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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichinhuman revenge. Some among them circulated contradictory and alarming reports, in order toexcite the people, and cause an insurrection; while others distributed money among the soldiers tobribe them to ill-treat Jesus, so as to cause his death, which they were most anxious should bebrought about as quickly as possible, lest Pilate should acquit him.199Whilst the Pharisees wore busying themselves in this manner, our Blessed Saviour was sufferingthe greatest outrages from the brutal soldiers to whom Herod had delivered him, that they mightderide him as a fool. They dragged him into the court, and one of their number having procured alarge white sack which had once been filled with cotton, they made a hole in its centre with a sword,and then tossed it over the head of Jesus, accompanying each action with bursts of the mostcontemptuous laughter. Another soldier brought the remnant of an old scarlet cloak, and passed itround his neck, while the rest bent their knee before him—shoved him—abused him—spat uponhim—struck him on the cheek, because he had refused to answer their king, mocked him bypretending to pay homage—threw mud upon him—seized him by the waist, pretending to makehim dance; then, having thrown him down, dragged him through a gutter which ran on the side ofthe court, thus causing his sacred head to strike against the column and sides of the wall, and whenat last they raised him up, it was only in order to recommence their insults. The soldiers and servantsof Herod who were assembled in this court amounted to upwards of two hundred, and all thoughtto pay court to their monarch by torturing Jesus in some unheard-of way. Many were bribed by theenemies of our Lord to strike him on the head with their sticks, and they took advantage of theconfusion and tumult to do so. Jesus looked upon them with compassion; excess of pain drew fromhim occasional moans and groans, but his enemies rejoiced in his sufferings, and mocked his moans,and not one among the whole assembly showed the slightest degree of compassion. I saw bloodstreaming from his head, and three times did the blows prostrate him, but angels were weeping athis side, and they anointed his head with heavenly balsam. It was revealed to me that had it notbeen for this miraculous assistance he must have died from those wounds. The Philistines at Gaza,who gave vent to their wrath by tormenting poor blind Samson, were far less barbarous than thesecruel executioners of our Lord.The priests were, however, impatient to return to the Temple; therefore, having made certain thattheir orders regarding Jesus would be obeyed, they returned to Herod, and endeavoured to persuadehim to condemn our Lord. But he, being determined to do all in his power to please Pilate, refusedto accede to their wishes, and sent Jesus back again clothed in the fool’s garment.200CHAPTER XXI.Jesus led back from the Court of Herod to that of Pilate.THE enemies of Jesus were perfectly infuriated at being obliged to take Jesus back, stilluncondemned, to Pilate, who had so many times declared his innocence. They led him round by a114
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichmuch longer road, in order in the first place to let the persons of that part of the town see him inthe state of ignominy to which he was reduced, and in the second place to give their emissariesmore time to stir up the populace.This road was extremely rough and uneven; and the soldiers, encouraged by the Pharisees, scarcelyrefrained a moment from tormenting Jesus. The long garment with which he was clothed impededhis steps, and caused him to fall heavily more than once; and his cruel guards, as also many amongthe brutal populace, instead of assisting him in his state of exhaustion, endeavoured by blows andkicks to force him to rise.To all these outrages Jesus offered not the smallest resistance; he prayed constantly to his Fatherfor grace and strength that he might not sink under them, but accomplish the work of his Passionfor our redemption.It was about eight o’clock when the procession reached the palace of Pilate. The crowd was dense,and the Pharisees might be seen walking to and fro, endeavouring to incite and infuriate them stillmore. Pilate, who remembered an insurrection which had taken place the year before at the Paschaltime, had assembled upwards of a thousand soldiers, whom he posted around the Prætorium, theForum, and his palace.The Blessed Virgin, her elder sister Mary (the daughter of Heli), Mary (the daughter of Cleophas),Magdalen, and about twenty of the holy women, were standing in a room from whence they couldsee all which took place, and at first John was with them.201202The Pharisees led Jesus, still clothed in the fool’s garment, through the midst of the insolent mob,and had done all in their power to gather together the most vile and wicked of miscreants fromamong the dregs of the people. A servant sent by Herod had already reached Pilate, with a messageto the effect that his master had fully appreciated his polite deference to his opinion, but that belooked upon the far-famed Galilæan as no better than a fool, that he had treated him as such, andnow sent him back. Pilate was quite satisfied at finding that Herod had come to the same conclusionas himself, and therefore returned a polite message. From that hour they became friends, havingbeen enemies many years; in fact, ever since the falling-in of the aqueduct. 11 Jesus was again ledto the house of Pilate. The archers dragged him up the stairs with their usual brutality; his feetbecame entangled in his long robe, and he fell upon the white marble steps, which were stained11 The cause of the quarrel between Pilate and Herod was, according to the account of Sister Emmerich, simply this: Pilate hadundertaken to build an aqueduct on the south-east side of the mountain on which the Temple stood, at the edge of the torrentinto which the waters of the pool of Bethsaida emptied themselves, and this aqueduct was to carry off the refuse of the Temple.Herod, through the medium of one of his confidants, who was a member of the Sanhedrim, agreed to furnish him with thenecessary materials, as also with twenty-eight architects, who were also Herodians. His aim was to set the Jews still more againstthe Roman governor, by causing the undertaking to fail. He accordingly came to a private understanding with the architects,who agreed to construct the aqueduct in such a manner that it would be certain to fall. When the work was almost finished, anda number of bricklayers from Ophel were busily employed in removing the scaffolding, the twenty-eight builders went on to thetop of the Tower of Siloe to contemplate the crash which they knew must take place. Not only did the whole of the buildingcrumble to pieces, fall, and kill ninety-three workmen, but even the tower containing the twenty-eight architects came down,and not one escaped death. This accident occurred a short time previous to the 8th of January, two years after Jesus had commencedpreaching; it took place on Herod’s birthday, the same day that John the Baptist was beheaded in the Castle of Marcherunt. No115
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