Saint John - Chapter 19
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| The title on the Cross. Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum. J-J Tissot |
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
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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