The pillar to which according to tradition our Lord was tied while being scourged, was brought from Jerusalem to Rome, in 1223 a.d. “In a small shrine to the right of the chapel (in the Church of St. Praxedes on the Esquiline, near St. Mary Major's), is preserved the marble pillar to which our Lord is said to have been bound. It measures two feet three inches in height, not including its circular pedestal, which is two inches high; its lower diameter is one foot and a-half, its upper is only nine inches, and its top was attached to a ring, the perforation for which remains” (Dr. Donovan's Rome, Ancient and Modern).
| 2. Et milites plectentes corronam de spinis, imposuerunt capiti eius: et veste purpurea circumdederunt eum. | 2. And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head: and they put on him a purple garment. |
2. There is a difficulty here when we compare this verse with Matt. xxvii. 26-29; Mark xv. 15-18. For, while St. [pg 331] John here represents the crowning with thorns[121] and the incident of the cloak as preceding the sentence of death (see verse 16), SS. Matthew and Mark seem to say that they followed it.
Hence, some have held that Christ was twice crowned with thorns and clad with a cloak, and hailed as King of the Jews: once before the sentence as signified here, and once after as indicated by SS. Matthew and Mark.
But it seems the more probable opinion that these events occurred only once, and before the sentence was passed, as St. John records. In this view, SS. Matthew and Mark do not record these events and the sentence in the order in which they occurred.[122] We would suggest, in support of this view, that these Evangelists, in recording the sentence by which Barabbas recovered his liberty (Matt. xxvii. 26; Mark xv. 15), depart from the order of time to record in connection with the liberation of Barabbas the condemnation of Jesus. Thus the sentence of death, though following the crowning with thorns is represented in the two first Gospels as preceding it.
A purple garment. If it be objected that while the cloak according to St. John was purple, according to St. Matthew it was scarlet, we reply that the same difficulty occurs on a comparison of St. Matthew with St. Mark, for the latter also says the cloak was purple; and yet all admit that SS. Matthew and Mark refer to the same occasion. In reality, the two Greek words translated purple and scarlet seem to have been frequently interchanged.
“Πορφύρα is vaguely used to signify different shades of red, and is especially convertible with crimson = κοκκίνη, Matt.” (Alf. on St. Mark xv. 17).
| 3. Et veniebant ad eum, et dicebant: Ave rex Iudaeorum: Et dabant ei alapas. | 3. And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews, and they gave him blows. |
3. Hail, king of the Jews. The soldiers had derisively arrayed Him in the insignia of royalty; nothing was wanting but the mockery of their homage; this they now offer. St. Matthew is more explicit: “And bowing the knee before him, they mocked him, saying: Hail, king of the Jews” (Matt. xxvii. 29).
And they gave him blows. From St. Matthew we learn, [pg 332] too, that “spitting upon him, they took the reed, and struck his head” (Matt. xxvii. 30).