Today is the Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Cross, literally the "lifting of the cross" as was the custom in the early Church when the "True Cross"--or pieces of it--were raised for adoration by the public. It is also "Rood Day," "rood" meaning "cross."
The day, September 14th, was said to be the day that St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, found the "True Cross," the cross on which Christ died.
There was another day in May that the Church celebrated as the day the cross was rescued from the Persians but that day was eliminated by the modern Church. (Wonder why.)
The history of the cross is interesting. Constantine dreamed of a cross before his decisive battle of Milvian Bridge with his family rivals and put the cross on his army's banners. (Some say he used the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, on their shields.) He attributed his victory to Christianity and made it the official religion. He then sent his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem to find the cross. There was an active reconstruction effort in Jerusalem directed by the newly Christianized Constantine and several pagan temples were being destroyed, one on Golgotha. Helena went to the hill and explored the ruins. There she found three crosses in a sepulcher and they were put to the test: The touch of one cured a dying woman.
As time went by, as the control of the area went back and forth between religions, the decision was made to guarantee preservation of the cross so it was broken up and dispersed, accidentally symbolically, throughout the world.
The day, September 14th, was said to be the day that St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, found the "True Cross," the cross on which Christ died.
There was another day in May that the Church celebrated as the day the cross was rescued from the Persians but that day was eliminated by the modern Church. (Wonder why.)
The history of the cross is interesting. Constantine dreamed of a cross before his decisive battle of Milvian Bridge with his family rivals and put the cross on his army's banners. (Some say he used the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, on their shields.) He attributed his victory to Christianity and made it the official religion. He then sent his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem to find the cross. There was an active reconstruction effort in Jerusalem directed by the newly Christianized Constantine and several pagan temples were being destroyed, one on Golgotha. Helena went to the hill and explored the ruins. There she found three crosses in a sepulcher and they were put to the test: The touch of one cured a dying woman.
As time went by, as the control of the area went back and forth between religions, the decision was made to guarantee preservation of the cross so it was broken up and dispersed, accidentally symbolically, throughout the world.
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