Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1912-03-16
THE INSTRUMENT
OF CHRlST'S PASSION
THE TITLE ON THE CROSS.

THE TITLE ON THE CROSS
1t was the custom of the Romans to
cause the crime for which any one was
condemned, to be written and carried
before the criminal to the place of his
punishment. Thus Suetonionius, speak
ing of criminal, says in Caligula, ch.
So: "rhe title which declared the cause
of the punishment being carried before
him" Pursuant to this Roman custom,
PLATE ordered the title, expressive of the
cause of the Savior's Crrcifixiop, to be
carried before Him to the place of exc
cution, as we'll as to be affixed to the
cross. But though he meant it to sig
nifty his having brought his own punish
ment for having aspired to the sovereign
power; yet by particular direction of
Divine Providence, it in fact proclaimed
Him to the Jews, Greeks and Romans,
what He really was-the true King
that they might read, and reverence
Him as such.
The title also was discovered by St.
Helena and sent to church in Rome,
and reposited on the top of an arch
where it was found in case of lead, in
1892. The inscription, in Hebrew,
Greek and Latin. is in red letters, and
the wood was whitened. Thus it was in
1892; but these colors are since faded.
Also the words "Jews," and "Jerusa-
lem," are eaten away. The board is
nine, but must have been twelve inches
long. Part of the "title" is kept in St.
Mary's Church, Toulous, France.
THE CROWN OF THoRNs.
The crown of thorns was given by the
Emperor Baldwin II, to St. Lewis, King
of France, as to his cousin and great
benefactor, because the City of Con.
stantine was no longer place of seeur-
ity, being sorely pressed by the Sara
Gems and Greeks; also in gratitude for
his extraordinary contributions to the
Eastern Empire and holy places. st.
Lewis, afterward, in requital, volunta.
rily paid off loan which that Emperor
had borrowed from the Venetians.
French historians of that time relate
how this sacred treasure was, with great
devotion, carried In sealed case, by the
way of Venice, into France. Later on,
these, relics were conveyed to st. Steph.
ems Cathedral. The major part, how.
ever, was given to the Holy Chapel. in
Paris, which had been built by st. Lewis
and his sanity mother, Queen Blanche.
The nails with which Christ was fast.
ened on the Cross have been initiated
by a like devotion. Calvin enumerated
Is as genuine. The true nail kept a,
Rome, in the church of the Holy Cross
has been manifestly filed and is now
without point, as may be seen in al
pictures of it. Constantine the Great
fixed one in diadem of pearls, which
he wore on the most solemn occasions
and that, for protection in his war,
and dangers, he set another in costly
bride, which he used. 1t seems proba
bic that there were Tour nails, and tina
the feet were fastened with two nails
apart, and not across, with one. Th'
| Romans fixed little, broad pieces o
wood on the crosses of malefactors 70
the feet to rest upon, as Pliny men
| tions.
The Pillar, at which our Lord wa
scourged, was anciently kept at Jerusa
lem. 1t is shown at Rome through iroi
rails, in little chapel in the church o
st. Praxedes. The pillar is of gray, o
black and white marble, one foot and
half long, aud one foot diameter at tn
bottom and eight inches at the tor
where is an iron ring to which crimi
mails was tied.
! The Jews scourged criminals, first o.