Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The meaning of the celebration

+ The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross celebrates the finding of the relic of the True Cross by Saint Helena around the year 320. 

+ Helena’s son, Constantine, built a basilica on the site of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb of Jesus) and Calvary and this church was dedicated on September 14, 335. This is the same Church of the Holy Sepulchre that pilgrims can visit today. 

+ The Entrance Antiphon for the Mass of today’s Feast reminds us of the meaning of the celebration: 

We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection,

through whom we are saved and delivered.

For prayer reflection

“Are we able to understand that in the Crucified One of Golgotha, our dignity as children of God, tarnished by sin, is restored to us? Let us turn our gaze towards Christ. It is he who will make us free to love as he loves us, and to build a reconciled world. For on this Cross, Jesus took upon himself the weight of all the sufferings and injustices of our humanity. He bore the humiliation and the discrimination, the torture suffered in many parts of the world by so many of our brothers and sisters for love of Christ.”—Pope Benedict XVI

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember the child-martyr Saint Crescentius of Rome, who was killed during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian around the year 300. He has been honored as a saint since the time of his death. 

Prayer

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son
should undergo the Cross to save the human race,
grant, we pray,
that we, who have known his mystery on earth,
may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Fr. Silas Henderson, S.D.S.