line being written in Hebrew, the middle line in Greek and the bottom line in Latin; each sentence signifying exactly the same thing: Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews.  As is well known, the Hebrew characters operate from right to left and the whole superscription was in red ink on a white ground.  Such tablets as that employed in this instance were called tituli or tabula, which illustrates the fact that it was customary to write sentences of condemnation and laws on white tablets.  The circlet of twisted rushes seen in our illustration was that forming the foundation of the crown of thorns, and is now preserved in the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris; it was, as we have already said, brought from the East by St. Louis, who are obtained it from the Byzantine Emperor then on the throne.  The thorns which accompanied this wreath are now distributed in various centuries and Abbeys.
The round-headed nail shown in the drawing is the one now to be seen in Rome, in the same church as the tablet on which the title is written.  There is no doubt that it was one of those which pierced the hands of the Saviour; the other nails preserved are really forged of ordinary iron and only fragments of the true nails of the cross are embedded in the unsanctified metal.  The story goes that Saint Helena through one of the true nails into the Adriatic to calm a tempest, that she put another into the bit still preserved at Montpellier of Constantine's horse and another into his helmet.  The last named nail is said to have been transferred later to the By Iron Crown of the Empire, which is now at Milan.
It is possible, however, that some of the nails venerated as sacred relics were those which fastened the cross itself together, upheld the support for the feet or kept the superscript shown in its place.  Nine can certainly be identified, and this number corresponds with the nine centuries each of which claims the privilege of possessing one of these precious relics.
As will be seen further on, I have supposed that the body of the Saviour was supported on the cross by cords passing under the armpits and around the waist.  If some such precaution had not been taken, the whole weight of the body would have been thrown upon the hands and the Victim could not possibly have retained a perpendicular position but would have fallen forwards, dragging forcibly upon the nails which kept the hands outstretched.  The early Fathers of the Church too, in fact, speak of chords and some even say chains, but neither are ever mentioned amongst the sacred relics of the Passion which have been preserved to us and they were most likely taken away or lost at the very first; indeed had they been left with the debris amongst which the true cross laid for 300 years, they must have succumbed to the action of time.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

The Title on the Cross

Saint John - Chapter 19

The title on the Cross.Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum. J-J Tissot

[19] Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus, et posuit super crucem. Erat autem scriptum : Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum.
And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

[20] Hunc ergo titulum multi Judaeorum legerunt : quia prope civitatem erat locus, ubi crucifixus est Jesus, et erat scriptum hebraice, graece, et latine.
This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.

[21] Dicebant ergo Pilato pontifices Judaeorum : Noli scribere : Rex Judaeorum : sed quia ipse dixit : Rex sum Judaeorum.
Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

[22] Respondit Pilatus : Quod scripsi, scripsi.
Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam 

Pilate pronounces judgement

Saint John - Chapter 19

Pilate pronounces judgement from the Gabbatha. J-J Tissot

[13] Pilatus autem cum audisset hos sermones, adduxit foras Jesum : et sedit pro tribunali, in loco qui dicitur Lithostrotos, hebraice autem Gabbatha.
Now when Pilate had heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat, in the place that is called Lithostrotos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The meaning of the two words Gab after and Little store bottles, which I used to designate the spot from which Judgment was pronounced, is not the same, four Gather for signifies an elevated place or platform, whereas Little store of DOS means paved with mosaics or tiles.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam