Plates G and H represent the story told in the Golden Legend, of Heraclius bearing the Cross into Jerusalem, how the gate miraculously closed, and an angel appeared in the heavens and reproved Heraclius for riding in state on the very spot where Jesus had gone in all meekness, and lowliness, to His passion. The legend is erased in parts, the unmutilated portion reading, “As the nobul kynge eraclyus com rydyng towarde ye cytte of Ierusalem beryng ye crosse so grete pryde . . . where ye . . . .”
Naturally, the possession of a piece of the true Cross would be esteemed as a most precious property. No matter how small, it would be reverentially enclosed in crystal and gold, and was more than a present fit for an emperor or king, and we cannot marvel that small pieces were distributed all over Christendom. Possibly some of the relics shown as pieces of the very Cross might not have been what they were supposed to be, but it is hard to believe what John Calvin[K] wrote about it:—
“And fyrst of all let us begynne to speake of his crosse, whereupon he was hanged. I know that it is holden for a certaintie that it was founde of Heline the mother of Constantine the Romaine Emperour. I knowe also what certaine Doctours have written touching the approbation hereof, for to certifie that the crosse which she found was without doute the selfe same on the whiche Iesus Christ was hanged. Touchynge all this I reporte me to the thynge it selfe, so much is there that it was but a folish curiositie of her, or at the least a folishe and unconsidered devotion. But yet put the case it had ben a worke worthy of prayse to her, for to have taken paynes to fynde the trewe crosse, and that our lord had then declared by myracle that it was his crosse which she found; Yet let us onely consider that which is of our time. Every one doeth holde that this crosse which Helene founde is yet at Ierusalem, and none doeth doute thereof. Although the Ecclesiasticall history against sayeth the same notablye. For it is ther recited that Helene toke one part thereof to send to the Emperour her sonne, who put the same at Constantinople upon a fyne pyller of Marble in the myddest of the market. Of the other part, it is sayde that she did locke the same in a copher of silver, and gave it to the Bishop of Ierusalem to kepe. So then eyther we shall augment the historie of a lie or els that which is holden at this daye of the true Crosse, is but a vayne and triflyng opinion.
51Blocks—billets
“Let us consider on the other part howe many peeces there are thereof throug out the worlde. Yf I would onely recite that whiche I coulde say there woulde be a register sufficient to fyl a whole boke. There is not so little a town where there is not some peece thereof, and that not onelye in cathedrall churches, but also in some parishes. Likewise ther is not so wicked an abbey where there is not of it to be shewed. And in some places ther are good great shydes:51 as at the holye chappell of Paris, and at Poitiers & at Rome, where there is a great crucifix made thereof as men saye. To be short, yf a man woulde gather together all that hath bene founde of this crosse, there would be inough to fraighte a great ship. The Gospell testifieth that the crosse myght be caried of one man. What audacitie then was this to fyll the earth with pieces of wod in suche quantitie, that thre hundred men can not cary them,” &c.
Calvin was full of zeal, and could not stoop to particularise. Witness his assertion that the Cross would freight a ship, and yet that three hundred men could carry it. M. Rohault de Fleury has gone very minutely into this matter. Knowing, from microscopical examination, that several of the relics of the Cross were of pine, he accepts this wood as his basis, and, from its probable size, he deduces a weight of 100 kilogrammes, equal to about 240 English lbs.; and, taking the average density of pine, he estimates that this would give 178 millions of cubic millimetres. He then describes all the known pieces in Europe, Jerusalem, and Mount Athos, with their measurements, and he puts the outcome at 3,941,975 cubic millimetres; thus, according to his shewing, there is but a very small portion of the Holy Cross in existence. I subjoin his list of the places in which pieces of the Cross are known to exist, as it is most interesting, showing the comparative bulk of the pieces, in cubic millimetres:—