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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine EmmerichTHAT most weak and undecided of all judges, Pilate, had several times repeated these dastardlywords: ‘I find no crime in him: I will chastise him, therefore, and let him go;’ to which the Jewshad continued to respond, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ but he determined to adhere to his resolutionof not condemning our Lord to death, and ordered him to be scourged according to the manner ofthe Romans. The guards were therefore ordered to conduct him through the midst of the furiousmultitude to the forum, which they did with the utmost brutality, at the same time loading him withabuse, and striking him with their staffs. The pillar where criminals were scourged stood to thenorth of Pilate’s palace, near the guard-house, and the executioners Soon arrived, carrying whips,rods, and ropes, which they tossed down at its base. They were six in number, dark, swarthy men,somewhat shorter than Jesus; their chests were covered with a piece of leather, or with some dirtystuff; their loins were girded, and their hairy, sinewy arms bare. They were malefactors from thefrontiers of Egypt, who had been condemned for their crimes to hard labour, and were employedprincipally in making canals, and in erecting public buildings, the most criminal being selected toact as executioners in the Prætorium.206These cruel men had many times scourged poor criminals to death at this pillar. They resembledwild beasts or demons, and appeared to be half drunk. They struck our Lord with their fists, anddragged him by the cords with which he was pinioned, although he followed them without offeringthe least resistance, and, finally, they barbarously knocked him down against the pillar. This pillar,placed in the centre of the court, stood alone, and did not serve to sustain any part of the building;it was not very high, for a tall man could touch the summit by stretching out his arm; there was alarge iron ring at the top, and both rings and hooks a little lower down. It is quite impossible todescribe the cruelty shown by these ruffians towards Jesus: they tore off the mantle with which hehad ‘been clothed in derision at the court of Herod, and almost threw him prostrate again.Jesus trembled and shuddered as he stood before the pillar, and took off his garments as quicklyas he could, but his hands were bloody and swollen. The only return he made when his brutalexecutioners struck and abused him was, to pray for them in the most touching manner: he turnedhis face once towards his Mother, who was standing overcome with grief; this look quite unnervedher: she fainted, and would have fallen, had not the holy women who were there supported her.Jesus put his arms round the pillar, and when his hands were thus raised, the archers fastened themto the iron ring which was at the top of the pillar; they then dragged his arms to such a height thathis feet, which were tightly bound to the base of the pillar, scarcely touched the ground. Thus wasthe Holy of holies violently stretched, without a particle of clothing, on a pillar used for thepunishment of the greatest criminals; and then did two furious ruffians who were thirsting for hisblood begin in the most barbarous manner to scourge his sacred body from head to foot. The whipsor scourges which they first made use of appeared to me to be made of a species of flexible whitewood, but perhaps they were composed of the sinews ot the ox, or of strips of leather.207Our loving Lord, the Son of God, true God and true Man, writhed as a worm under the blows ofthese barbarians; his mild but deep groans might be heard from afar; they resounded through theair, forming a kind of touching accompaniment to the hissing of the instruments of torture. Thesegroans resembled rather a touching cry of prayer and supplication, than moans of anguish. Theclamour of the Pharisees and the people formed another species of accompaniment, which at times118
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichas a deafening thunder-storm deadened and smothered these sacred and mournful cries, and in theirplace might be heard the words, ‘Put him to death!’ ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate continued parleying withthe people, and when he demanded silence in order to be able to speak, he was obliged to proclaimhis wishes to the clamorous assembly by the sound of a trumpet, and at such moments you mightagain hear the noise of the scourges, the moans of Jesus, the imprecations of the soldiers, and thebleating of the Paschal lambs which were being washed in the Probatica pool, at no great distancefrom the forum. There was something peculiarly touching in the plaintive bleating of these lambs:they alone appeared to unite their lamentations with the suffering moans of our Lord.208The Jewish mob was gathered together at some distance from the pillar at which the dreadfulpunishment was taking place, and Roman soldiers were stationed in different parts round about.Many persons were walking to and fro, some in silence, others speaking of Jesus in the most insultingterms possible, and a few appearing touched, and I thought I beheld rays of light issuing from ourLord and entering the hearts of the latter. I saw groups of infamous, bold-looking young men, whowore for the most part busying themselves near the watch-house in preparing fresh scourges, whileothers went to seek branches of thorns. Several of the servants of the High Priests went up to thebrutal executioners and gave them money; as also a large jug filled with a strong bright red liquid,which quite inebriated them, and increased their cruelty tenfold towards their innocent victim. Thetwo ruffians continued to strike our Lord with unremitting violence for a quarter of an hour, andwere then succeeded by two others. His body was entirely covered with black, blue, and red marks;the blood was trickling down on the ground, and yet the furious cries which issued from amongthe assembled Jews showed that their cruelty was far from being satiated.The night had been extremely cold, and the morning was dark and cloudy; a little hail had fallen,which surprised every one, but towards twelve o’clock the day became brighter, and the sun shoneforth.The two fresh executioners commenced scourging Jesus with the greatest possible fury; they madeuse of a different kind of rod,—a species of thorny stick, covered with knots and splinters. Theblows from these sticks tore his flesh to pieces; his blood spouted out so as to stain their arms, andhe groaned, prayed, and shuddered. At this moment, some strangers mounted on camels passedthrough the forum; they stopped for a moment, and were quite overcome with pity and horror atthe scene before them, upon which some of the bystanders explained the cause of what theywitnessed. Some of these travellers had been baptised by John, and others had heard the sermonof Jesus on the mountain. The noise and the tumult of the mob was even more deafening near thehouse of Pilate.Two fresh executioners took the places of the last mentioned, who were beginning to flag; theirscourges were composed of small chains, or straps covered with iron hooks, which penetrated tothe bone, and tore off large pieces of flesh at every blow. What word, alas! could describe thisterrible—this heartrending scene!The cruelty of these barbarians was nevertheless not yet satiated; they untied Jesus, and againfastened him up with his back turned towards the pillar. As he was totally unable to support himselfin an upright position, they passed cords round his waist, under his arms, and above his knees, and119
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