The tradition of having a crucifix in your home

We will celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Sept. 14. The history of this feast day goes back to the 4th century when St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, traveled to the Holy Land and found the cross that Christ was crucified on. The story goes that she found three crosses but did not know which one belonged to Christ, so she brought sick people to each of the crosses and prayed for healing. One of them received a miraculous healing by touching one of the crosses. St. Helena believed this to be the true cross of Christ. She then built a church on the spot, now called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was dedicated on Sept. 13, 335 and the cross itself was presented to the faithful on the 14th so that all could come forward to venerate it. She also brought a piece of the cross back to Rome where she built the Basilica of the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme to house the relic and other relics of the passion.

Pilgrims came, and still come, from all over the world to venerate the pieces of the True Cross in Jerusalem and in Rome. In the early church, it was not common to actually show images of Jesus dying on the cross. Even after Constantine made Christianity legal by the Edict of Milan in 313, it was still not a popular practice to gaze upon an image of the dying Christ. In fact, the oldest image we have of the crucifixion is one that is mocking Christ and the practice of Christianity. It is a third century piece of wall graffiti that shows a human figure with the head of a donkey and arms outstretched in the form of the cross with the caption, “Alexamenos worships his god.”

By the six century through the Middle Ages, images of Jesus dying on the cross became more common and Catholics had crucifixes hanging in their homes. The crucifix was the norm for a wedding gift as it was expected the bride and groom would hang it over the bed reminding them of our Lord’s sacrifice and their own wedding vows “for better or for worse.” Later on, one could get a crucifix with compartments underneath, called a “sick-call” crucifix, which held two candles, a bottle of holy water and a white cloth to facilitate the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick or Viaticum. In this case the family would prepare the “sick call” crucifix so that when the priest came and administered the sacrament it would be done so in a place that was blessed and marked with the cross of Christ and to remind the family where the grace from the sacraments come from.

But what about today? The tradition of hanging a crucifix in our homes is not as common as it once was, and perhaps forgotten in recent generations. This is a tradition that we need to bring back and teach our children.

When we gaze on the crucifix, we are reminded of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. It can also help us better accept the words of Christ, “to deny yourselves, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24). It is also a powerful sign to our guests who enter our homes for it is him who we follow, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23). It marks our home as a Christian home; a Catholic home. Our homes should be claimed for Christ. Demons hate the image of Christ’s perfect loving sacrifice. Our Churches have crucifixes and our families are the domestic church, where the crucifix should also be present.

There is a ministry dedicated to get a crucifix in every Catholic home. The wooden crucifixes are handmade, beautiful, and free. They don’t do individual orders anymore but a parish could order in bulk for their parishioners at freecrucifix.org.