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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichwith the child weeping by her side, and saw, to his astonishment, the bloody countenance of ourLord imprinted upon the veil, a perfect likeness, although heartrending and painful to look upon.He roused Seraphia, and pointed to the veil. She again knelt down before it, and exclaimed throughher tears, ‘Now I shall indeed leave all with a happy heart, for my Lord has given me a remembranceof himself.’ The texture of this veil was a species of very fine wool; it was three times the lengthof its width, and was generally worn on the shoulders. It was customary to present these veils topersons who were in affliction, or over-fatigued, or ill, that they might wipe their faces with them,and it was done in order to express sympathy or compassion. Veronica kept this veil until her death,and hung it at the head of her bed; it was then given to the Blessed Virgin, who left It to the Apostles,and they afterwards passed it on to the Church.243Seraphia and John the Baptist were cousins, her father and Zacharias being brothers. When Joachimand Anna brought the Blessed Virgin, who was then only four years old, up to Jerusalem, to placeher among the virgins in the Temple, they lodged in the house of Zacharias, which was situatednear the fish-market. Seraphia was at least five years older than the Blessed Virgin, was present ather marriage with St. Joseph, and was likewise related to the aged Simeon, who prophesied whenthe Child Jesus was put into his arms. She was brought up with his sons, both of whom, as well asSeraphia, he imbued with his ardent desire of seeing our Lord. When Jesus was twelve years old,and remained teaching in the Temple, Seraphia, who was not then married, sent food for him everyday to a little inn, a quarter of a mile from Jerusalem, where he dwelt when he was not in theTemple. Mary went there for two days, when on her way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to offer herChild in the Temple. The two old men who kept this inn were Essenians, and well acquainted withthe Holy Family; it contained a kind of foundation for the poor, and Jesus and his disciples oftenwent there for a night’s lodging.Seraphia married rather late in life; her husband, Sirach, was descended from the chaste Susannah,and was a member of the Sanhedrim. He was at first greatly opposed to our Lord, and his wifesuffered much on account of her attachment to Jesus, and to the holy women, but Joseph ofArimathea and Nicodemus brought him to a better state of feeling, and he allowed Seraphia tofollow our Lord. When Jesus was unjustly accused in the court of Caiphas, the husband of Seraphiajoined with Joseph and Nicodemus in attempts to obtain the liberation of our Lord, and all threeresigned their seats in the Council.Seraphia was about fifty at the time of the triumphant procession of our Lord when he entered intoJerusalem on Palm Sunday, and I then saw her take off her veil and spread it on the ground for himto walk upon. It was this same veil, which she presented to Jesus, at this his second procession, aprocession which outwardly appeared to be far less glorious, but was in fact much more so. Thisveil obtained for her the name of Veronica, and it is still shown for the veneration of the faithful.244CHAPTER XXXV.140
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine EmmerichThe fourth and fifth Falls of Jesus.—The Daughters of Jerusalem.THE procession was still at some distance from the south-west gate, which was large, and attachedto the fortifications, and the street was rough and steep; it had first to pass under a vaulted arch,then over a bridge, and finally under a second arch. The wall on the left side of the gate rims firstin a southerly direction, then deviates a little to the west, and finally runs to the south behind MountSion. When the procession was near this gate, the brutal archers shoved Jesus into a stagnant pool,which was close to it; Simon of Cyrene, in his endeavours to avoid the pool, gave the cross a twist,which caused Jesus to fall down for the fourth time in the midst of the dirty mud, and Simon hadthe greatest difficulty in lifting up the cross again. Jesus then exclaimed in a tone which, althoughclear, was moving and sad: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered together thychildren as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?’ When thePharisees heard these words, they became still more angry, and recommencing their insults andblows endeavoured to force him to get up out of the mud. Their cruelty to Jesus so exasperatedSimon of Cyrene that he at last exclaimed, ‘If you continue this brutal conduct, I will throw downthe cross and carry it no farther. I will do so if you kill me for it.’245A narrow and stony path was visible as soon as the gate was passed, and this path ran in a northerlydirection, and led to Calvary. The high road from which it deviates divided shortly after into threebranches, one to the southwest, which led to Bethlehem, through the vale of Gihon; a second to thesouth towards Emmaus and Joppa; a third, likewise to the south-west, wound round Calvary, andterminated at the gate which led to Bethsur. A person standing at the gate through which Jesus wasled might easily see the gate of Bethlehem. The officers had fastened an inscription upon a postwhich stood at the commencement of the road to Calvary, to inform those who passed by that Jesusand the two thieves were condemned to death. A group of women had gathered together near thisspot, and were weeping and lamenting; many carried young children in their arms; the greatest partwere young maidens and women from Jerusalem, who had preceded the procession, but a few camefrom Bethlehem, from Hebron, and from other neighbouring places, in order to celebrate the Pasch.Jesus was on the point of again falling, but Simon, who was behind, perceiving that he could notstand, hastened to support him; he leant upon Simon, and was thus saved from falling to the ground.When the women and children of whom we have spoken above, saw the deplorable condition towhich our Lord was reduced, they uttered loud cries, wept, and, according to the Jewish custom,presented him cloths to wipe his face. Jesus turned towards them and said: ‘Daughters of Jerusalem,weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days shall comewherein they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the papsthat have not given suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall upon us, and to thehills, Cover us. For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?’ Hethen addressed a few words of consolation to them, which I do not exactly remember.The procession made a momentary halt. The executioners, who set off first, had reached Calvarywith the instruments for the execution, and were followed by a hundred of the Roman soldiers whohad started with Pilate; he only accompanied the procession as far as the gateway, and returned tothe town.141
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