Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland

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ST/JD/54

Holy Cross

Gender
None
Floruit (period)
None
Floruit date range
? - ?
Description
The Holy Cross on which Christ was crucified; reputedly discovered by Saint Helena iaround 326. The medieval Inventio Crucis, the legend of the finding of the wood of the True Cross and of the nails that fixed Christ to it survives in its primary Latin form in about 200 manuscripts, and made its way into European vernacular literature, where it exists, for example, in Cynewulf's Elene and an Old Norse version. In the Aberdeen Breviary the Invention (i.e. finding) of the Holy Cross is commemorated on 3 May, with a full office and lections recounting the story of Helena. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is commemorated in the Aberdeen Breviary with a full office and lections on 14 September. This feast commemorates the recovery of the True Cross from the Persians by the Emperor Heraclius in 629. See Stephan Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was Found: From Event to Medieval Legend (1991).
Categories
major type minor type confidence notes
None Relics 100 None
ethnicity
ethnicity description confidence notes
no ethnicity available
feast days
month day fixed? description notes
5 3 yes Invention of the Holy Cross/Beltane None
9 14 yes Exaltation of the Holy Cross The finding by Saint Helena in 326 of the cross on which Christ was crucified.
symbolic attributes
attribute notes
no attributes given
specialist associations
association notes
no specialist associations