My last post talked about the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and its history post-Christ. But there are a lot of legends of the origin of the Cross as well. Most stories developed in the early medieval times to emphasize Christ as the New Adam and the Resurrection has the victory over the Fall.
I’ve been reading the Golden Legend lately, which includes
lots of heroic, miraculous heliographies as well as a few stories about the
Cross. The Golden Legend was compiled by the Bishop of Genoa, Jacobus de Voragine,
in 1260.
In one story, it is said that after Adam died, his son Seth planted three seeds in the mouth of Adam’s corpse. A “tree of mercy” grew from those seeds and was the tree used to make the Cross. Sometimes these seeds are said to have grown three different types of wood, one of which also grew the bush that became the burning bush.
In another story, the Cross came from part of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As Adam was dying, he sent Seth to the gates of the Garden of Eden to beg God for an oil of mercy distilled from the Tree. Seth found the way by following the footsteps of Adam and Eve, as nothing had grown where they stepped during their expulsion. St. Michael appeared to Seth at the gate and gave him a branch from the Tree. Again, Seth planted this cutting of the tree on Adam’s grave. From this tree came Moses’ staff. David planted it in Jerusalem. Solomon had it cut down to be a beam in the Temple, but it was not found suitable, so the wood was used to build a bridge, over which the Queen of Sheba passed on her journey to meet Solomon. She recognized the importance of the wood used in the timber and fell to her knees along the bridge and revered it. She told Solomon that a piece of that wood would bring about a new covenant of God. Solomon, fearing this revelation, ordered the timber buried. Centuries later, these beams were discovered and used by the Romans to fashion the Cross on which Jesus was crucified.