The Holy Cross on which Our Lord was crucified was first discovered by Saint Helena in the year 326. A Roman emperor, Hadrian, about two hundred years before, in order to stop Christians from venerating the mount of Calvary where Jesus was crucified, had raised a large mound of earth over it and dedicated a temple there to the goddess Venus. When Saint Helena arrived in Jerusalem, with the help of Saint Macarius, Bishop of that city, she had the Temple of Venus destroyed. She hired two hundred workmen and one hundred soldiers to dig into the ground, and they found the Holy Cross on which Our Lord was crucified. It was identified miraculously by the instantaneous cure of a little boy with a crippled arm and of a woman who was dying.
A large part of the Cross was placed in a church in Jerusalem. It was stolen in 615 by Chosroes, a king of the Persians. After many prayers and fasts, and a battle to recover it, the Emperor Heraclius defeated Chosroes and brought back the Holy Cross to Jerusalem, fourteen years after it was stolen. This was in the year 629. Part of the Cross was kept in Jerusalem, but a great part of it was brought to the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome, one of the seven great churches of the Holy City.
Along with the finding of the True Cross, Saint Helena also found the nails which were in Jesus’ hands and in His feet when He died and the inscription placed above the head of Jesus on the Cross, which proclaimed Him in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The nails are kept in churches in Europe. One of them is in the iron Crown of Lombardy. The spear which pierced Our Lord’s side is kept in one of the pillars of the Vatican in Rome. The inscription over Our Lord’s sacred head is kept in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome. There is a special feast dedicated to the nails and the spear that wounded Our Lord on the Cross, on the second Friday of every Lent.
Finding And Recognition of The True Cross, by Piero della Francesca (details)
