The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. - documenta ...

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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerichin Paradise, for the wounds of Jesus were as sacred fountains, from which flowed four rivers destinedboth to purify the world from the curse of sin, and to give it fertility, so as to produce fruit untosalvation.The eminence on which the cross was planted was about two feet higher than the surrounding parts;the feet of Jesus were sufficiently near the ground for his friends to be able to reach to kiss them,and his face was turned to the north-west.CHAPTER XL.Crucifixion of the Thieves.257DURING the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, the two thieves were left lying on the ground at somedistance off; their arms were fastened to the crosses on which they were to be executed, and a fewsoldiers stood near on guard. The accusation which had been proved against them was that of havingassassinated a Jewish woman who, with her children, was travelling from Jerusalem to Joppa. Theywere arrested, under the disguise of rich merchants, at a castle in which Pilate resided occasionally,when employed in exercising his troops, and they had been imprisoned for a long time before beingbrought to trial. The thief placed on the left-hand side was much older than the other; a regularmiscreant, who had corrupted the younger. They were commonly called Dismas and Gesmas, andas I forget their real names I shall distinguish them by these terms, calling the good one Dismas,and the wicked one Gesmas. Both the one and the other belonged to a band of robbers who infestedthe frontiers of Egypt; and it was in a cave inhabited by these robbers that the Holy Family tookrefuge when flying into Egypt, at the time of the massacre of the Innocents. The poor leprous child,who was instantly cleansed by being dipped in the water which had been used for washing theinfant Jesus, was no other than this Dismas, and the charity of his mother, in receiving and grantinghospitality to the Holy Family, had been rewarded by the cure of her child; while this outwardpurification was an emblem of the inward purification which was afterwards accomplished in thesoul of Dismas on Mount Calvary, through that Sacred Blood which was then shed on the crossfor our redemption. Dismas knew nothing at all about Jesus, but as his heart was not hardened, thesight of the extreme patience of our Lord moved him much. When the executioners had finishedputting up the cross of Jesus, they ordered the thieves to rise without delay, and they loosened theirfetters in order to crucify them at once, as the sky was becoming very cloudy and bore everyappearance of an approaching storm. After giving them some myrrh and vinegar, they stripped offtheir ragged clothing, tied ropes round their arms, and by the help of small ladders dragged themup to their places on the cross. The executioners then bound the arms of the thieves to the cross,with cords made of the bark of trees, and fastened their wrists, elbows, knees, and feet in likemanner, drawing the cords so tight that their joints cracked, and the blood burst out. They utteredpiercing cries, and the good thief exclaimed as they were drawing him up, ‘This torture is dreadful,but if they had treated us as they treated the poor Galilæan, we should have been dead long ago.’148
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich258The executioners had divided the garments of Jesus, in order to draw lots for them; his mantle,which was narrow at the top, was very wide at the bottom, and lined over the chest, thus forminga pocket between the lining and the material itself; the lining they pulled out, tore into bands, anddivided. They did the same with his long white robe, belt, scapular, and under-garment, which wascompletely saturated with his Sacred Blood. Not being able to agree as to who was to be the possessorof the seamless robe woven by his Mother, which could not be cut up and divided, they broughtout a species of chessboard marked with figures, and were about to decide the point by lots, whena messenger, sent by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, informed them that there were personsready to purchase all the clothes of Jesus; they therefore gathered them together and sold them ina bundle. Thus did the Christians get possession of these precious relies.CHAPTER XLI.Jesus hanging an the Cross between two Thieves.259THE tremendous concussion caused by the fall of the cross into the hole prepared for it drove thesharp points of the crown of thorns, which was still upon the head of our dear Saviour, still deeperinto his sacred flesh, and blood ran down again in streams, both from it and from his hands andfeet. The archers then placed ladders against the sides of the cross, mounted them and unfastenedthe ropes with which they had bound our Lord to the cross, previous to lifting it up, fearing thatthe shock might tear open the wounds in his hands and feet, and that then the nails would no longersupport his body. His blood had become, in a certain degree, stagnated by his horizontal positionand the pressure of the cords, but when these wore withdrawn, it resumed its usual course, andcaused such agonising sensations throughout his countless wounds, that he bowed his head, andremained as if dead for more than seven minutes. A pause ensued; the executioners were occupiedwith the division of his garments; the trumpets in the temple no longer resounded; and all the actorsin this fearful tragedy appeared to be exhausted, some by grief, and others by the efforts they hadmade to compass their wicked ends, and by the joy which they felt now at having at last succeededin bringing about the death of him whom they had so long envied. With mixed feelings of fear andcompassion I cast my eyes upon Jesus,—Jesus my Redeemer,—the Redeemer of the world. I beheldhim motionless, and almost lifeless. I felt as if I myself must expire; my heart was overwhelmedbetween grief, love, and horror; my mind was half wandering, my hands and feet burning with afeverish heat; each vein, nerve, and limb was racked with inexpressible pain; I saw nothing distinctly,excepting my beloved Spouse hanging on the cross. I contemplated his disfigured countenance, hishead encircled with that terrible crown of thorns, which prevented his raising it even for a momentwithout the most intense suffering, his mouth parched and half open from exhaustion, and his hairand beard clotted with blood. His chest was torn with stripes and wounds, and his elbows, wrists,and shoulders so violently distended as to be almost dislocated; blood constantly trickled downfrom the gaping wounds in his hands, and the flesh was so torn from his ribs that you might almost149
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