The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Feast Day
September 14th
Holy Cross - San Clemente, Rome
(Detail of Apse mosaic, 12th Century)
Adoramus te, christe, et benedicimus tibi,
quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum.We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee,
for by thy cross thou hast redeemed the world.+ + +
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life.
- John 3:16 (Douay)
God calls each one of us to be a saint.
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September 14, 2006
![]() Triumph of the Cross
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Early in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ's life. She razed the Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.
The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus' head: Then "all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on." To this day the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica's dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim. Quote:
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