THE DISCOVERY OF THE CROSS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 145, 11 February 1876, Page 14

THE DISCOVERY OF THE CROSS.

TitE festival called the "Invention of the Cross," instituted in honor of the finding of the Cross, in 326, by the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantino, is celebrated on the 3rd of May. The story of the discovery is related by Socrates, Sozomen, Rufinus, Theodoret, Paulinus, Sulpicius Seveius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and Chrysostom : but Eusebius is silent regarding it. When Helena visited the scenes about Jerusalem, it is said that every trace of the great events had been obliterated by the heathen, and a temple of Venus stood upon Mount Calvary ; but a Jew, who had treasured up what traditions he could gather, pointed out the probable place of Christ's Sepulchre. The bpot being excavated, the crosses were discovered, and the title which that of Jesus bore vas found lying by itself. It is related that the cross of Christ was distinguished from the other two by miraculous cures wrought by touching it. A church was built over the spot, and a part of the sacred relic was deposited in it ; apart was sent to Borne, and placed in the church of Santa Crocc iv Gerusalcmme, built to receive it ; and the rest was put by Constantino into the head of a statue of himself in Constantinople. The first was carried away by Chosroe?, King of Persia, in Gl 1, but was afterward recovered by the Emperor Heraclius, who restored it to its former place in 629. In the time of the Crusades it was borne to battle by the Christians, and was captured by Saladin in 1187, iv his great victory near Tiberias. What is asserted to be a piece of the true cross is still shown at Rome ; another was preserved in Poland till the seventeenth century, when it was presented by John Casmir to the Princess Palatine Anna Nonzaga, Avho bequeathed it to the monks of St. Germain in Paris ; and innumerable email reputed fragments are held by Catholics throughout the world. — ' Appletons' American Cylopuudia,' revised edition, article "Cross."