September 14, 2025
Every year on the 14th of September we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. While this feast focuses on the cross of Christ, it is not the same celebration that occurs on Good Friday when we enter into the Passion of the Lord and prayerfully participate in Jesus’ death.
While early Christians did use the sign of the cross in their private prayer and blessing, prior to the fourth century they did not publicly venerate or display the cross. That is because Romans continued to use the cross as a gruesome, cruel, and humiliating form of capital punishment. Early Christians did occasionally reverence a decorated form of a cross (called crux gemata) — of which a remnant can still be seen in the apse of the Lateran Basilica — but not a crucifix. They also included cryptic references to the cross in other early Christian images, like the anchor, which was a Christian symbol of hope. It was only after the legalization of Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313, and the subsequent abolishment of crucifixion as a form of capital punishment, that Christians began to publicly reverence the image of Jesus crucified.
Crux Gemmate, Lateran Cathedral, Rome
This devotional development may have been triggered in part by the very legalization of Christianity. During the times of persecution, Christians knew well the sacrifice of faith; in the absence of persecutions, they needed to remind themselves of our Lord’s sacrifice through the image of his crucifixion. The earliest known image of a crucifix publicly displayed for veneration can still be seen on the carved cypress doors of Santa Sabina in Rome (dating from the mid-fifth century).
Santa Sabina Crucifix, Rome
It was also after the legalization of Christianity that the remnants of the True Cross were found in Jerusalem by St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, who built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates these two events (finding of the cross and construction of the basilica) on the anniversary of the day when this church was dedicated, and a piece of the True Cross was exposed for public veneration. The annual celebration of the cross on September 14, in one form or another, has continued without interruption since 335.
While pagan governments may have intended the cross to be a sign of defeat, suffering, intimidation, and failure, it means something very different to Christians. For us, the crucifix is the instrument of our salvation from which Jesus accomplished his greatest ministry: the redemption of the world. The crucifix of Christ, then, is a reminder of God’s great love for every man, woman, and child; it is the source of our forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace; it is the means by which all people are offered a sharing in the communion of life and love with God; it is the throne on which Jesus established the kingdom of God in his very own person.
The crucifix is no longer a symbol of defeat. It is the most perfect sign of our Lord’s triumph over the forces of sin and death. The crucifix of Christ is the good news of God’s mercy and presence with all who suffer.
Our annual celebration of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is an opportunity for us to remember how God can use even the worst and darkest of human actions to accomplish his divine will. It is also an important annual reminder of how we are called to embrace the cross (see Luke 9:23).
Jesus told us that where the Master goes, his disciples will follow. Our Lord also told us that we must be prepared to accept the cross in our own life if we would follow him. The cross, for Christians, is the suffering that we willingly accept as a consequence of our decision to follow Jesus. This annual feast reminds us that the cross always leads to the Resurrection, and so even suffering can be a necessary and divinely intended means for our salvation and sanctification. For this reason, Jesus proclaimed those who suffer for the sake of righteousness to be “blessed.” (see Matthew 5:11-13)
It requires the eyes of faith to joyfully and willingly embrace such faithful suffering. It requires serious and mature prayer to see the beautiful invitation to close friendship with Jesus in moments of faithful suffering.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!