title: Relics from the Crucifixion
author: J. Charles Wall
description: <P>The Jews usually burned the crosses used by the Romans after executions but following Jesus' crucifixion they quickly threw the Cross in a ditch to get it out of sight before the feast of Passover. <P>That preserved the True Cross, and memory of the events preserved its location. <P>Disgusted with continued Christian veneration of the spot, pagan Roman Emperor Hadrian erected on the Cross's burial site a statue to Venus, hoping thereby to obliterate their memory. <P>It didn't work. <P>Indeed, because of the statue, when the Empire became Christian, St. Helena knew the exact spot where she would find the very Cross on which Christ died. <P>All relics from Christ's crucifixion have a similarly fascinating story, all of which are told here in this 1910 work by the enterprising Catholic investigator Charles Wall. <P>Among the things you'll discover in these pages: The miracle that revealed to St. Helena which of the three discovered crosses was that of Jesus The horse's bit made from a nail of the True Cross, and the successes it brought the horse's rider The nails and why there are so many in existence today A history of the fortunes the Crown of Thorns gave to those who held them, and a list of towns where thorns are found Where, in 1492, workman accidentally discovered again the actual board on which King of the Jews was written The modest Frenchman who saved a holy nail from profanation during the French Revolution Drawings of the spear of Longinus, and reports of its later use in battles Relics of Jesus's actual blood from the Crucifixion: and why it makes sense that some still exists The veil of Veronica, Christ's seamless robe, and much more!
zlib_text: MYSTERIUM PASCHALE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## MYSTERIUM PASCHALE
  
  
  ## The Mystery of Easter
  
  
  Hans Urs von Balthasar
  
  
  Translated with an Introduction  
  by  
  Aidan Nichols, O.P.
  
  
  IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Original German edition:  
  Theologie der Drei Tage  
  © 1970 by Benzinger Verlag, Einsiedeln  
  Reprinted by St. Benno-Verlag Leipzig, 1983  
  and including additions made to the second French edition  
  Pâques le Mystère, copyright © 1981 by Les Editions du Cerf, Paris
  
  
  English translation copyright © 1990 by T&T Clark  
  All rights reserved
  
  
  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
  or transmitted,  
  in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
  or  
  otherwise, without the prior permission of T&T Clark.
  
  
  Cover art:  
  Crucifix of Archbishop Gera  
  10th century, Ottoman  
  Cathedral, Cologne, Germany  
  © Foto Marburg / Art Resource, New York
  
  
  Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum
  
  
  Published by Ignatius Press 2000, 2005  
  ISB