Crown of thorns

thumb|Christ carrying the cross with the crown of thorns, as painted by [[El Greco, ]]

According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or ) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew (Matthew 27:29), Mark (Mark 15:17) and John (John 19:2, 19:5), and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others, along with being referenced in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter.thumb|right|A purported [[relic of the Crown of Thorns, received by the French King Louis IX from Emperor Baldwin II.]]

Since around 400 AD, a relic has been venerated as the crown of thorns. Louis IX acquired it in 1239 from the emperor Baldwin Il, who was financially in debt due to heavy military expenses. Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle as a monumental reliquary to house the relic. Transferred to the French National Library during the Revolution of the 18th century, the crown of thorns has been displayed at Notre-Dame de Paris since 1804. The crown is made of reeds, formed into a circle and attached with reed fasteners. On 15 April 2019, it was rescued from a fire and moved to the Louvre Museum. In December of 2024, a ceremony marking the relic's return to Notre Dame Cathedral was led by a procession attended by members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Veneration of the crown of thorns takes place every first Friday of the month from 3 pm to 5 pm.

Numerous other relics are purported to be from the original crown of thorns.

The Crown of Thorns and the Curse in Genesis

thumb|right|from the [[Karlsruhe Passion, ]]

Many theologians interpret the crown of thorns placed on Jesus during his crucifixion as symbolically linked to the curse pronounced in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 3:17–18, thorns are introduced as part of the punishment for humanity's disobedience:

:"Cursed is the ground because of you... thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you."

The Gospels describe Roman soldiers placing a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head as a form of mockery (Matthew 27:29; John 19:2). While intended as humiliation, many Christian theologians interpret this act as rich in symbolic meaning—Christ bearing the physical sign of the Fall’s curse.

Early Christian writers saw this as a reversal of the Edenic curse. Origen interpreted the thorns as representing human sin borne by Christ. Jerome identified the thorns with the Genesis curse Christ assumed. Theophilus of Antioch called the thorns “sins.”

Later commentators such as Matthew Henry, R.C. Sproul, and John Calvin also emphasized the crown as a symbol of Christ bearing the curse. This view aligns with Galatians 3:13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."

From this perspective, the crown of thorns serves not only as a tool of mockery but as a visible sign of Christ taking on the curse introduced in Eden and initiating its reversal.

As a relic

Jerusalem

The three Biblical gospels that mention the crown of thorns do not say what happened to it after the crucifixion. The oldest known mention of the crown already being venerated as a relic was made by Paulinus of Nola, writing after 409, who refers to the crown as a relic that was adored by the faithful (Epistle Macarius in Migne, , LXI, 407). Cassiodorus () speaks of the crown of thorns among other relics which were "the glory" of the city of Jerusalem. "There", he says, "we may behold the thorny crown, which was only set upon the head of Our Redeemer in order that all the thorns of the world might be gathered together and broken" (Migne, LXX, 621). When Gregory of Tours in avers that the thorns in the crown still looked green, a freshness which was miraculously renewed each day, he does not much strengthen the historical authenticity of a relic he had not seen, but the Breviary of Jerusalem (a short text dated to about 530 AD), clearly state that the crown of thorns was then shown in the "Basilica of Mount Zion," although there is uncertainty about the actual site to which the authors refer.

France

In 1238, Baldwin II, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, anxious to obtain support for his tottering empire, offered the crown of thorns to Louis IX of France. It was then in the hands of the Venetians as security for a great loan of 13,134 gold pieces, yet it was redeemed and conveyed to Paris where Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle, completed in 1248, to receive it. The relic stayed there until the French Revolution, when, after finding a home for a while in the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Concordat of 1801 restored it to the Catholic Church, and it was deposited in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.

The exact plant species used to make the crown is not confirmed. The relic that the church received was examined in the nineteenth century, and it appeared to be a twisted circlet of rushes of Juncus balticus, a plant native to maritime areas of northern Britain, the Baltic region, and Scandinavia. The thorns preserved in various other reliquaries appeared to be Ziziphus spina-christi, (see also Feast of the Crown of Thorns).

