Calvaria in the Vulgate is not a proper name. “It is simply the Latin for κρανίον, a bare skull, and used in Vulgate only here (Matt.) and in the parallel passages of Mark, Luke, and John when describing the crucifixion—nowhere else in the Old or New Testament. Golgotha was the Hebrew name of the spot where our Lord was crucified. The pure Hebrew form of the word גלגלת (Gulgoleth), meaning a skull (from גלל (galal) to roll, to be round), is found in Judges ix. 53. Thence came the Chaldaic (rather we should say, Syro-Chaldaic), Gulgalta, abbreviated into Golgotha. But why was the place called Golgotha, or skull? Either because criminals were commonly executed on that spot, and many skulls were found there bleaching in the sun (St. Jerome and most modern Catholic comm.); or the mound was skull-like (St. Cyril of Jerusalem alludes to this view, but refutes it); or (according to tradition) the skull of the first man, Adam, was buried there (Orig., St. Epiph., and nearly all the fathers) ...: In accordance with this opinion (of the fathers), we see so often in paintings and pictures a skull placed at the foot of the cross. Although we read constantly in sermons of the hill of Calvary, there is little to show that there was any hill or mound on the spot named Golgotha. St. Cyril of Jerusalem objects to the derivation of Calvary from the mound being skull-shaped, because he says there was no hill there. In the whole history of the Passion no mention is made of the mount or hill of Calvary.... The traditional spot is simply on a high ground, like Holborn in London, or Patrick's-hill in [pg 344] Dublin, or the Pantheon in Paris” (Dr. M'Carthy, on St. Matthew, xxvii. 33).
| 18. Ubi crucifixerunt eum, et cum eo alios duos hinc et hinc, medium autem Iesum. | 18. Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. |
18. Whether Jesus was nailed to the cross while it was lying upon the ground, or whether the cross was first erected and He then raised up to it by ropes and ladders, is disputed.[128]
As to the shape of the cross, too, on which He was crucified, there is a slight difference of opinion. Setting aside the crux simplex, which was merely an upright stake, the crux compacta, so called from the parts being joined together, was threefold: “decussata (cut into two equal parts), like the letter X; commissa, like the letter T, and immissa, or Latin +, which differs from the commissa, by having the long upright beam projecting over the transverse bar” (M'Carthy). The almost unanimous tradition of the fathers holds that Christ died upon the Latin cross, and there is no reason to doubt that this is correct.
And with him two others. These are described as “robbers” (λῃισταί), by St. Matt. (xxvii. 38), and St. Mark (xv. 27), and as “malefactors” by St. Luke (xxiii. 32). It may possibly have been to add to His disgrace and shame that the Jews had these punished together with Jesus. “And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith: And with the wicked he was reputed” (Mark xv. 28).
| 19. Scripsit autem et titulum Pilatus: et posuit super crucem, Erat autem scriptum: Iesus Nazarenus, rex Iudaeorum. | 19. And Pilate wrote a title also: and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. |
19. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. It was usual to indicate in some such way the name and offence of those crucified, and so Pilate had an inscription placed over the head of Jesus, giving His name, and the reason why He suffered. We should have expected, however, that Pilate would have caused to be written: Jesus of Nazareth who claimed to be king of the Jews. But no, either to annoy the Jews, or by an over-ruling Providence, Pilate wrote: “King of the Jews,” thus [pg 345] proclaiming Christ's royal dignity even while he crucified Him.
The title is slightly different in all four Evangelists. Hic est Jesus Rex Judaeorum (Matthew); Rex Judaeorum (Mark); Hic est Rex Judaeorum (Luke); Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum (John).
It is very probable that St. John gives the precise words of the title, the others the substance. For all that is at present legible[129] of the Hebrew text of the title agrees exactly with St. John.
The title, written on a whitened wooden tablet, together with the true cross, nails, and lance, was discovered during the excavations ordered by an English woman, St. Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, about the year 326 a.d. The title was placed by St. Helen in the Church of the Holy Cross on the Esquiline, in Rome, where it is still venerated. See Dr. Donovan's Rome, Ancient and Modern, vol. i., p. 508.