which was built to receive so precious a relic. It is exposed for
the veneration of the faithful on Good Friday, 3rd of May, and
the third Sunday in Lent, each year.
Another festival of the holy cross is kept on the 14th of September, and is known as the “Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” It seems to have originated with the dedication, in the year 335, of the churches built on the sites of the crucifixion and the holy sepulchre. The observance of this festival passed from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and thence to Rome, where it appears to have been introduced in the 7th century. By some it is thought that the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross had its origin in Constantine’s vision of the cross in the sky in the year 317, but whether it originated then, or, as is more generally supposed, at the dedication of the churches at Jerusalem, there is no doubt that it was afterwards kept with much greater solemnity in consequence of the recovery of the portion of the cross St Helena had left at Jerusalem, which had been taken away in the Persian victory, and was restored to Jerusalem by Heraclitus in 627. Pope Clement VIII. (1592–1604) raised the festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to the dignity, liturgically known as that of a Greater Double.
Before leaving the story of St Helena and the cross, it may be convenient to allude briefly to the superscription placed over the Saviour’s head, and the nails, which it is said that she found with the cross. The earlier tradition as to the superscription is obscure, but it would seem that it ought to be considered part of the relic which Constantine sent to Rome. By some means it was entirely lost sight of until the year 1492, when it is said that it was accidentally found in a vault in the church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme at Rome. Pope Alexander III. published a bull certifying to the truth of this rediscovery of the relic, and authenticated its character.
As regards the nails, a question has arisen whether there were three or four. In the earliest pictures of the Crucifixion the feet are shown as separately nailed to the cross, but at a later period they are crossed, and a single nail fixes them. In the former case there would be four nails, and in the latter only three. Four is the number generally accepted, and it is said that one was cast by St Helena into the sea, during a storm, in order to subdue the waves, another is said (but the legend cannot be traced far back) to have been beaten out into the iron circlet of the crown of Lombardy, while the remaining two are reputed to be preserved among the relics at Milan and Trier respectively.
The employment of the cross as the Christian symbol has been so manifold in its variety and application, and the different forms to which the figure has been adapted and elaborated are so complex, that it is only possible to deal with the outline of the subject.
We learn from Tertullian and other early Christian writers of the constant use which the Christians of those days made of the sign of the cross. Tertullian (De Cor. Mil. cap. iii.) says: “At each journey and progress, at each coming in and going out, at the putting on of shoes, at the bath, at meals, at the kindling of lights, at bedtime, at sitting down, whatsoever occupation engages us, we mark the brow with the sign of the cross.” With so frequent an employment of the sign of the cross in their domestic life, it would be strange if we did not find that it was very frequently used in the public worship of the church. The earliest liturgical forms are comparatively late, and are without rubrics, but the allusions by different writers in early times to the ceremonial use of the sign of the cross in the public services are so numerous, and so much importance was attached to it, that we are left in no manner of doubt on the point. St Augustine, indeed, speaks of the sacraments as not duly ministered if the use of the sign of the cross were absent from their ministration (Hom. cxviii. in S. Joan.). Of the later liturgical use of the sign of the cross there is little need to speak, as a reference to the service books of the Greek and Latin churches will plainly indicate the frequency of, and the importance attached to, its employment. Its occasional use is retained by the Lutherans, and in the Church of England it is authoritatively used at baptism, and at the “sacring” or anointing of the sovereign at the coronation.
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| Fig. 3. Fig. 4. |
Passing from the sign to the material figures of the cross, a very usual classification distinguishes three main forms: (1) the crux immissa, or capitata † (fig. 3) known also as the Latin cross, or if each limb is of the same length, + (fig. 4) as the Greek cross; (2) the crux decussata, formed like the letter ×, and (3) the crux commissa or tau cross, already mentioned. It was on a crux immissa that Christ is believed to have been crucified. The crux decussata is known as St Andrew’s cross, from the tradition that St Andrew was put to death on a cross of that form. The crux commissa is often called St Anthony’s cross, probably only because it resembles the crutch with which the great hermit is generally depicted.
The cross in one form or other appears, appropriately, on the flags and ensigns of many Christian countries. The English cross of St George is a plain red cross on a white ground, the Scottish cross of St Andrew is a plain diagonal white cross on a blue ground, and the Irish cross of St Patrick is a plain diagonal red cross on a white ground. These three crosses are combined in the Union Jack (see Flag).
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| Fig. 5. Fig. 6. |
The cross has also been adopted by many orders of knighthood. Perhaps the best known of these is the cross of the knights of Malta. It is a white cross of eight points on a black ground (fig. 5) and is the proper Maltese cross, a name which is often wrongly applied to the cross patée (fig. 6). The knights of the Garter use the cross of St George, as do those of the order of St Michael and St George, the knights of the Thistle use St Andrew’s cross, and those of St Patrick the cross of St Patrick charged with a shamrock leaf. The cross of the Danish order of the Dannebrog (fig. 7) affords a good example of this use of the cross. It is in form a white cross patée, superimposed upon a red one of the same form, and is surmounted by the royal cipher and crown, and has upon its surface the royal cipher repeated, and the legend, or motto, “Gud og Kongen” = “God and the King.” (For crosses of monastic orders see Costume.)
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| Fig. 7.—Cross of the Dannebrog. |
Akin to the crosses of knightly orders are those which figure as charges on coats of arms. The science of heraldry evolved a wonderful variety of cross-forms during the period it held sway in the middle ages. The different forms of cross used in heraldry are, in fact, so numerous that it is only the larger works on that subject which attempt to record them all. For such crosses see Heraldry.
In the middle ages the cross form, in one way or another, was predominant everywhere, and was introduced whenever opportunity offered itself for doing so. The larger churches were planned on its outline, so that the ridge line of their roofs proclaimed it far and wide. This was more particularly followed in the north of Europe, but when it was first introduced is not quite certain. All the ancient cathedral churches of England and Wales are cruciform in plan, except Llandaff.
The artistic skill and ingenuity of the medieval designer has produced cross designs of endless variety, and of singular elegance and beauty. Some of the most beautiful of these designs are the gable crosses of the old churches. Fig. 8 shows the west gable cross of Washburn church, Worcestershire; fig. 9 that of the nave of Castle Acre church, Norfolk; and fig. 10 the east gable cross of Hethersett church in that county. They may be taken as good examples of a type of cross which is often of great beauty, but it is overlooked, owing to its bad position for observation.
