Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Heraclius, to repair such great misfortunes and deliver the Christians of the East from the yoke of the Persians, resolved to carry the war in his turn to the heart of Persia, not only by raising troops, but by several acts of piety. Before leaving Constanti nople, he came Constantinople City where the saint exercised his ministry and patriarchate. to the great church, his feet covered in black and not in scarlet, to show his penance. He prostrated himself before the holy altar and prayed to God ardently to bless his good intentions. George of Pisidia then predicted to him that, instead of the black shoes he had taken out of humility, he would return with shoes reddened by the blood of the Persians: which the event verified. He commended the city to God and to the Blessed Virgin, and his son Constantine to the Patriarch Sergius. Finally, he took with him a miraculous image of Our Lord, protesting that he would fight with it until death.

In this state, Heraclius, stronger still by the confidence he had in God than by the number of his soldiers, entered Persia and defeated Chosroes, who was forced to take flight shamefully. The more victorious he was, the more he implored the help of heaven, to which he attributed such happy successes, having his army perform solemn processions to ask God for the continuation of his protection and his blessing. He marched from victory to victory. Chosroes, fearing to fall into the hands of his conqueror, took the path of flight, and withdrew with his wives and his treasures to Seleucia, beyond the Tigris; there, his eldest son Siroes seized him and put him in prison Siroès Son of Khosrow II, he made peace with Heraclius. where he died of hunger, mistreatment, and outrages. Thus ended Chosroes, who had devastated all the East and waged against the Christians the most inhumane and bloodiest war they had ever suffered, taken and carried off the Cross of the Son of God, pillaged his churches, profaned his altars, and committed an infinite number of sacrileges.

Kavadh II, seeing himself raised to the throne of Persia by such condemnable and tyrannical means, desired nothing more than to make peace with the Romans: he therefore sent dispatches to Heraclius to obtain it. This prince willingly granted it to him; but among the conditions of the treaty, he obliged him above all to return the Cross of Our Lord in the same state as his father had taken it, and to set free the Patriarch Zacharias and all the Christian slaves. He then returned in triumph to Constantinople, where he was received with great acclamations from the people; they applauded the one who had repaired the honor of the Roman Empire by the defeat of the barbarians. They went out to meet him with olive branches and torches, and nothing was forgotten that could testify to the public gladness and joy of seeing the Savior's Cross in the hands of the Christians.

Heraclius Héraclius Byzantine Emperor (610-641) who recovered the True Cross. , in order to render solemn thanksgiving to God for the great and signal victories he had won, wished to carry the wood of the true Cross himself to Jerusalem, which had been under the power of the barbarians for fourteen years. When he arrived there, he loaded it upon his own shoulders to carry it with greater pomp back to Calvary, from whence it had been taken; but when he reached the gate that leads to this holy mountain, he found himself so immobile that he could not advance a single step. This marvel, the cause of which no one knew, astonished everyone; only the Patriarch Zacharias, judging whenc e it came, said to patriarche Zacharie Patriarch of Jerusalem taken into captivity by the Persians. him: 'Take care, O Emperor, that with this imperial habit with which you are clothed, you are not sufficiently conformed to the poor and humiliated state that Jesus Christ had when He carried His Cross.' Heraclius, touched by these words and recognizing their truth, immediately took off his garment covered in gold and precious stones, removed his shoes, and clothed himself in the robe of a poor man, after which he walked without difficulty and went to Calvary, where he replaced the cross in the same place from which it had been taken. Finally, to make this triumph even more memorable and to further exalt the glory of the Cross, several miracles were performed that day by the virtue of this sacred wood: a dead man was resurrected, four paralytics were healed, ten lepers purified, fifteen blind men given sight, a multitude of the possessed delivered, and an infinity of the sick restored to perfect health.

Subsequently, it was ordained that the solemn feast of this restoration would be held every year, and the Church still celebrates it on September 14 under the name of the Exaltation of the Hol Exaltation de la sainte Croix The cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified, the central object of the feast. y Cross. It was very famous in the East, and on that day, pilgrims from all parts of the world flocked to Jerusalem. This concerns the institution of this feast, in memory of the recovery of the Cross by Heraclius; but long before, a solemnity in honor of the Cross was held in the Greek Church and the Latin Church under the name of Exaltation, to commemorate the words of Jesus Christ, who said, speaking of his death: "When I am exalted, that is to say, lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself. Just as Moses exalted the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be exalted. When you have exalted the Son of Man, you will know who I am." Cardinal Baronius, in his Notes on the Martyrology, says that this feast was established in the time of Emperor Constantine, to thank God that the Cross was then exalted throughout the universe by the freedom the faithful had to preach the Gospel and to build churches. Perhaps it was established after the true Cross had been found by Saint Helena, and when it was placed on Calvary.

But this feast can be celebrated every day and at every moment in the heart of the Christian. It is the place where Jesus Christ primarily desires His Cross to be exalted. The exterior exaltation that takes place either under the vaults of temples, or on the gates of cities, or even on the heads of sovereigns, is but a sign of what must be done in this living and animated sanctuary.

We shall exalt it through a high esteem that we will conceive for its merit, through a great zeal to carry it as Jesus Christ carried it, through a profound respect for the sufferings that this amiable Savior endured, through a particular care to glorify it in all our actions, and through a holy application to make it triumph in the hearts of our brothers. And what is more noble and more salutary than devotion toward this precious instrument of our salvation? For the Cross is the hope of Christians, the support of the desperate, the harbor for those agitated by the storm, and the medicine of the infirm. It is that which extinguishes the fire of the passions, restores health to sick souls, gives the life of grace to those who were dead through sin, and ruins the empire of vice and impiety. It serves us as a sword and a shield to fight our adversaries, as a scepter to triumph over their malice, as a diadem to adorn us, as a boulevard to defend our faith, as a staff to support us in our weaknesses, as a torch to enlighten us in our darkness, as a guide to set us straight in our wanderings, and as a lesson to teach us the truths of salvation. It erases sins, excites to penance, dampens the flames of cupidity, halts ambition, dissipates vanity, condemns luxury, reproves delicacy, leads to trust in God, opens heaven to us, strengthens us against temptations, preserves us from perils, assists us in our misfortunes, consoles us in our afflictions, refreshes us in our labors, satisfies the famished, nourishes those who fast, covers those who are stripped, enriches the poor, chastises the rich, succors the needy, accompanies travelers, protects widows, defends orphans, guards cities, preserves houses, unites friends, resists enemies, is the honor of magistrates, the power of kings, the victory of army generals, the glory of priests, the refuge of religious, the retreat of virgins, and the inviolable seal of chastity.

The pious inhabitants o f Leb Liban Region where the feast is celebrated with fires on the mountains. anon celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with particular devotion and solemnity. On the eve, at nightfall, a hundred thousand fires shine on all the heights, vying in brilliance with the stars of the sky, and reflecting in the azure of the sea. There is not a hill, not a rock, not a cove on the shore, not a dwelling, from the foot of the mountains to their highest peaks, from Sidon to Tripoli, wherever a Catholic heart beats, that does not give glory to God. All the bells unite their voices with the songs of the faithful, the murmur of the waves, and the joy of the earth, to exalt the tree of life that bore the Salvation of the world.

One can see the other miraculous effects of the Holy Cross in the sermons of Andrew of Crete and Sain t Peter Damian André de Crète Author of sermons on the Holy Cross. , reported by Surius. We have treated this more fully on May 3rd, the day of its finding. See also the life of Saint Radegund. — Cf. Les saints Lieux, by Mgr Mislin.