Feast of the
Exultation of the Holy Cross
The Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross
celebrates the vision and victory of Constantine, which ultimately led to the
triumph of Christianity over the Paganism of the Roman Empire, and also of the
finding of the True Cross by his mother, St. Helena. A few words about each
event, first from Dom Gueranger, and the account of St. Helena’s finding of the
True Cross from Catholic Encyclopedia.
Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year
Eternal Wisdom has willed that the octave (ed – an
octave is a celebration of a major liturgical feast extending eight days from
the date of the feast) of Mary’s birth should be honoured by the celebration of
this feast of the triumph of the holy cross. The cross indeed is the standard
of God’s armies, whereof Mary is the Queen; it is by the cross that she crushes
the serpent’s head, and wins so many victories over error, and over the enemies
of the Christian name. ‘By this sign thou shalt conquer.’ Satan had been
suffered to try his strength against the Church by persecution and tortures;
but his time was drawing to an end. By the edict of Sardica, which emancipated
the Christians, Galerius, when about to die, acknowledged the powerlessness of
hell. Now was the time for Christ to take the offensive, and for His cross to
prevail.
Towards the close of the year 311, a Roman army lay at
the foot of the Alps, preparing to pass from Gaul into Italy. Constantine, its
commander, thought only of avenging himself for an injury received from
Maxentius, his political rival; but his soldiers, as unsuspecting as their
chief, already belonged henceforward to the Lord of hosts. The Son of the Most
High, having become, as Son of Mary, king of this world, was about to reveal
Himself to His first lieutenant, and, at the same time, to discover to His first
army the standard that was to go before it.
Above the legions, in a cloudless sky, the cross,
proscribed for three long centuries, suddenly shone forth; all eyes beheld it,
making the western sun, as it were, its footstool, and surrounded with these words
in characters of fire: IN HOC VINCE: by this be thou conqueror! A few months
later, October 27, 312, all the idols of Rome stood aghast to behold, approaching
along the Flaminian Way, beyond the bridge Milvius, the Labarum with its sacred
monogram, now become the standard of the imperial armies. On the morrow was
fought the decisive battle, which opened the gates of the eternal city to
Christ, the only God, the everlasting King. ‘Hail, O cross, formidable to all
enemies, bulwark of the Church, strength of princes; hail in thy triumph!
From Catholic Encyclopedia:
In the year 326 the mother of Constantine, Helena,
then about 80 years old, having journeyed to Jerusalem, undertook to rid the
Holy Sepulchre of the mound of earth heaped upon and around it, and to destroy
the pagan buildings that profaned its site, Some revelations which she had
received gave her confidence that she would discover the Saviour's Tomb and His
Cross. The work was carried on diligently, with the co-operation of St.
Macarius, bishop of the city. The Jews had hidden the Cross in a ditch or well,
and covered it over with stones, so that the faithful might not come and
venerate it. Only a chosen few among the Jews knew the exact spot where it had
been hidden, and one of them, named Judas, touched by Divine inspiration,
pointed it out to the excavators, for which act he was highly praised by St.
Helena. Judas afterwards became a Christian saint, and is honoured under the
name of Cyriacus. During the excavation three crosses were found, but because
the titulus was detached from the Cross of Christ, there was no means of
identifying it. Following an inspiration from on high, Macarius caused the
three crosses to be carried, one after the other, to the bedside of a worthy
woman who was at the point of death. The touch of the other two was of no
avail; but on touching that upon which Christ had died the woman got suddenly
well again. From a letter of St. Paulinus to Severus inserted in the Breviary
of Paris it would appear that St. Helena herself had sought by means of a
miracle to discover which was the True Cross and that she caused a man already
dead and buried to be carried to the spot, whereupon, by contact with the third
cross, he came to life.
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