The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated every year on 14 September. It is such an important feast that it supersedes the celebration of the Sunday in Ordinary Time when it occurs on a Sunday. Of course, this doesn’t happen very often. In fact, the last time it occurred on a Sunday was in 2014. Allow me to provide some historical and theological background for this feast which we celebrate today.
There are three historical events that are commemorated in this celebration: the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena in 326AD, the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (first constructed by the Emperor Constantine – St. Helena’s son – in 334AD on the site of our Lord’s crucifixion in Jerusalem) and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629AD by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (after it had fallen into the hands of the Persian Emperor Chosroes II in 614AD).
It is easy to understand the importance of the cross in the Christian faith. After all, it was through his death on the cross and his Resurrection from the dead that our Lord overcame death and the power of Satan. It is so important that every Christian church displays it prominently outside and inside its buildings. That was not true in the first years of the Church. For the first three centuries after his death, his followers were alternately tolerated, ignored or persecuted by the Jews and the Roman Empire, which controlled all of the Middle East at that time. The early Christians gathered secretly in their homes or in the catacombs surrounding Rome. They pointed to their clandestine gathering places with the outline of a fish carved into the stone walls of nearby buildings. The fish recalled Jesus’ feeding his followers through the multiplication of fish and loaves of bread and the Greek word “ιχθυς” was an acronym for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
That all changed, however, when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 312AD and legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire in 315AD. Under his direction, Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem initiated excavations to ascertain the location of Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher. Three crosses were discovered and Bishop Macarius declared that they were authentic. He determined on which of the three crosses Jesus had died by having a dead man placed on each of the three crosses. When he revived on the third cross, Bishop Macarius decreed that this must have been the True Cross.
In response to this discovery, Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on the site of our Lord’s Resurrection. Although it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times (the current building was constructed in 1149AD and the aedicule that we see now was constructed after a disastrous fire in 1808AD), some of the columns in the current Basilica date back to its original construction. The current Basilica houses the Mount of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, the aedicule (a small church that stands over the tomb where Jesus was laid and rose from the dead), and a chapel that marks the cave where St. Helena discovered the three crosses. It is a very important pilgrimage site. I have been privileged to celebrate Mass there several times (once with Pope Benedict XVI) and I encourage everyone to visit it at least once in their life; it is truly inspirational!
Unfortunately, we have become so accustomed to seeing crosses – often worn as jewelry or hung on the wall as decoration without any religious significance – that we don’t usually reflect on the horrific death our Lord suffered for our sake. The celebration of this feast day on 14 September provides us with an opportunity to spend some time in reflection on Jesus’ great love for us – so great that he would suffer death on the cross – and the victory he won for us through his death and Resurrection. Let us take some time in prayerful reflection and, grateful for his great love for us, let us be ever more willing to die to ourselves so we can live in Christ, bringing his love ever more present in our world.