CROSS
529
CROSS
I It her hand are Mary and John; between them and
tir ( ross stands a soldier with a sponge and a vessel
I ! ; I with vinegar ; above the Cross the sun and moon
H.fii tlieir rays.
Aiidther interesting picture is that in the crypt of ^-^ ( iiovanni e Paolo at Rome, in their dwelling- li iiisn on the Celian Hill. It is Byzantine in style and shows the crucifix. In the ninth century the crucifix of Leo IV is of importance (S40-847). It is a stripped figure, with a perizoma, and four nails are used. A similar figure is in the paintings of S. Ste- fano alia Cappella. To the same century belongs a diptych from the monastery of Rambona of about the year 898, and now in the Vatican Library (Buo- narroti, " Osser\'azioni sopra alcune frammcnti di vetro", Florence, 1716, 257-283, and P. Germano da s. Stanislao, "La casa celimontana dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo", Rome, 1895). To bring this hst to a close we may mention an eleventh-centurj- diptych in the cathedral of Tournai. a twelfth-centurj' Roman cross preserved at the Porte de Halle, at Brussels, and an enamelled crucifix in the Spitzer collection.
Here we bring our researches to an end, the field of Christian archaeologj' not extending further. In the artistic treatment of the crucifix there are two periods: the first, which dates from the sixth to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; and the second, dating from that time to our own day. We shall here treat only of the former, touching lightly on the latter. In the first period the Crucified is shown ad- hering to the cross, not hanging forward from it; He is alive and shows no signs of physical suffering; He is clad in a long, flowing, sleeveless tunic (cohbium), which reaches the knees. The head is erect, and sur- rounded by a nimbus, and bears a royal crown. The figure is fastened to the wood with four nails (cf. Garrucci, "Storia dell' arte crist.". Ill, fig. 1.39 and p. 61 ; Marucchi, op. cit., and " II cimitero e la basilica di S. Valentino", Rome, 1890; Forrer and Mtiller, op. cit., 20, PI. Ill, fig. 6). In a word, it is not Christ suffering, but Christ triumphing and glorious on the Cross. Moreover, Christian art for a long time ob- jected to stripping Christ of his garments, and the traditional colobium, or tunic, remained until the ninth century. In the East the robed Christ was preserv-ed to a much later date. Again, in miniatures from the ninth century the figure is robed, and stands erect on the cross and on the suppedaneum.
The scene of the Crucifixion, especially after the eighth ccnturj', includes the presence of the two thieves, the centurion who pierced Christ's side, the soldier with the sponge, the Blessed Virgin and St. John. Marj' is never shown weeping and afflicted, as became the custom in later ages, but standing erect near the cross, as St. Ambrose says, in his funeral oration on Valentinian: "I read of her stand- ing; I do not read of her weeping." Moreover, on either side of the Cross the sun and the moon, often with human faces, veil their brightness, being placed there to tjipify the two natures of Christ; the sun, the Divine, and the moon, the human (cf . St. Gregory the Great, Homily ii in Evang.). At the foot of the Cross the female figures are symbolical of the Church and the Synagogue, the one receiving the Saviour's blood in a cup, the other veiled and dis- crowned, holding in her hand a torn banner. With the tenth centurj' realism began to play a part in Christian art, and the colobium becomes a shorter garment, reaching from the waist to the knees (peri- zoma). In the "Hortus delicianim" in the "album" belonging to the .Abbess Herrada of Landsberg in the twclftli the colobium is short, and approaclies the form (if flic pirizoma. From the eleventh ccnturj- in the l".a.sl, .inil froni tlie Gothic period in the Wist, the head droops onto the breast (cf. Borgia. De Cruce Velitema, 191), the crown of thorns is introduced, the arms arc Ix>nt back, the body is twisted, the face I 34
is wrung with agony, and blood flows from the wounds.
In the thirteenth century complete realism is reached
by the substitution of one nail in the feet, instead of
two, as in the old tradition, and the resulting crossing
of the legs. ^All this was done from artistic motives,
to bring about a more moving and devotional pose.
The living and triumphant Christ gives place to a
Christ dead, in all the humiliation of His Passion, the
agony of His death being even accentuated. This
manner of treatment was afterwards generalized by
the schools of Cimabue and Giotto. In conclusion it
may be noted that the custom of placing the crucifix
over the altar does not date from earlier than the
eleventh centurj'. (See Section III of this article.)
Works of reference on the crucifix and its various forms in general: Justvs Lipsirs. De Cruce libri Ires (Antwerp, l.'iQ.'j); Gretser, De Cruce Chrisli rebusque ad earn pertinentibus (Ingoldstadt. l,59o-160o); Bosius, Crux Iriumphans et gloriosa (Antwerp, 1617, folio); Bartholincs, Dc Cruce Chrisli hy- pomnemata (Copenliagcn, 1651); Aloer. Hislory of the Cross (Boston, 1S.5S); iI(-NZ, Archaologische Bemerkunqcn iibcr das Kreuz Chrisli (Frankfort, 1867); Stockbaueh, Kumloeschichle des Krcuzes (Schaffhausen, 1870); Zockler, Das Krcuz Chrisli (Guteisloh, 1875).
Orazio Marucchi.
II. The True Cross and Representations of it AS Objects op Devotion. — (1) Growth of the Chris- tian Cult. — The Cross to which Christ had been nailed, and on which He had died, became for Christians, quite naturally and logically, the object of a special respect and worship. St. Paul says, in I Cor., i, 17: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void"; in Gal., ii, 19: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross"; in Eph., ii, 16: Christ . . . "might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross " ; in Phil., iii, 18: "For many walk . . . enemies of the cross of Christ"; in Col., ii, 14: "Blotting out the handwTiting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross"; and in Gal., vi, 14: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world ' '.
It seems clear, therefore, that for St. Paul the Cross of Christ was not only a precious remembrance of Christ's sufferings and death, but also a symbol closely associated with His sacrifice and the mystery of the Passion. It was, moreover, natural that it should be venerated and become an object of a cult with the Christians who had been saved by it. Of such a cult in the Primitive Church we have definite and suffi- ciently numerous evidences. TertuUian meets the objection that Christians adore the cross by answering with an argumi-nlum ad hominem, not by a denial. Another apologist, Minucius Felix, replies to the same objection. Lastly we may recall the famous carica- ture of Alexamcnos, for which see the article Ass. From all this it appears that the pagans, without further consideration of the matter, believed that the Christians adored the cross; and that the apologists either answered indirectly, or contented themsejves with saying that they do not adore the cross, without denying that a certain form of veneration was paid to it.
It is also an accepted belief that in the decorations of the catacombs there have been found, if not the cross itself, at least more or less veiled allusions to the holy symbol. A detailed treatment of this and other historical evidence for the early (irevalence of the cult will be found in i^'ction I of this article.
Tliis cult liecanie more extensive than ever after the discoverj- of the Holy Places and of the True Cro.ss. Since the time when Jerusalem had been laid w.iste and niim d in the wars of the Romans, especially since Hadrian had founded upon the ruins his colony of JEW'x Capitolina, the places consecrated by the Pas-
