Relics of the Passion at Santa Croce

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, “Holy Cross in Jerusalem,” is one of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome. It was built in the fourth century within the palace of Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. According to tradition, Helena went to the Holy Land around the year 326, found the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem, and brought part of it to Rome. She had the floor of her chapel laid over earth from Calvary, so that the church would be, as its name says, “in Jerusalem.”

In the Chapel of the Relics, built in the 1930s, the relics of the Passion are displayed in precious reliquaries. They include three fragments of the wood of the Cross, one of the nails, two thorns from the Crown of Thorns and the Titulus Crucis, the board that hung over Christ’s head. The finger of Saint Thomas, which he put into the Lord’s wounds, is kept there too.

Whatever the history of each piece, these relics have drawn pilgrims for sixteen centuries to meditate on the price of our redemption. The Church sings of the Cross: “Faithful Cross, above all other, one and only noble tree.” The Roman station for Good Friday has been held here since antiquity.

Where

Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Chapel of the Relics, Rome, Italy

When to see it

On view daily in the Chapel of the Relics.

Map

Find it on OpenStreetMap