Early
in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor
Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ's
life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition
held was built over the Savior's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of
the Holy Sepulcher over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found
three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was
identified when its touch healed a dying woman.
The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good
Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century,
according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver
container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate
ordered placed above Jesus' head: Then "all the people pass through one
by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription,
first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the
cross, they move on."
To this day the Eastern Churches, Catholic
and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the
September anniversary of the basilica's dedication. The feast entered
the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius
recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15
years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry
the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward
until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.
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