Welcoming Arms

Two of the most striking images on the San Damiano Crucifix are the penetrating eyes of Christ and His welcoming arms. While the arms are stretched in crucifixion, they don't really appear to be arms of a crucified man because a crucified man's arms would sag. These are welcoming arms, arms that invite the viewer to collapse into their embrace of love. The span of the arms is long, quite possibly a bit longer than would be natural for the height of the Lord on the cross. But this makes them able to be wrapped securely around anyone who would dare to approach for an embrace. The crucifix seems to be saying, "Come. Whoever you are, come. I love you. I wish to embrace you. Come, whatever your past, whatever your sins, come. I love you. You are Mine and My blood shall make you whole." Christ, welcome me into Your arms. Amen.

Hand of the Creating Lord

As the viewer faces the Crucifix of San Damiano, to Christ's right below  the small rooster superimposed over the black border is what appears to be the robed head of a bearded figure with hand up raised as if in blessing. The hand is disproportionate to the head, as if the hand were extended outward toward the viewer either to bless, to invite, or to reprimand. The fingers of the hand point upward, and the hand appears to be engaging the darkness and eliminating it, because the black border, the darkness, that surrounds the crucifix is missing below the hand yet visible above it. The figure and the hand, which originate in the golden border which lies next to the black one, overflow their border to overtake the darkness.  The figure calls to mind this passage from Saint John, the Evangelist:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

The figure and image may represent the Holy Spirit's creative power that, at the beginning of creation, spun the world into being and now, at the crucifixion, makes all creation new through the sacrifice of love undertaken by Christ. Or it may represent Christ in His ministry as He blessed, invited, or reprimanded the people. Perhaps both interpretations are correct.

In any case, the image shows us that the Lord is at work in eternity, and that His light overtakes and consumes the darkness of the secular and unknowing world.

Drips of Paint

On the San Damiano Crucifix right above Christ's halo, there is a black band on which are written pale white letters "REX IV DE ORV."  The letters form the second part of the inscription "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" which Pilate had placed on a placard over Christ's head.

The black paint from this band has dripped down in three places so that one blot and two thinner streams of paint end just above the halo. In modern terms, these splotches would be "mistakes," but to the iconographer, who prays before, during, and after writing an icon, everything written on the icon is "good." Iconographers do not go back over their work to paint over what was originally painted. The way the paint falls on the icon is the way it stays.

So what appear to be mistakes are "good." The black splotches fall short of the halo. Darkness and death cannot enter the glory of God and eternal life. The light of Christ, surrounding Him as symbolized by the halo, stop death in its tracks.

But there is a bigger picture. What we consider to be "mistakes" in our lives are God's way of writing into the world something the world would not have written itself. As a Pennsylvania Dutch woman once told me, "God writes straight with crooked lines." Or with what we consider to be blotches in our well ordered plans. May He continue to have His way with us, even as we object!

Crowned with Jewels

The halo of light that surrounds Christ's head on the San Damiano Crucifix is studded with jewels. These are, of course, painted jewels, not real ones, and they differ from the jewels which adorn the crowns of earthly kings because the jewels in Christ's halo are so reflective of light that they appear to be made of light, the same radiance and hue as the halo itself. Therefore, the viewer sees the outlines of the jewels but not their earthly colors since each jewel seems made of light. Perhaps the iconographer intended to convey the great power and riches of Christ by depicting the jewels as unearthly, made of light realities. Certainly all preciousness in heaven is a reflection of the holiness of God. The transformed jewels are a way to indicate this.

The Blue Mantle of Mary Magdalene

On the Crucifix of San Damiano, Mary Magdalene, who stands to the right of Jesus on the Crucifix (as you face the crucifix) is clutching her dark blue mantle in her right hand. Blue symbolized the color of heavenly realities, while red, which is the color of Mary's tunic, symbolized the flesh. Mary was clothed in the flesh originally--she was a sinful woman--but, through the grace of God in answer to her faith, she was given eternal life. Her eternal life in the spirit is symbolized by the blue mantle.  Mary is clutching the edge of her mantle as if to say, "I will never let go of my faith in the Lord." She proved this to be true at the Resurrection when she was the first to see the Risen Lord and to believe in His Resurrection.

Jesus the Nazarene

"IHS NAZARE" is part of the banner above the head of Christ on the San Damiano Crucifix. The Latin words mean, in English, "Jesus the Nazarene." By making these words so clear on the crucifix, the iconographer calls our attention to Jesus' earthly background. He was a human being who lived in the town of Nazareth. The words, which Pilate had written to place over Jesus' head, indicated to Pilate that this was an ordinary man even though He claimed to be "King of the Jews." What king would come from a little out of the place like Nazareth?

