Passion Relics-2.indd - Basilica of the National Shrine of the

Good Friday
Exposition
Relics of the Passion of
Our Lord Jesus Christ
Basilica of the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, D.C.
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The veneration of relics, as stipulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), is
an acceptable form of devotion and piety. Veneration of relics, visits to shrines, pilgrimages,
processions, and the Stations of the Cross are forms of piety in which religious belief finds a
form of expression that surrounds the sacramental life of the Church (CCC, 1674). These
expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church but do not replace it. Derived from
the liturgy, they are to “harmonize with the liturgical seasons;” and lead the faithful back to
the liturgy (CCC, 1675).
“At its core the piety of the people is a storehouse of values that offers answers of Christian
wisdom to the great questions of life. The Catholic wisdom of the people ... creatively combines
the divine and the human, Christ and Mary, spirit and body, communion and institution,
person and community, faith and homeland, intelligence and emotion.” (CELAM, Third
General Conference, Puebla, 1979, Final Document # 448 (tr. NCCB, 1979); cf. Paul VI, EN
48.)
In the early Church, the veneration of the relics of the suffering and death of Our Lord, was
central to the observances of Holy Week at Jerusalem and the practice of pilgrimage. The relics
of the passion, death, and burial of Jesus are the “first” relics of the Church and are considered
to be of the “first class” because of the resurrection and ascension of Our Lord.
Relics, from the Latin reliquiae meaning “remains” or “remnants” are separated into three
categories or classes:
I. Parts of the body of martyrs and saints; instruments of the Passion of Our Lord.
II. Objects that came into close contact with a saint, such as garments or articles of
clothing, items used in life, or in the case of a martyr, the instruments of his or her
torture and death.
III. Clothing or objects that have been touched to a relic of the first or second class
or category. Brandea, Latin for “holy covering or shroud; linen or silk covering for
the body,” which were used in burial, are also regarded as relics.
The relics may be reverenced by touching the fingers to the protective glass.
For reasons of health and as a courtesy for one another,
the kissing or touching of the lips to the protective glass is forbidden.
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THE RELICS
Amalric I, the Christian king of Jerusalem (1162-1174), wrote of the finds in the Holy Land:
“The relics included the most precious evidence of the Passion of Our Lord, namely, the cross,
nails, lance, sponge, reed, crown of thorns, shroud, and the sandals.”
The relics displayed for veneration by the faithful in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception are as follows:
Relics of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (DNJC)
Particle of the Table of the Lord’s Supper
Particle of Stone from the Garden of Gethsemane
Particle of the Scourging Pillar
Particle of the Purple Garment
Particle of the Rope that bound the hands of Jesus
Particle of the Crown of Thorns
Particle of Stone from Golgotha (Calvary)
Particle of the Seamless White Tunic
Shavings of the Spike or Nails
Particle of the Sponge filled with vinegar (sour wine) and the Reed.
Particle of the Lance
Particles of Burial Cloths and Bindings
Particle of Stone from the Holy Sepulchre
Particle of the True Cross
Mary, Blessed Mother Relics (BVM)
Apostles
Particle of the Veil or Garment
Particle of the Sepulchre
Particle of the House at Ephesus
Peter
Philip
Thomas
James the Greater
John
Bartholomew
Barnabas
Holy Women
Mary of Magdala, the Penitent
Mary, wife of Clopas, sister of the
Blessed Mother
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Paul
Andrew
Matthew
James the Less
Jude Thaddeus
Simon the Zealot
Particle of the Table of the Lord’s Supper
Relics of the Apostles
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the
blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood
of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many
for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you; from now on I
shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when
I drink it with you anew in the kingdom of my Father.”
Table of the Lord’s Supper
Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount
of Olives (Matthew 26: 26-30).
The Pilgrimage of Egeria. (A pilgrimage account of a
Spanish nun to the Holy Land in the 4th C.)
At Gethsemane.
There is in that place a graceful church. The bishop
and all the people enter, a prayer suitable to the place
and to the day is said, with one suitable hymn, and the
passage from the Gospel is read ... And then all, even
to the smallest child, go down with the bishop, on foot,
with hymns to Gethsemane, where, on account of the
great number of people in the crowd, who are wearied
owing to the vigils and weak through the daily fasts,
and because they have so great a hill to descend, they
come very slowly with hymns to Gethsemane. Over
two hundred church candles are made ready to give
light to all the people. On their arrival at Gethsemane,
first a suitable prayer is made, then a hymn is said, then
the passage of the Gospel is read where the Lord was
taken.
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Saint Peter
Saint Matthew
Particle of Stone from the Garden of Gethsemane
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane,
and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over
there and pray.” He took along Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee [James the Greater and John the Evangelist], and
began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them,
“My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep
watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in
prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup
pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he
returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to
Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Withdrawing a second time,
he prayed again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup
pass without my drinking it, your will be done!” Then he
returned once more and found them asleep, for they could
not keep their eyes open. He left them and withdrew again
and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again. Then
he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand
when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up,
let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand” (Matthew 26: 36-46).
