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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine EmmerichA momentary confusion ensued. John and the holy women endeavoured to raise Mary from theground, and the archers reproached her, one of them saying, ‘What hast thou to do here, woman?He would not have been in our hands if he had been better brought up.’A few of the soldiers looked touched; and, although they obliged the Blessed Virgin to retire to thedoorway, not one laid hands upon her. John and the women surrounded her as she fell half faintingagainst a stone, which was near the doorway, and upon which the impression of her hands remained.This stone was very hard, and was afterwards removed to the first Catholic church built in Jerusalem,near the Pool of Bethsaida, during the time that St. James the Less was Bishop of that city. Thetwo disciples who were with the Mother of Jesus carried her into the house, and the door was shut.In the mean time the archers had raised Jesus, and obliged him to carry the cross in a differentmanner. Its arms being unfastened from the centre, and entangled in the ropes with which he wasbound, he supported them on his arm, and by this means the weight of the body of the cross was alittle taken of, as it draped more on the ground. I saw numbers of persons standing about in groups,the greatest part amusing themselves by insulting our Lord in different ways, but a tow veiledfemales were weeping.240CHAPTER XXXIII.Simon of Cyrene.—Third Fall of Jesus.THE procession had reached an arch formed in an old wall belonging to the town, opposite to asquare, in which three streets terminated, when Jesus stumbled against a large stone which wasplaced in the middle of the archway, the cross slipped from his shoulder, he fell upon the Stone,and was totally unable to rise. Many respectable-looking persons who were on their way to theTemple stopped, and exclaimed compassionately: ‘Look at that poor man, he is certainly dying!’but his enemies showed no compassion. This fall caused a fresh delay, as our Lord could not standup again, and the Pharisees said to the soldiers: ‘We shall never got him to the place of executionalive, if you do not find some one to carry his cross.’ At this moment Simon of Cyrene, a pagan,happened, to pass by, accompanied by his three children. He was a gardener, just returning homeafter working in a garden near the eastern wall of the city, and carrying a bundle of lopped branches.The soldiers perceiving by his dress that he was a pagan, seized him, and ordered him to assistJesus in carrying his cross. He refused at first, but was soon compelled to obey, although his children,being frightened, cried and made a great noise, upon which some women quieted and took chargeof them. Simon was much annoyed, and expressed the greatest vexation at being obliged to walkwith a man in so deplorable a condition of dirt and misery; but Jesus wept, and cast such a mildand heavenly look upon him that he was touched, and instead of continuing to show reluctance,helped him to rise, while the executioners fastened one arm of the cross on his shoulders, and hewalked behind our Lord, thus relieving him in a great measure from its weight; and when all wasarranged, the procession moved forward. Simon was a stout-looking man, apparently about forty138
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich241years of age. His children were dressed in tunics made of a variegated material. the two eldest,named Rufus and Alexander, afterwards joined the disciples; the third was much younger, but afew years later went to live with St. Stephen. Simon had not carried the cross after Jesus any lengthof time before he felt his heart deeply touched by grace.CHAPTER XXXIV.The Veil of Veronica.WHILE the procession was passing through a long street, an incident took place which made astrong impression upon Simon. Numbers of respectable persons were hurrying towards the Temple,of whom many got out of the way when they saw Jesus, from a Pharisaical fear of defilement, whileothers, on the contrary, stopped and expressed pity for his sufferings. But when the procession hadadvanced about two hundred steps from the spot where Simon began to assist our Lord in carryinghis cross, the door of a beautiful house on the left opened, and a woman of majestic appearance,holding a young girl by the hand, came out, and walked up to the very head of the procession.Seraphia was the name of the brave woman who thus dared to confront the enraged multitude; shewas the wife of Sirach, one of the councillors belonging to the Temple, and was afterwards knownby the name of Veronica, which name was given from the words vera icon (true portrait), tocommemorate her brave conduct on this day.242Seraphia had prepared some excellent aromatic wine, which she piously intended to present to ourLord to refresh him on his dolorous way to Calvary. She had been standing in the street for sometime, and at last went back into the house to wait. She was, when I first saw her, enveloped in along veil, and holding a little girl of nine years of age, whom she had adopted, by the hand; a largeveil was likewise hanging on her arm, and the little girl endeavoured to hide the jar of wine whenthe procession approached. Those who were marching at the head of the procession tried to push.her back; but she made her way through the mob, the soldiers, and the archers, reached Jesus, fellon her knees before him, and presented the veil, saying at the same time, ‘Permit me to wipe theface of my Lord.’ Jesus took the veil in his left hand, wiped his bleeding face, and returned it withthanks. Seraphia kissed it, and put it under her cloak. The girl then timidly offered the wine, butthe brutal soldiers would not allow Jesus to drink it. The suddenness of this courageous act ofSeraphia had surprised the guards, and caused a momentary although unintentional halt, of whichshe had taken advantage to present the veil to her Divine Master. Both the Pharisees and the guardswere greatly exasperated, not only by the sudden halt, but much more by the public testimony ofveneration which was thus paid to Jesus, and they revenged themselves by striking and abusinghim, while Seraphia returned in haste to her house.No sooner did she reach her room than she placed the woollen veil on a table, and fell almostsenseless on her knees. A friend who entered the room a short time after, found her thus kneeling,139
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