S. Baring-Gould

“ Now the mediæval romancists laid hold of this tree, as they laid hold of the Grail basin, and used it for Christian purposes. The Grail cup became the chalice of the Blood of Christ, and the Tree of Odin became the Cross of Calvary. They worked into the romance all kinds of material gathered from floating folk-tale of heathen ancestry, and they pieced in with it every scrap of allusion to a tree they could find in Scripture. It is built up of fragments taken from all kinds of old structures, put together with some skill, and built into a goodly romance ”

“ The Title of the Cross.
One of the most interesting relics in connection with the holy nails is the Iron Crown of Lombardy. This, as may be seen by reference to the illustration (Fig. 1) , is a circlet of gold, ornamented with precious stones, and it is indebted for its name of “Iron” to a thin band (A) of that metal, which is inside the gold circlet. The Crown itself is of very antique form, being even devoid of rays, and is too small to go on the head. ”

“ In Gottfried, the moral sense seems to be absolutely [vi] dead; there is no perception of the sacredness of truth, of chastity, of honour, none of religion. Wolfram is his exact converse. Wolfram gives us the history of the Grail, but he did not invent the myth of the Grail, he derived it from pre-existing material. The Grail myth is almost certainly heathen in its origin, but it has been entirely Christianised. The holy basin is that in which the Blood of Christ is preserved, and only the pure of heart can see it ”

“ But the word Ivdæorvm was not entire, the last two letters vm having crumbled to pieces by reason of old age. The first line was written in Latin characters, the second in Greek, and the third in Hebrew.
All the city went to see it; and three days afterwards, Pope Innocent went also, and ordered the relic to be preserved in its box, and covered with a sheet of glass. Every one was convinced that they had before their eyes the inscription which Pilate placed upon the Cross over our Saviour’s head, and which Saint Helena had deposited in the church at the time of its building. ”

“ Punishment of the Cross.
The punishment of the Cross was a very ordinary one, and of far wider extent than many are aware. It was common among the Scythians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Germans, and the Romans, who, however, principally applied it to their slaves, and rarely crucified [xii] free men, unless they were robbers or assassins. ”

“ Plates G and H represent the story told in the Golden Legend, of Heraclius bearing the Cross into Jerusalem, how the gate miraculously closed, and an angel appeared in the heavens and reproved Heraclius for riding in state on the very spot where Jesus had gone in all meekness, and lowliness, to His passion. The legend is erased in parts, the unmutilated portion reading, “As the nobul kynge eraclyus com rydyng towarde ye cytte of Ierusalem beryng ye crosse so grete pryde . . . where ye . . . .”
Naturally, the possession of a piece of the true Cross would be esteemed as a most precious property. ”

“ It is here that her connection with the holy Cross comes in, for its wood, which Solomon had cut down in order to incorporate it into his Temple, and which had the inconvenient property of fitting in nowhere, being either too long or too short for any purpose, was in consequence thrown aside, and ultimately was used as a foot-bridge across a brook. ”

“ Valentine in Via Flaminia at Rome, ought to bear most weight. Our Saviour is represented as being clothed in a long sleeveless robe, which reaches to His ankles; the feet are separate, and are each nailed. It is said that Cimabue was the first to paint the feet overlapping, and one nail. His example, however, was much followed, and hence the controversy.
Of these nails, universal tradition says that St. Helena sent two to her son [lxxxvi] Constantine, and, as the Golden Legend has it, “the emperour dyd do sette them in hys brydel and in hys helme when he wente to batayle.” ”

“ Heraclius then went to Chosroes, and told him what he had done, offering him his life if he too would embrace Christianity,55 but the Persian monarch refused, and Heraclius smote off his head.56 He then crowned a son of Chosroes, and caused him to be baptized,57 himself standing sponsor, and buried the slain king with befitting honours.58 Then, taking possession of the holy relic,59 he set out with it for Jerusalem. ”

“ Then will Christ, the most merciful Son of God, come on earth to raise again the human body of Adam, and at the same time to raise the bodies of the dead, and when he cometh he will be baptized in Jordan ”

“ Helena, mindful of her son Constantine, divided the sacred wood; part she enclosed in a case of precious metal, and kept at Jerusalem;48 and part she sent to her son, at Byzantium, who received it with due reverence,49 and deposited it in the church, with great ceremony.50
No. 51.
Here it remained, until it was taken away, with other spoil, by Chosroes, the [cx] King of Persia, who, aware of the sanctity of the relic, had it placed on the right hand of his throne. He was so puffed up with pride, that he ordered himself to be adored. ”

“ To be short, yf a man woulde gather together all that hath bene founde of this crosse, there would be inough to fraighte a great ship. The Gospell testifieth that the crosse myght be caried of one man. What audacitie then was this to fyll the earth with pieces of wod in suche quantitie, that thre hundred men can not cary them,” &c.
[lxxvii]
Calvin was full of zeal, and could not stoop to particularise. Witness his assertion that the Cross would freight a ship, and yet that three hundred men could carry it. ”

“ He then describes all the known pieces in Europe, Jerusalem, and Mount Athos, with their measurements, and he puts the outcome at 3,941,975 cubic millimetres; thus, according to his shewing, there is but a very small portion of the Holy Cross in existence. I subjoin his list of the places in which pieces of the Cross are known to exist, as it is most interesting, [lxxviii] showing the comparative bulk of the pieces, in cubic millimetres:—
According to this table we are credited in England with 30,516 cubic millimetres of the holy Cross, and it is interesting to know where they are situated. ”