Stone from Gethsemane
James the Greater
Reflection by Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, OFM Cap.
What a contrast, O Jesus!
How beautiful was the night of your birth, when angels, leaping for joy, announced peace,
singing the Gloria. Now, it seems, they surround you sadly, keeping at a respectful distance,
as if respecting the supreme anguish of your spirit (The Agony of Jesus, 1974).
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Particle of the Rope used to bind the Hands of Jesus
Stones from the Pillar where Jesus was scourged
Particle from the Crown of Thorns
Particle of the Purple Cloak
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it
on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they
came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I
am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that
I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the
crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to
them, “Behold, the man!” (John 19: 1-5).
Reflection by Saint Francis de Sales
Rope
Crown of Thorns
Jesus is the fire of love burning in a bush set with the thorns
of pain, and I am at once the same, I am inflamed with
love even in the midst of my afflictions, I am a ‘lily among
thorns’ (Cant. xi. I). ... I not only feel sadness with him
but I place my glory in him (Love of God, book v, ch. 5).
Purple Robe
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Particle of Stone from Calvary (Golgatha)
Particle of the Nail
Particle of the Inscription Tablet
Particle of the Seamless Tunic
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So
they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went
out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew,
Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two
others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Inscription Tablet
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the
cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the
Jews.” So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
“Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said,
‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I
have written, I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his
clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for
each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic
was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but
cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that
the passage of scripture might be fulfilled [that says]:
“They divided my garments among them, and for my
vesture they cast lots” (John 19: 16-24).
Station before the Cross. The Three Hours.
From the sixth to the ninth hour nothing but the
reading of lessons [psalms, passages from the prophets,
apostles, and the Gospels, hymns] so through all those
three hours the people are taught that nothing was
done which had not been foretold, and that nothing
was foretold which was not wholly fulfilled. ... during
those three hours, [all the people] lament, that the Lord
had suffered those things for us (Egeria).
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Nail
Seamless Tunic
Particle of the Sponge
Particle of the Reed
Relics of Mary, the Blessed Mother
Relic of Mary, sister of the Blessed Mother, wife of Clopas
Relic of Mary of Magdala
Relic of John, Apostle and Evangelist
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his
mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of
Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman,
behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold,
your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her
into his home.
Sponge
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in
order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I
thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So
they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the
wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he
handed over the spirit (John 19: 25-30).
Reed
Reflection by Saint Augustine
Rest in the passion of Christ and dwell willingly in his
sacred wounds. For if you flee to the wounds of Jesus
and the precious marks of the nails and the spear, you
shall find great comfort in tribulation and the slights
of others will not trouble you as much, and you will
easily bear their unkind words (Confessions, II, i, 4).
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Mary of Magdala
Particle of the Lance
Now since it was preparation day, in order that the
bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the
Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be
taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of
the first and then of the other one who was crucified
with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that
he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one
soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately
blood and water flowed out (John 19: 31-40).
Lance
Particle of the Burial Cloth
Particle of the Shroud Bindings
Stone from the Holy Sepulchre
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of
Jesus for fear of the Jews asked Pilate if he could remove
the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came
and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first
come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of
myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial
cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish
burial custom.
Shroud Binding
Now in the place where he had been crucified there
was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which
no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there
because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was
close by (John 19: 38-42).
Sepulchre
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Particles from the Scourging Pillar
According to early Christian sources, the scourging pillar was
taken to the Church of the Apostles atop Mount Sion, after the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. Today, a
portion believed to be of that same pillar, is housed in a chapel in
one of the oldest churches in Rome, Santa Prassede (Praxedes). It
was brought to the church from Constantinople in 1223. During
the Middle Ages there was such a devotion to this relic that the
Holy See established a “Feast of the Holy Pillar” on the Fourth
Sunday in Lent. The iron hoop, to which it is believed Jesus
was tied, was donated to King Louis IX of France in 1240 in
exchange for three spines from the Crown of Thorns.
The Inscription Tablet
The inscription was discovered with the three crosses.
Tradition holds that (Saint) Helena divided it into three
pieces: a portion was sent to her son, Constantine, another to
the Roman church of Santa Croce in Jerusalem (photo), and
the third remained in Jerusalem, as verified in the diary of
the 4th-Century Spanish nun, Egeria [Etheria or Aetheria]:
“both the wood of the Cross and the title are placed upon the
table [for veneration by the faithful and catechumens.]”
Crown of Thorns
In the world in which Jesus lived, the crown was not a
circular band or wreath, but rather a type of cap covering
the entire head. This is supported by the studies of the
Shroud of Turin. What is said to be the crown worn
by Jesus is preserved in the Cathedral of Notre Dame,
Paris. In the early days of the National Shrine, Bishop
Shahan had received a reliquary that contained spines
from the crown of thorns. Unfortunately the reliquary
is gone but its contents has been maintained at the
National Shrine.
