Suffering With Joy

Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

March 20, 2010

Crucifixion, 1524, Breu, Jorg the Elder, b. 1475/76, Augsburg, d. 1537, Augsburg, Wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him there, and with Him two thieves, one on the right and the other on the left, and Jesus in the midst.  My people, what have I done to thee?  I have exalted thee with great power, and thou hast hanged Me on the gibbet of the cross.¹

V.  They have pierced my hands and my feet.

R.  They have numbered all my bones.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who by the passion of Thine only-begotten Son, / and by the five wounds from which His blood was poured, / didst repair the evil wrought by sin in our human nature: / grant, we beseech Thee, / that we who here on earth revere the wounds which He received, / may be worthy to obtain in Heaven, the fruit of His most precious blood. / Through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: Let me to my latest breath, in my body bear the death of that dying Son of thine.

¹ Lk. 23: 33,  Jn. 19: 18 and Reproaches of Good Friday. ² Ps. 21: 17-18. _³ Collect of the Feast of Five Wounds.

*****

Feast of the Five Wounds: The Church and all the great saints have from time immemorial encouraged us to meditate on the Passion of Our Lord.  Sts. Bernard and Francis of Assisi spread the devotion to the Five Wounds in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and by the 14th century a Mass, known as the Golden Mass, was included in the Roman Missal.  The Passionists spread devotion to the Five Wounds and in 1831 a feast was assigned to the Friday after the third Sunday in Lent.  The Divine Office for the feast dates back to the Middle Ages.

The entire Church does not celebrate this feast, and indeed I could not find it in either of my two 1962 missals, but according to the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia it is placed in the appendix of some Breviaries and Missals.  If anyone can find the Divine Office and Mass for this feast, please leave a comment here so I can update this post. I suspect it can be found in Franciscan, Dominican, or Passionist Breviaries and Missals based on the history of the devotion.

Tags: Stations of the Cross