“ And it happed that a Crysten man mett hym / and sawe hym al blody / and sayd to hym / fro whens comest thou / thou hast slayne soume man / And he sayd I have not / the crysten man sayd Veryly thou has commysed somme homycyde / for thou art all besprongen37 with the blood. And the Jewe said / Veryly the god of Crysten men is grete and the faythe of hym is ferme and approved in all thynges / I have smyten no man / but I have smyten thymage of Ihesu Cryste / and anone yssued blood of his throte /. ”

“ One can understand one of these sacred nails being worn in the Emperour’s helmet as a presage of victory and as a safeguard against danger, but the utility of incorporating one of such priceless relics in a horse’s bridle is not so easy to comprehend ”

“ Adam lawhed4 first / and then deyed / and thenne he leyed the greynes or kernellis under his faders tonge and buryed hym / in the vale of ebron / and out of his mouth grewe thre trees of the thre graynes / of which the crosse that our lord suffred his passion on / was made by vertue of which he gate5 very mercy and was brought out of darknes in to veray light of heven / to the whiche he brynge us that lyveth and regneth god world with oute ende. ”

“ And so it is that everye one hath as good right as aunother. Wherefor there is no better way then to make them all passe under one fidelium. That is to saye, to repute all that they saye hereof to be but lyes, seying that otherwise a man shoulde never come to an ende.”
What would Calvin have said if he had seen the formidable list of holy [xci] nails enumerated by Guisto (or Justus) Fontanini, Archbishop of Ancyra? ”

“ It was then that the reputed Invention of the Cross, together with the nails, took place, and she soon afterwards died, but the exact year is uncertain, some authorities giving A.D. 326, others 328.
[G] Other accounts say the Crosses were found by Macarius, then Bishop of Jerusalem.
[H] The book of the office of Mithras or Mithra, the Sun, worshipped by the Persians.
[I] Heraclius, Emperor of the East, who from A.D. 622 to 627 fought Chosroes II., defeated him, and concluded peace.
[J] St. Equitius was a hermit, and looked after the welfare of other hermits and monks. ”

“ And whan the tyme approched of the passyon of our lord / thys tree aroos out of the water and floted above the water / And of this pyece of tymbre made the Iewes the crosse of our lord / Thenne after this hystorye / the crosse by which we been saved / came of the tree by whiche we were dampned. And the water of that pyscyne had not his vertue onely of the aungel / but of the tre/. With this tre wherof the crosse was maad / there was a tree that went over thwarte / on whiche the armes of our lord were nayled/. ”

“ Touchynge all this I reporte me to the thynge it selfe, so much is there that it was but a folish curiositie of her, or at the least a folishe [lxxv] and unconsidered devotion. But yet put the case it had ben a worke worthy of prayse to her, for to have taken paynes to fynde the trewe crosse, and that our lord had then declared by myracle that it was his crosse which she found; Yet let us onely consider that which is of our time. Every one doeth holde that this crosse which Helene founde is yet at Ierusalem, and none doeth doute thereof. ”

“ Whiche thynge can [xc] in no wyse be made to agre eyther wt their saying of Milan or wt theirs of Carpentras.
“Moreover there is one in Rome at Sainct Helenes; another also at Sene, another at Venise. In Germany two: at Collyne one, at the three Maries: another at Triers, one in Fraunce at the holy chappell of Paris, another at ye Carmes, one also at Sainct Denis in France: one at Burges: one at Tenaill, one at Draguine.
“Beholde here fourteene, whereof account is made; in every place they alledge good approbation for themselves, as they suppose. ”

“ For a dede man was reysed to lyf / and foure men taken with the palsey were cured and heled / lepres were made clene / and fyften blynde receyved theyr syghte ageyn / Devylles were put out of men / and moche peple / and many / were delyvered of dyverse sekenes and maladyes /. ”

“ Thenne themperour dyd doo repayre the Chirches / and gaf to them grete geftes / And after retorned home to his Empyre / And hit [xlix] is said in the Cronycles that this was done otherwise / For they say that whanne Cosdroe hadde taken many Royammes / he took Iherusalem / and Zacharye the patriarke / and bare aweye the tree of the Crosse / And as Heracle wold make pees with hym / the Kyng Cosdroe swore a grete othe / that he wold never make pees with Crysten men and Romayns / yf they denyed not hym that was crucyfyed / and adoured the sonne /. ”

“ And whan he sawe he wolde not do never neyther / he dyd doo make a depe pytte ful of serpentes and venemous bestys / and caste hym therein / & whan he entred / anone the serpentes were al deed/. Thenne Iulyan put hym in a cawdron ful of boylyng oyle / and whan he shold entre in to hit / he blessyd it & sayd / Fayre lord torne thys bane28 to baptysm of marterdom / Thenne was Iulyan moche angry / and commaunded that he should be ryven thorough his herte with a swerde / and in this manere he fynysshed his lyff. ”

“ At Constantynople a Iewe entyred in to the chirche of seynt sophye / and consydered that he was there allone / and sawe an ymage of Ihesu cryste / and tooke his swerde and smote thymage in the throte / and anone the bloode guysshed oute / [li] and sprange in the face and on the hide of the Iewe / And he thenne was aferd and took thymage / and cast it into a pytte / and anone fledde awey /. ”

“ And saynt Gregory recordeth in the thirdde booke of his dyalogues / that whanne andrewe Bisshop of the Cyte of Fundane suffred an holy noune to dwelle with him / the fende42 thenemy beganne temprynte in his herte the beaulte of her / in such wise / that he thought in hys bedde wycked and cursyd thynges / and on a daye a Iewe cam to Rome / and whanne he sawe / that the day fayled / and myghte fynde no lodgynge / he wente that nyght / and abode in the Temple of appolyn /. ”