258 HOLY HOOD TIDE. 



SEPT. 14, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 

 A.D. 629. 



St. Catharine of Genoa, widow, 1510. 



St, Cormac, bishop and king in Ireland, 908. 



Holy Rood Day. 



Ohs. The miraculous appearance of the Cross to Constantine, 

 and the discovery of that sacred wood by St Helen, gave the first 

 occasion to this festival, which was celebrated under the title of the 

 Exaltation of the Cross on the 14th of Septembi r, both by the 

 Greeks and Latins, as early as in the fifth and sixth ages, at Jeru- 

 salem, from the year 335. The feast of the invention or discovery 

 of the Cross has been removed in the Latin Church to the 3d ol 

 May ever since the eighth century. See Holy Cross Day, Way 3d, 

 at page 124. 



Blue Passionflower Passijiora coerulea full fl. 



We have already spoken of the Passioiifiower; in the Floral Uirectoiy it i* 

 called Holy Hooil Flower, and recorded today as bcinu' in flower. 



Formerly all churches had a Rooriloft, whereon the Holy Itood or Cross, 

 when pi-rfeitly made, had not only the image of our SaviiUi extended unon it, 

 bnt the lii;uLe> of the Virgin Mary and St. John, one on each <\Ae, in allusion 

 to John \\\. -IJ, Vlirisl on the Cross sav< /its mullicr and the diacipir n-?iom he 

 loved standing bv. Such was the representation denominated the Uood, usually 

 placed over the screen which divided the nave from the cli^ncel of our churches. 

 To our ancestors, we are told, it conveyed a full type of ihe Christian chnich; 

 the nave representing the church militant, aiid the ( liancrl the Lhurch 

 triumphant; denoting" that all who wonUi uo from the one to tlie oiher must 

 pass under tlie Hood, that is, carry the Cross and sutfcr affliction. 



The Koodloft was a gallery across the uave at the entrance ot the cliancel ot 

 the church. 



A very antient hvnin, composed by one of the earlien writers among the 

 Christians, and sn'nsr at the divine otti'e on Holy Cross Day and on Holy Kooil 

 Dav, beginiiiin; rrji//ii Re^is nrndeniit, as>vell a> another l>ei!inning Paiige 

 lin's'ua gloriofi, k'\\1 he found in the Roman Breviary. The lolK.^^ iug being 

 le^s kuown, and allu.ling to the Passiontlower, we give it to our readers : 

 Hyihiiiis Mitiit'tius S. Cruet. 



rialhisjani lucis niincius 



Noctis fiii'ans crepusculu 



Pri claniiit txortum diem 



Sanctum crucis mysierio. 



Quo canie earnis conditor 



Suspensus est palilmlo, 



Ut nos teni'hris perditas 



Claro peilnstrat luniine 



O Crux Ave, spes iinica 



Cui pendet Urbis Conditor 



In hoc triumphigloria 



<\uge noi)isjiistitiam 



Pater trophaeum omnibus 



IJt Signa monstret annuo, 



Uedit'nofnsin floiilms 



Quae I'as^ionem protcnint. 



Jam (ludum O flos signifer 



In te nos, ut in snerulo, 



Coeli pandentis ostia 



Spectemus adventum Dei 



Deo patri sit. Gloria 



Ejusqnesoli tilio 



Cum spirito Paraclito 



In sempiterna secula. 





