The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-04-26
IN ANCIENT CRUCIFTx.

Major Dallas, of the L. s. Army, is said
10 De the posseSsor of a remarkable ciucifiX
which was presented 20 him by the Rt
Rev. j. b. Salpointe, ID. D., Vicar Apostolic
OF Arizona. That prelate received it from
a Mexican woman on his entry into the
country, she having discovered it among
the ruins of an old Mission near Tuscon.
NO couot part of its very venerable ap-
pearance may be owing to the exposure it
had undergone before its discovery by the
Mexican woman who gave it to Bishop
Salpointe. The Missions of Arizona were
abandoned very hastily about the time of
the proclamation of the Mexican Republic,
all the regular Orders having been expelled
the country. The long time intervening
before the re-entry of any clergy into the
territory was Sufficient to leave many of the
MISSIONS in deplorable aud Tuinons con
dition. That of Santa Nina, near Tuscon.
was not exempted from the common fate.
and nothing now remains except a crumb-
ling edifice of adobe, formerly used as a
residence by the Fathers.
The crucItix is made of wood, and in five
parts tue head. torso, lower extremities in
one, and the arms. The wood is not an
indigenous wood of Arizona, and it's present
possessor, valuing the relic too highly, will
not allow it to be cut to ascertain its true
nature.
The figure is sixteen inches from the
crown of the head 10 the extremity Of the
feet, and eighteen inches from the hands
where they are attached to the transverse
portion of the cross to the feet.
Ii is difficult 70 euter upon a description
OF this very wonderful and soul stirring
work OF art. In most crucifixes having
Pretentious to more than ordinary value,
the artist has, as in the well known ivory
crucifix in the Cathedral of PHILADELPHIA,
left much of the reality of the Cruciiixion
TO the devotion of the spectator, relying for
his effect on the beauty of execution In
the Dallas crucitix, the artist, while not
neglecting any of these aids to effect, has
portrayed with wonderful and awful force
the actual Crucifixion of our Divine Lord.
The body is first moulded or c!iiseled i'm
exact conformity to the laws of ANATOMY.
The swelling muscles and the distended
cords are given with terrible truth and f.
deity. The body having been, with the
limbs aud head, thus carefully made, the
artist has inserted in bone or ivory the an
atomy of the frame. Where the wounded
flesh has been torn, there bones protrude
or are exposed. Over all has been smooth
ed fine and plastic cement, which at the
wounded parts has been moulded to repre-
sent the torn aud mangled flesh, colored
with brilliant blood color which time has
in vain aSsailed, the briliancy remaining
now as VIVID aud lifsIike as when first put on
Commencing with the head. There has
been evidently no permanent crown of
thorns. The head is inclined upou the
chest, having fallen precisely at the mo-
ment of dissolution the hair is falling
around and upon the shoulders the eve
lids are half-closed, and the eyes have a
glazed and expiring expression the whole
face, indeed, is that of death. The mouth
is partly open, exposing the teeth and tie
tip of the tongue. On the forehead, one
thorn remains imbedded in the flesh, whilst
the haIr IS torn in other places from the
scalp, exposing the skull. On the left
cheek is the mark of the cruel buffet.
The body is marked with terrible
wounds; the fagellation has torn the flesh
from the bones, exposing the vertebra and
ribs, from which hang shreds and particles
OF bleeding flesh. The anatomical accura-
cy of the position Of the boEes, shoulder
blades, etc, can only have Been secured by
thorough knowledge of the science
The cruel scourges have tapped round the
frame, aod left their marks upon the sacred
sides, where they have torn the flesh again,
whilst the mark of the Roman soldiers
lance gapes with the clean cut of the muir
deroGS blade. Around the lons can be
seen the places where the cords which
bound Him to the pillar had sunk into the
flesh, and left their ghastly memento.
Around the lOins is also gathered the
clout which, tied with rope. depends at the
left hip. This is saturated with bloUd.
Some portions Of it are gone. The knees
are bare to the bone, and the ankles expose
the articulatious of the JOINTS, whilst the
feet are swelled and Surchanged with blood
The arms give terrible evidence of the ag-
ony which the weight has brought upon
tue muscles; the hands are swollen and
the fingers, though badly broken, arc bent
inward towards the palm with the torture.
Where the heavy cross bore upon these,
the artist has not failed to show the torn
and wounded flesh.
Such, in brief, is this wonderful crucifx.
The Sacred Figure hangs npon n cross uf
natural wood, the knots, etc, being left
covered with cement and blackeued. Ii is
thirty eight inches long by nineteen wide,
the space from tile feet to the lower point
being thirteen inches. 1t is evidently tho
cross of preaching missionary, and when
held aloft in the hand OF 4 feIvent orator.
must have had an unsurpassed effect upon
the mind. The Passion is here not written
but really depicted, and the most calluus
aud lukewarm soul cannot gaze upon this
picture of the sufferngS of our Divine Lord
without being moved to sorrow and repent
ance. The age of this crncifix is estimated
at something more than a century.