Members of the Paris Fire Brigade saved the relic during the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 15, 2019. It returned to the cathedral in December of 2024. The statement in one medieval obituary that Peter de Aveiro gave to the cathedral of Angers, ("one of the spines which were attached to the thorny crown of our Redeemer")

The "Gazetteer of Relics and Miraculous Images" lists the following, following Cruz 1984:

Belgium: Parochial Church of Wevelgem: a portion of the crown of thorns (since 1561)
Belgium: Ghent, St. Michael's Church: A thorn from the crown of thorns.
Italy: Rome, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme: Two thorns from the crown of thorns.
Italy: Rome, Santa Prassede: A small portion of the crown of thorns
Italy: Pisa, Chiesa di Santa Chiara: A branch with thorns from the crown of thorns
Italy: Naples, Santa Maria Incoronata: A fragment of the crown of thorns
Italy: Ariano Irpino, Cathedral: Two Thorns from the crown of thorns
Portugal: Lisbon, Museum of St. Roque, SCML, Reliquary of the Holy Thorn
Spain: Oviedo, Cathedral: Five thorns (formerly eight) from the crown of thorns
Spain: Barcelona, Cathedral: A thorn from the crown of thorns
Spain: Seville, Iglesia de la Anunciación (Hermandad del Valle): A thorn from the crown of thorns
United Kingdom: British Museum: Holy Thorn Reliquary (see above), Salting Reliquary, each with a thorn
United Kingdom: Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester: A thorn from the crown of thorns
United Kingdom: Stonyhurst College, Lancashire: A thorn from the crown of thorns.

Catholic missionaries likened several parts of the Passiflora plant to elements of the Passion: the flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the crown of thorns.

Carnations symbolize the passion as they represent the crown of thorns.

Photo gallery

Late 19th Century Reliquary.JPG|Reliquary made in 1806, commissioned by Napoleon, preserved at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

HolyCrown.JPG|A second reliquary from 1862, designed by Viollet-le-Duc preserved at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Detail of Crown Reliquary.jpg|Detail of the 1862 reliquary.

SteChapelle von N.JPG|The Sainte-Chapelle, built to house the Passion Relics.

Santa Monica Parish Churcjf3437 08.JPG|Mater Dolorosa and bust of crown of thorns (Santa Monica Parish Church, Philippines)

Eikon.png|William Marshall's print depicting King Charles I taking up the crown of thorns

Cimitero Vantiniano busto di Cristo Brescia.jpg| Bronze bust of Jesus with in the Monumental cemetery of Brescia.

Cë de gips Berstott Lenert a Urtijëi.jpg|Bust of Christ by Johann Baptist Walpoth 1932.

</gallery>

Criticism of the veneration of the crown of thorns

A critique of the adoration of the crown of thorns was set forth in 1543 by John Calvin in the work Treatise on Relics. He described numerous parts of the crown of thorns known to him, located in different cities. Based on a large number of parts of the crown of thorns, Calvin wrote:

<blockquote>In regard to the Crown of thorns, it would seem that its twigs had been planted that they might grow again. Otherwise I know not how it could have attained to such a size. First, a third part of it is at Paris, in the Holy Chapel, and then at Rome there are three thorns in Santa Croce, and some portion also in St. Eustathius. At Sienna, I know not how many thorns, at Vincennes one, at Bourges five, at Besançon, in the church of St. John, three, and as many at Koenigsberg. At the church of St. Salvator, in Spain, are several, but how many I know not; at Compostella, in the church of St. Jago, two; in Vivarais, three; also at Toulouse, Mascon, Charrox in Poictou, St. Clair, Sanflor, San Maximin in Provence, in the monastery of Selles, and also in the church of St. Martin at Noyon, each place having a single thorn. But if diligent search were made, the number might be increased fourfold. It is most evident that there must here be falsehood and imposition. How will the truth be ascertained? It ought, moreover, to be observed, that in the ancient Church it was never known what had become of that crown. Hence it is easy to conclude, that the first twig of that now shown grew many years after our Saviour's death.</blockquote>

Replicas

thumb|Religious souvenirs in Jerusalem|alt=Open cardboard boxes seen from above. One holds two piles of crowns of thorns, another holds rosaries, another holds crucifixes, another holds magnets with Holy Land sites, another holds burnable sticks.

Reproductions of the crown are available to tourists from shops in Jerusalem.

Notes

References

(Fiction referencing the crown of thorns.)

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External links

Notre Dame De Paris