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The Holy Nails
In Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler, we read that
Helena was told that if she could find the sepulchre, she
would also find the instruments of the passion of Jesus.
This was in keeping with a Jewish custom of burying
the tools of the execution near the actual site. This is
corroborated in the writings of (Saint) Ambrose, who
noted that Helena found the nails along with the cross
and the inscription tablet. History records that one of
these nails was sent to the church of Santa Croce in Jerusalem in Rome, along with the largest
part of the cross and part of the title, where they are still preserved today.
The other two nails—there were three in all—were sent by Helena to her son, Constantine,
who, history tells us, attached one to his helmet and the other to the bridle of his horse.
Though not all agree with the bridle story, Gregory of Tours writes that the third nail was used
to make a bit for the horse in order to fulfill the words of the prophet Zacharius: “In that day
that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be holy to the Lord” (14:20).
The current locations of the three nails is said to be the Cathedral of Notre Dame (Paris,
France); the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers (Florence, Italy); and the Cathedral
of Saint Peter (Trier, Germany, shown in photo). Filings from the true nails were given to
prominent churches and persons, such as emperors, kings, and noblemen. Butler notes that
some of these filings were used in the forging of replicas. In other instances, replicas were
forged and “touched” to the original and then distributed, which a practice of (Saint) Charles
Borromeo at Milan.
The Sponge
Both the sponge filled with vinegar and the reed to which it was attached were venerated
in Jerusalem during the 6th Century. During the siege of Jerusalem (A.D. 614) these two
relics were sent to Constantinople for safe-keeping. They were later returned. Today, parts
of the sponge is said to be preserved at the church of Saint Jacques de Compiègne (France);
the Cathedral of Aachen (Germany), where Charlemagne is buried; the Archbasilica of Saint
John Lateran, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the churches of Santa Maria in Trastevere,
and Santa Maria in Campitelli (Italy). Gergory of Tours spoke of the the reed and the
sponge filled with vingegar, which he saw in Jerusalem. The earliest known image of the
“sponge bearer” appears with the centurion Longinus in the Rabula Manuscripts.
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The Lance
John is the only evangelist to include the detail: “one of the soldiers pierced His side with
a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (19: 34). In the illuminated Gospel
Manuscripts by the monk Rabula (A.D. 586) the crucifixion scene shows the centurion with
his lance and above his head is the Greek word, λόγχη or logché , which means “lance.” It is
believed that the name “Longinus” is derived from this word. The name is also found in the
apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, The Acts of Pilate, “Longinus the soldier pierced his side
with a spear” (16: 7).
At some point in time, a name was also associated with the sponge-bearer: Stephaton. Although
the actions of the two were separate, they are often shown alongside each other, as in the image
from the Rabula Manuscripts shown below.
Tradition tells us that the lance was discovered inside the Holy Sepulchre along with other
relics. Nothing is known or written about this relic until the mid-6th century, when the pilgrim
Antoninus of Piacenza,
a.k.a, the Anonymous
Pilgrim of Piacenza of
the 6th century (not
to be confused with
the martyr of the 4th
century), recorded in his
pilgrimage diary that
he saw “in the Basilica
of Mount Sion [in
Jerusalem] … the lance
with which [Jesus] was
struck in the side.”
Since 1492 the complete lance has been under the dome of Saint Peter’s in one of the four piers
facing the main altar, guarded by Bernini’s sculpture of (Saint) Longinus, opposite the pier
with the relic of the True Cross.
In the National Shrine, the Chapel of Our Lady of Lebanon, lower level, a version of the
Crucifixion as depicted in the Rabula Manuscripts occupies the center panel behind the altar.
The Greek name however, is omitted.
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The Burial or Grave Cloth and Bindings
These linens are not to be confused with the Shroud at
Turin. There is another “shroud” along with other cloths
and binding ribbons.
The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Savior
(Oviedo, Spain) houses a metal relliquary that contains
a bone-colored cloth (33 x 21 inches), made of a fine,
tightly hand-woven linen, which is said to be similar in
texture and composition to the shroud at Turin. The visible stains on the cloth are also said
to be of water and blood. The expert consultants and scholars who have examined this cloth
believe it was used to support the jaw of Jesus. This is supported by the research on the shroud
in Turin. A gap between the front and back of the head that was caused by a cloth or chin
band tied around the face was noted.
The binding of the head, hands, and feet is a practice common to the Jewish rite of burial.
The Holy Sepulchre
The site of the Basilica of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
is identified as the place of
the crucifixion and the burial
place of Jesus. Centuries
of
construction,
both
ecclesiasticlal and civic, have
created many generations
of this church and a very
involved history.
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Yet it was our pain that he bore,
our sufferings he endured.
We thought of him as stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted,
But he was pierced for our sins,
crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole,
by his wounds we were healed (Is 53: 4-5).
All Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible Revised Edition.
Relics are from the treasurey of relics of the Basilica of the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
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