Jesus is scourged

Saint Matthew - Chapter 27

[26] Tunc dimisit illis Barabbam : Jesum autem flagellatum tradidit eis ut crucifigeretur.
Then he released to them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him unto them to be crucified.

Saint John - Chapter 19

[1] Tunc ergo apprehendit Pilatus Jesum, et flagellavit.
Then therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him.

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

The scourging of the front. J-J Tissot

Several different modes of scourging were practiced in the time of Our Saviour.  The Rabbis tell us that in some cases the victim was fastened to a column lofty enough for him to be almost suspended by the hands, which were fastened together uplifted above the head, whilst the feet, also bound together, were fastened to the base of the column so as to keep the body in position.  The executioners then inflicted xiii blows on each shoulder and on the loins with a rod, thus making the legal 40 stripes save one.  The scourging inflicted by the Romans was far more terrible, and there was a saying amongst the Jews, founded on the words of King Rehoboam in the first book of Kings, chapter 12, verse 14: " If the Jews chastise with whips, the Romans chastise with scorpions."

In fact, instead of rods they used cords, to the end of which they fastened little square bits of bone or pellets of metal.  To which of these modes of torture was Our Saviour subjected?  We ourselves are doubtful what to think, though we are inclined to believe that He was treated in the Jewish way, just as a slave would have been.  Others are, however, of opinion that He was scourged with whips made of four strips of leather weighted with bits of bone.  If our interpretation be correct, Jesus would have been given over to the four executioners who, in accordance with the Jewish law, were to inflict on him the 40 stripes save one.  The men who performed this revolting task were Syrian or Idumean recruits, in the service of the Governor, not Roman soldiers.  Every blow brought blood and tore away a portion of the skin and flesh, till at last the very bones were laid bare, thus literary fulfilling the prophecy: "The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity." (Psalm 128, Verse 3).

The scourging of the front. J-J Tissot

We have already said that the column to which Jesus was bound during the scourging to which He was subjected is probably the one alluded to by Saint Jerome, and which he and St. Paul alike venerated.  It upheld the portico of the church in the Sion quarter, to which it had been removed by Saint Helena.  In every court of justice there was, in fact, a scourging column, and the one in question was probably originally in the forum or public square opposite the Prætorium.  There was also, most likely in the court of the Guard-house, another short column to which Jesus Christ was fastened when he was crowned with thorns; this, which was called to the Column of Reproach, and is still held in high honour in the Church of saint Praxedes, might perhaps be the column from the Tribunal of Caiaphas to which Our Lord was bound during the night of Holy Thursday preceding Good Friday.  It was taken to Rome in 1223 by Cardinal Coolonna, and it seems very far from reasonable, after the lapse of no less than six centuries, for it to be allowed to come into competition with the one which Saint Jerome, writing in the year 430, asserts to have been the true Column of Scourging.

In our picture we have represented the Forum with a number of shops at the further end, closed just now on account of the crowds which have collected.  We have supposed, in accordance with certain traditions which have come down to us, that Saint John, who had accompanied the Blessed Virgin, may have secured a place in one of these shops from which he was able to watch or the sufferings of his divine Master.  From this vantage point, when Jesus had been compelled to carry His cross and had started for Calvary laden with it, his divine Mother was able to follow the melancholy procession, and, guided by Saint John, to take a short cut so as to meet her Son again on the Via Dolorosa a little farther on.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam