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