Dazzling Crosses

The cross is always front and center, and certainly when we make the sign of the cross.  At the Victoria and Alfred Museum in London my wife and I viewed an array of splendid and valuable crosses such as altar and processional crosses.  One card read: “The cross is the central emblem of Christianity and the symbol of Christ’s Crucifixion.  It first appeared about 350, possibly for use in private prayer. The ancient custom was to suspend a cross above the altar, or to place it alongside, but from about 1000 the cross was generally put on the altar during Mass.  Crosses were also carried in procession before a service.  In early times, people held them in their hand, but later they raised them on poles.

Altar and processional crosses were generally made of precious or gilded metal, or ivory, and decorated with gems.  From about 800 they bore the image of the crucified Christ and became known as crucifixes.  By about 1100 the imagery of European crosses had become established.  It usually included the symbols of the four Evangelists, often with the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist flanking the cross.”

Curiously, there were no wooden crosses in the displays. Jesus was not nailed to a bejeweled and golden cross. The early Church, and especially the Medieval Church, did a lot to shift the image from a bare, stark cross to valuable ones.  Why?  

Another display card read: “The church was the greatest patron of art in medieval Europe.  Luxurious, awe-inspiring Church interiors were deemed appropriate for the worship of God.  Church coffers, swelled by the taxes and donations of the faithful, paid for the finest furnishings.  Princely bishops also enriched their courts and private chapels.

The wealth of precious metals in churches amazed contemporary worshippers. On his travels around Europe in 1517-18 in the entourage of Cardinal Luigi of Aragon, the Italian chaplain Antonio De Beatis vividly described seeing jeweled relics and a gold-plated cross “more than eight spans high” in the abbey of St. Denis in France.  The Sainte-Chapelle at Bourges possessed a “great chalice…so finely wrought with a noble paten engraved with flowerets and other delicate devices that I doubt if its equal could be made at the present time.

Church patronage was threatened during the religious upheavals of the 16th century when large parts of Europe rebelled against the authority of the Pope.  The Catholic church lost sources of revenue when religious foundations were dissolved, and worldly princes eagerly confiscated their silver.  The new Protestant churches rejected the idea that opulence reflected the glory of God and deprived goldsmiths of a lucrative market.” (end)

Most of us are dazzled by the glitz of religious objects such as crosses and crucifixes.  Most of us would pick the beautiful and fancy ones that capture our eye.  It’s time to reconsider.  Consider the words of the Grail Knight to Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade (1989) when the Knight asked Indiana to pick Jesus’ chalice amongst a display of cups and chalices: “But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.”  Indiana chose the simple wooden cup.  He chose wisely.  Do we?

The Museum displays with all their opulence give evidence that the Church historically has chosen poorly in favor of the rich at the expense of the poor.  Today’s princely bishops and priests should take heed.  

Deacon David Pierce