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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich280garden, not far from Calvary. Pilate was still filled with anxiety and solicitude, and was muchastonished at seeing a person holding a high position like Joseph so anxious for leave to givehonourable burial to a criminal whom he had sentenced to be ignominiously crucified. He sent forthe centurion Abenadar, who returned to Jerusalem after he had conferred with the disciples whowere hidden in the caverns, and asked him whether the King of the Jews was really dead. Abenadargave Pilate a full account of the death of our Lord, of his last words, and of the loud cry he utteredimmediately before death, and of the earthquake which had rent the great chasm in the rock. Theonly thing at which Pilate expressed surprise was that the death of Jesus should have taken placeso quickly, as those who were crucified usually lived much longer; but although be said so little,every word uttered by Joseph increased his dismay and remorse. He instantly gave Joseph an order,by which he was authorised to take down the body of the King of the Jews from the Cross, and toperform the rites of sepulture at once. Pilate appeared to endeavour, by his readiness in grantingthis request, to wish to make up, in a degree, for his previous cruel and unjust conduct, and he waslikewise very glad to do what he was certain would annoy the priests extremely, as he knew theirwish was to have Jesus buried ignominiously between the two thieves. He dispatched a messengerto Calvary to see his orders executed. I believe the messenger was Abenadar, for I saw him assistingin taking Jesus down from the Cross.When Joseph of Arimathea left Pilate’s palace, he instantly rejoined Nicodemus, who was waitingfor him at the house of a pious woman, which stood opposite to a large street, and was not far fromthat alley where Jesus was so shamefully ill-treated when he first commenced carrying his Cross.The woman was a vendor of aromatic herbs, and Nicodemus had purchased many perfumes whichwere necessary for embalming the body of Jesus from her. She procured the more precious kindsfrom other places, and Joseph went away to procure a fine winding-sheet. His servants then fetchedladders, hammers, pegs, jars of water, and sponges, from a neighbouring shed, and placed them ina hand-barrow similar to that on which the disciples of John the Baptist put his body when theycarried it off from the castle of Macherus.CHAPTER XLVIII.The Opening Of the Side of Jesus.—Death of the two Thieves.WHILST these events were taking place in Jerusalem, silence reigned around Calvary. The crowdwhich had been for a time so noisy and tumultuous was dispersed; all were panic-stricken; in somethat panic had produced sincere repentance, but on others it had had no beneficial effects. Mary,John, Magdalen, Mary of Cleophas, and Salome had remained, either standing or sitting before theCross, closely veiled and weeping silently. A few soldiers were leaning over the terrace whichenclosed the platform; Cassius rode up and down; the sky was lowering, and all nature wore a garbof mourning. Six archers soon after made their appearance, bringing with them ladders, spades,ropes, and large iron staves for the purpose of breaking the legs of the criminals, in order to hasten162
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich282their deaths. When they approached our Lord’s Cross, his friends retired a few paces back, and theBlessed Virgin was seized with fear lest they should indulge their hatred of Jesus by insulting evenhis dead body. Her fears were not quite unfounded, for when they first placed their ladders againstthe Cross they declared that he was only pretending to be dead; in a few moments, however, seeingthat he was cold and stiff, they left him, and removed their ladders to the crosses on which the twothieves were still hanging alive. They took up their iron staves and broke the arms of the thievesabove and below the elbow; while another archer at the same moment broke their legs, both aboveand below the knee. Gesmas uttered frightful cries, therefore the executioner finished him off bythree heavy blows of a cudgel on his chest. Dismas gave a deep groan, and expired: be was the firstamong mortals who had the happiness of rejoining his Redeemer. The cords were then loosened,the two bodies fell to the ground, and the executioners dragged them to a deep morass, which wasbetween Calvary and the walls of the town, and buried them there.The archers still appeared doubtful whether Jesus was really dead, and the brutality they had shownin breaking the legs of the thieves made the holy. women tremble as to what outrage they mightnext perpetrate on the body of our Lord. But Cassius, the subaltern officer, a young man of aboutfive-and-twenty, whose weak squinting eyes and nervous manner had often excited the derision ofhis companions, was suddenly illuminated by grace, and being quite overcome at the sight of thecruel conduct of the soldiers, and the deep sorrow of the holy women, determined to relieve theiranxiety by proving beyond dispute that Jesus was really dead. The kindness of his heart promptedhim, but unconsciously to himself he fulfilled a prophecy. He seized his lance and rode quickly upto the mound on which the Cross was planted, stopped just between the cross of the good thief andthat of our Lord, and taking his lance in both hands, thrust it so completely into the right side ofJesus that the point went through the heart, and appeared on the left side. When Cassius drew hislance out of the wound a quantity of blood and water rushed from it, and flowed over his face andbody. This species of washing produced effects somewhat similar to the vivifying waters of Baptism:grace and salvation at once entered his soul. He leaped from his horse, threw himself upon hisknees, struck his breast, and confessed loudly before all his firm belief in the divinity of Jesus.283The Blessed Virgin and her companions were still standing near, with their eyes fixed upon theCross, but when Cassius thrust his lance into the side of Jesus they were much startled, and rushedwith one accord up to it. Mary looked as if the lance had transfixed her heart instead of that of herDivine Son, and could scarcely support herself. Cassius meantime remained kneeling and thankingGod, not only for the graces he had received but likewise for the cure of the complaint in his eyes,which had caused the weakness and the squint. This cure had been effected at the same momentthat the darkness with which his soul was previously filled was removed. Every heart was overcomeat the sight, of the blood of our Lord, which ran into a hollow in the rock at the foot of the Cross.Mary, John, the holy women, and Cassius, gathered up the blood and water in flasks, and wipedup the remainder with pieces of linen. 1515 Sister Emmerich added: ‘Cassius was baptised by the name of Longinus; and was ordained deacon, and preached the faith. Healways kept some of the blood of Christ,—it dried up, but was found in his coffin in Italy. He was buried in a town at no greatdistance from the locality where St. Clare passed her life. There. is a lake with an island upon it near this town, and the body ofLonginus must have been taken there.’ Sister Emmerich appears to designate Mantua by this description, and there is a traditionpreserved in that town to the same effect. I do not know which St. Clare lived in the neighbourhood.163
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