The nail driven into the feet

Saint Mark - Chapter 15

The nail driven into the feet. J-J Tissot

[25] Erat autem hora tertia : et crucifixerunt eum.
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

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

It is from the Greeks that the most ancient model of the Cross has come down to us, and its form is that of the so called Latin cross, with the title clearly inscribed on the upper portion and a slanting line indicating the place where the feet were nailed.  The way in which this form of the Cross became accepted as the true one can be readily understood.  The first Apostles who went to preach in Syria, in Greece and throughout Asia Minor were, of course, assailed with questions as to the details of the life of Christ.  All the smallest incidents connected with His death were of special interest, and when those who had been eye-witnesses of the execution of the God-Man were asked what was the instrument of His martyrdom, they no doubt replied by simply tracing on the ground or on some white wall of the sanctuary in which they happened to be teaching, a rough representation of the Cross

A straight line stood for the place occupied by the body of the Victim, a transverse line showed where the arms had been outstretched, and above it the title was indicated by a horizontal bar, the presence of which doubtless led later to the idea of what was sometimes called the patriarchal cross, or the cross with two branches.  Lastly, the sloping line, at the place where the feet had been, represented the piece of wood on which rested the feet of the Saviour.  It was really rather difficult to manage to give the idea of this support for the feet in a design facing the spectator; a skilled draughtsman was needed for that; and the probability is that the plan adopted was simply to indicate by means of the inclined line just referred to the mode in which the feet were nailed to the Cross, and thus fix finally, as it were, the idea that line embodied.  Such is the natural explanation of the Greek cross of which we are speaking.  Still, we do not presume to decide a question so delicate and so long the subject of controversy in a manner so simple and off-hand as this.  Many authors refuse to believe in the support for the feet, and replace it by a kind of rest in the centre of the upright been, from which the Sufferer sat astride.

At the beginning of the second century, Saint Justin expresses himself, in speaking of the Cross, in the following terms: "In the centre of the cross is fixed a piece of wood which projects like a horn and serves as a seat and support to those who were put to death by crucifixion".  Although the word insidere employed by Saint Justin may be literally translated by rest or repose upon, it really signifies rather to sit upon, and this interpretation is justified yet more fully when we remember the part of the cross on which the author whom we are quoting says the piece of wood was fixed, that is to say, in the middle.

We mentioned in the title of this section of our work, and illustrate in our engraving, but one nail for the fastening of the feet to the Cross because we ourselves are in favour of one nail only having been used; but we feel bound to add that there is absolutely no certainty on this point.  Heathen authors who describe crucifixion speak, or seem to speak, of four nails, and many Christian authors do the same, though the poet Nonnus and Saint Gregory Nazianzen are notable exceptions.  Certain Greek paintings which were discovered in the excavations beneath the Church of San Clemente represent the feet separated.  It was not indeed until the 13th century that Cimabue, Margueritone and other Christian painters began to represent Christ fastened to the cross with three nails only.  The reader is free to think as he well on the subject, but we cannot refrain from expressing our own regret that the laconic accounts of the Evangelists, admirable as they are, failed to give us details which believers would certainly have known.

On the subject of the Cross and the nails, many suggestions have been made as to the symbolic meaning of their numerical combinations.  To begin with, the cross with its four corners might be taken to represent the Altar of Sacrifice, and the fact that these four corners did as a matter of course point to the four cardinal points of the compass, has been taken to show forth in the clearest way the catholicity of the Christian Faith.  Moreover, the victim being fastened to the Altar of Sacrifice by three nails, we get the symbolic figure three, which is the emblem of the Trinity, or the divine triangle, and when it is combined with a number four, represented by the four corners of the Cross, we get the deeply significant number of Seven, which is everywhere that signifying completed production.

Lastly, the sacrifice of the divine Victim was brought about by the infliction of five deep wounds, two in the hands, two in the feet, and one in the side.  This new number of five, added to that of the three nails and the four corners, gives a total of twelve.  Now there are twelve hours in the day, twelve months in the year, and the number twelve is, therefore, that which represents the grand cycle of nature, of the eternal, ever-recurring here, and, at the same time, the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ, carried on by the twelve Apostles.  By changing a single one of these figures it is very evident that the whole superstructure will be overturned, and this may possibly be the reason why the idea that only three nails were used in the Crucifixion was in the first instance adopted.  If on the other hand we suppose that as many as four nails were employed, the total number obtained would be thirteen, a number which everywhere symbolises defeat, death, and all their consequences.  It is for our readers to decide what value they will attach to the remarks made above: those who accept them start from the principle that all numbers of their meaning, a symbolism of their own.  Thus the figure one is a sign of God, of their Father, of man, of the head, of truth, etc.; The number two is the symbol of divisibility, antagonism, schism, and so one; he represents the two corns of the crescent is contrasted and opposed to the circle of the sun.  The one symbolises the good, the other the evil principle; one is God, the other is the Devil; one is above, the other below.  But let us turn aside from all dismissive mysticism and resume a subject.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam