Finding of the Holy Cross
by VP
Posted on Wednesday May 03, 2023 at 01:42PM in Tradition
Perseverance and Success: St. Helen, the pious mother of Constantine the Great, had conceived the purpose of restoring to the veneration of the faithful the saving wood whereon the Son of God expiated the sins of the world. When nearly eighty years old she repaired to Palestine, to carry out the holy search; but the pagans had for three centuries concealed from the reverence of the faithful this precious memorial, and no one knew what had become of it. Acting on vague suggestions, however, the princess undertook the task of directing excavations to be made towards the summit of Calvary, and, contrary to general expectation, first one cross was discovered, then a second, and subsequently a third, but without an indication to show the reliable worth of either. As perplexity increase, St. Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, caused a sick woman to be brought to the spot, who, by contact with one of the crosses, was straightway cured; he had a dead body exhumed, and the dead was restored to life. Thenceforth to doubt was no longer possible; this was the Holy Cross of the Savior; it was borne aloft in triumph, and Christendom at large raised its loud acclaim.
Moral reflection: In every undertaking, the beginning merely does not suffice. "Whosoever shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. St. Matthew 24. 13.
Little Pictorial of the Saints 1910 Abbe Lecanu