As we gaze at these words on the crucifix, we remind ourselves that we, too, come from locations that may seem to be insignificant in the scheme of things. But are they insignificant in God's eyes? Every human being has value, so every place where human beings live is important. Anywhere life is lived and love is shared, God can be found. By tagging Jesus with the name of His town, the iconographer places Him squarely in our world, and Christ gives it significance because He dwells here.

The Blackness of the Nails

Probably the iconographer of the San Damiano Crucifix thought nothing about painting the nails black. These round, black portrayals on the hands and feet of Christ are surrounded by spurting blood. Saint Francis of Assisi prayed frequently and fervently before the San Damiano Crucifix, and the voice from this Crucifix set him on his mission. "Francis, go and repair My Church which, as you can see, is falling into ruin." When, in the year 1224, the stigmata developed in Francis' hands and feet, they were protrusions of black flesh resembling nails, apparently without much bleeding but with a good deal of pain. Because Francis' stigmata resembled the nails on the San Damiano, he was more closely identified with Christ on the cross, not Christ removed from it. For the last two years of his life, Francis' life was like a continual crucifixion.  No doubt he remembered the nails on the San Damiano Crucifix as he went through his own agony.  

Jesus' Prayer Shawl

At the top of the San Damiano Crucifix, Jesus is portrayed during His Ascension into heaven. Draped over His shoulders, a prayer shawl is billowing in the breeze of His ascent. The shawl indicates several things. First, Jesus is Jewish as Jewish men prayed with a prayer shawl. Secondly, the shawl is billowing which indicates motion and the wind of the Holy Spirit. It is this invisible wind, evident only by its effects, that portrays the Spirit's Presence on the San Damiano Crucifix. Thirdly, the shawl resembles a giant dead serpent draped around Jesus' neck. The serpent's head with its gaping mouth is behind Christ and its tail before Him. Satan no longer is leading the way--he has to follow Christ. In fact, in satan's scheme, everything is now backwards, much the way a tail leading a head is backwards. The unconscious connection is that Jesus has turned the world of evil upside down and inside out. He has  gained victory over "that old serpent satan" and is effortlessly bearing the dead body of the evil one into heaven. Of course, satan, being pure spirit and having no body, cannot die. But the prayer shawl caricature implies that evil is dead, death is dead, both conquered by Christ in His death on the cross and both taken like trophies to God's heavenly throne.

Trickling Blood

The blood from the wounds in hands of Christ on the San Damiano Crucifix are trickling blood that flows down Christ's arms and drips onto the figures below the arms of the crucifix. The blood is a steady stream, coloring the border around the cross as if forming a river of blood. The iconographer seems to be saying that the blood of Christ is plentiful enough to irrigate the world and wash away sin. It is not a stream of blood that dries up but an ever flowing river such as that described in Ezekial 47 that bubbles up from within the temple and grows deeper and deeper until it makes all things fresh and spawns new life. Jesus is the new temple, the living temple of God, and His Blood is the stream of  Life.

Palm Branch

On the San Damiano Crucifix, over the head of the ascending Christ at the top of the crucifix, the saint to the right is holding what appears to be a palm branch over the head of Jesus Who is looking at him. The image would invoke in the viewer the memory of Palm Sunday when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, hailed as King of the Jews. On the San Damiano Crucifix, however, His triumph is supreme because Jesus is entering heaven to claim the title King of Heaven and Earth. Beneath the ascending Christ the words, in Latin, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" emphasize in words what the palm branch shows in image. Our King, crucified yet risen, dead yet fully alive, defeated yet irrevocably triumphant--such is Christ of the San Damiano Crucifix.

The Square in the Cross

The shape of the San Damiano Crucifix is unique among most crucifixes. It contains a "square" in the center of the crucifix so that the iconographer could depict innumerable figures to the left and right of Christ. While at first glance, the figures may not appear to be innumerable, they actually are intended to be infinite. To the left are depicted the Blessed Mother, Saint John, and a centurion with a lance. To the right are depicted Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, the official who built the synagogue, and an incredulous and unbelieving onlooker. However, behind the synagogue official is the head of a young man with three other heads depicted behind his, giving the effect that he is first in a line of several others whom we cannot see because he stands in front of them. The presence of these figures in the "square" in the center of the cross gives the impression that all of them issue from Christ as if from a womb. The death of Christ on the Cross birthed the salvation for all of those depicted and those who came after and before them, down through all generations forever.  The "square" in the center of the crucifix is not merely an artistic device to show some of the principal figures in the Passion. It is also a reminder that we Christians, the Church, are the fruit of what happened on Calvary.