Evening star., 1914-04-19
RELICS OF THE SAVIOR
I'm EUROPEAN CHURCHES

sons. Court-ai and the St Chapelle held
the scepter Cor a long time. The CROW Il
of thorns. given to St Louis by the I'm
peror of Constantinople. is now in Notre
Dame at Paris. Thorns have been re-
moved from it TO other places and placed
in shrines and churches. OF the purp.A
Bucoeou at Constantinople and others
are in the st. ChapelIe in Paris
The largest portion of the true cross &,
at Rome Many small pieces have been
taken from II and have been distrihuted
throughout the world The INSCRIPTION on
the cross has disappeared. The spear 5
at the Church of St Maurice. Vienna.
and there. too, is one or the TOUR hall>
The sponge. said 10 have been d'scov-
cred in the year go. disappeared from
Constantinople in S14 Its present Shrine
is not known. The other three nails are
mentioned being In Milan. Carpentrf-
and Monza in which latter place IT =
said. too. one forms part of an iron his
toric crown.
About ten years ago an exhibition WaS
given in Paris of the relics said TO have
been discovered in the year 30 by the
Empress Helena. who is also known IN
church history as St Helena This won
an had an interesting history. She was
said to have been the daughter of an Inn
keeper. who afterward married the En-
peror Chorus Constanoius. She was di-
vorced by her royal husband in .a2 for
reasons of state. hut attained public Ia
| vor once again when her son. constar-
! tine the Great. succeeded to the throne
! After her conversion to the Christian
| faith she made pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
where with almost miraculous success.
/ she identified all the places and objects
| connected with the Saviors history. SNs
| is said to have found the burial place OF
| the Mag
1t was the custom OF the Hebrews ~
| bury all of the implements of torture
! with the bodies of those condemned to
| death. In this way st. Helena's task Was
more or less simpliiied. for she claimed to
| find not only the cross on which Christ
was crucified. but also the crown or
! thorns the nails which held Him TO the
cross and the spear which pierced his
side when she discovered the sepulcher.
y story runs that she found two other
J crosses at the same time. and wishing to
ascertain which was Christs cross. she
caused corpse to be brought and laid
| successfully upon each of the three.
| Nothing happened when the first two
were touched. but when the body came
| in contact with the third il suddenly be-
I came alive.
/ St Helena took the four nails of the
! passion to Constantinople. Her son. Con-
| stantine placed one in his helmet as an
ornament. so this particular story as
serts. and made horses bits of two others
The third the story goes. was thrown
into the Adriatc sea by Helena. herself.
to prevent storms. That this story is leg
| endary seems to have been generally ad-
mitted. For if it were true the nails on
exhibition in the churches of Europe
would be only substitutes
The other relics gathered by st. Helena
remained at Jerusalem until GA. in which
+! year the city taken by Sharbaraz
rn
| placed them in a golden box and buried it
! in an open field. a traitor. however un-
earthed the box and took it to Sharharaz
+ who sent it to his master. Chosroes. The
i golden box was subsequently given to
Herodius by Chosroes' successor. Grad
ually all the relics found their way to
Constantnople, where they remained un
til the tenth century. The fourth cru
i sade was the means of securing many OF
i them for western Europe. Whether they
are authentic or not can never be con-
l.clusively proved.