Christ's Feet and Legs

Christ's feet and legs on the San Damiano Crucifix do not resemble those of a man who trekked the desert hill country of Palestine. They are remarkably unmarred feet, not muscular as they would have been but soft and tender. They are the feet and legs of a newborn baby.

Could the iconographer have intentionally portrayed Christ this way to remind us of His humble, human origins in the womb of Mary? Is the iconographer showing us that the Babe in the manger at Bethlehem is the Lord of the cross? We sometimes gloss over the fact that Christ's life was a continuum, just like every human life. He was conceived, born, matured, became a child, teen, adult, just like all the rest of us. At every stage, He was both fully God and fully man. He deserves our love and reverence however we relate to Him.

Christ's Beard

Most depictions of Christ in religious art show Him with a beard and mustache, although some depictions show Him beardless. Traditionally people believed that the beard was customary for Jewish men of Christ's time. Current research indicates that this may not have been the case. It seems that some Jewish men wore beards but others did not. Rabbis were bearded, and Jesus is called "Rabbi" by His followers. But it is unclear whether or not Jesus actually WAS a Rabbi. The term may have been one of respect more than one of actual status. St. Francis, for example, called Saint Anthony "my bishop" but Anthony never was a bishop. The title was Francis' way of showing Anthony respect for his faith and knowledge.

Jesus' beard is quite evident on the San Damiano Crucifix. The two times that Christ is portrayed on the crucifix (as crucified and as ascending), He is bearded. However, not every man portrayed on the icon is bearded. Saint John the Evangelist, who is standing below Christ's right arm, is beardless as is the smaller figure of the Roman Centurion, also on the right. All of the angels on the crucifix are beardless, despite the general misconception that angels are male (they actually are pure spirits so do gender does not apply to them).

Isaiah 50:6 reads, "I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting." This passage on the suffering servant, who is obedient to God by sharing His message of hope with the world (see verses 4 and 5), is often applied to Christ. The Gospels tell us that Jesus was scourged ("I gave my back to those who struck me"--see Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, John 19:1), spit upon, insulted, hit, and slapped ("I did not hide my face from insult and spitting" -- see Matthew 26:67-68, 27:27-31, Mark 14:65-66, Mark 15:16-20, Luke 22: 63-65, John 18:22, 19:2-3).  Christ's beard links the passage from Isaiah with the Gospel accounts of Christ's Passion. The iconographer is showing that Christ is the suffering servant whom Isaiah predicted would come.

Interaction vs. Solitude

The San Damiano Crucifix presents a contrast between solitude and interaction. All of the figures on the crucifix, with the exception of Jesus, are engaged in talking with one another or in gazing on Christ. They are either focused on another human being or on Jesus. Jesus, alone, is alone. He overlooks the entire scene and rises above it, figuratively and literally. Jesus is the solitary figure Who is surrounded by active others. He is serene and inactive physically while the other figures show signs of movement. In His solitude, Christ calls us to contemplation. "Come off by yourselves and rest a while," He once invited His followers. While we must immerse ourselves in the world because of the work God has called us to do, we also must seek the solitude of being alone with God. The San Damiano Crucifix reminds us that the solitude is the more important of the two (work and contemplation) because, unless we take time to be alone with God, we may be busy about business that is ours but not His. He is the One Whom we must contemplate, listen to, and serve. He speaks to us in the silence, in the solitude. Let us take time to be alone with our Lord.

Differing Faces of Angels

At a quick glance, all the angels on the San Damiano Crucifix appear to look alike. But gazers who study their faces can readily see that each angel has a unique look. The angels are not carbon copies of each other. Rather, each one's face is unlike any other on the crucifix. Why did the iconographer depict the angels this way? Angels often have a nebulous quality about them, as if they are clones of one another. Yet it seems that the iconographer was trying to capture a different truth--namely that each angelic being is a unique spirit, with unique traits, abilities, and qualities that set each angel apart from all the others. We don't often think of each angel as specializing in certain gifts and ways of ministry, yet Scripture tells us that some angels are messengers, others healers, others warriors. If each angel possessed in full all the spiritual gifts, then the angels would not be angels. They would be gods. The San Damiano Crucifix reminds us that angels, like human beings, are all unique creations but they are not gods. God has center stage on the Crucifix in the image of the Crucified Christ.

One striking facet of the San Damiano Crucifix, as well as any other crucifix, is the poverty of Christ. We are so accustomed to gazing at a crucifix that we tend to overlook Jesus' obvious poverty at His death. On the cross, Jesus died totally stripped of every bit of clothing and of all dignity. With a delicate sense of reverence for Christ's purity, artists have painted or sculpted loin cloths on images of our Crucified Savior, but historically loin cloths were lacking. The sense of Christ's poverty is accented on the San Damiano Crucifix because all of the other figures on the Crucifix are amply clothed. For long hours, Saint Francis meditated before the San Damiano Crucifix. Certainly this meditation must have helped St. Francis more clearly understand that he was to imitate Christ in the utter poverty displayed in the image. That poverty was manifest not only in lack of clothing but in the derision and mockery Christ suffered, in the abandonment of most of His friends and followers, and in His total subjection to others over whom He would have rightly held greater authority. The poverty of the San Damiano Crucifix must have helped Saint Francis to embrace poverty with love and humility.

Gazing at the San Damiano Crucifix can bring peace and calm to the gazer. Saint Clare instructed her sisters to "gaze" on Christ. Since the San Damiano Crucifix was hanging in her monastery, the sisters practiced this "gazing" on the San Damiano Crucifix. Clare advised the sisters to "gaze," "consider," "contemplate," and "imitate" Jesus. What happens if we practice this with the San Damiano Crucifix? First, one is embraced by the calm balance of the icon. One considers the great love and sacrifice of Christ and realizes that His suffering was an act of His loving Will. As one contemplates the icon, one is drawn into the figures, most smiling and peaceful. When one leaves the contemplation to go and imitate what one has contemplated, that peace and calm accompany the gazer. Some crucifixes leave the gazer with a sense of sorrow, horror, or pity, but the San Damiano Crucifix is meant to bring a sense of peace to the person praying before it. Saint Francis was committed to peace. Perhaps his many hours of prayer before the San Damiano Crucifix helped to reinforce his focus.

The San Damiano Crucifix is an early “Resurrection Crucifix.” Unlike modern Resurrection Crucifixes which portray only the resurrected Christ, the San Damiano Crucifix portrays Jesus as both crucified and risen. The viewer of this crucifix sees not only Christ’s resurrection but also his or her own personal resurrection. It is as if those holy people, clustered under the arms of the cross, are whispering  to one another, “See. Our Lord shows us that death is not the end. He is risen and so shall we be.” No wonder they are smiling as they see Christ’s glorious body thrusting upward from the earth like the column of fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land. The death of Christ was not the end of the story. Rather it was a necessary chapter before the end of an endless book.

Sometimes the most obvious is overlooked as we ponder the detail. The San Damiano Crucifix starkly portrays the immeasurable sacrifice of Christ Who, though God, lowered Himself to become man and to die on a cross. In the majestic figure of Christ on the San Damiano Crucifix, we sense, even if we do not believe, that the Crucified is larger than life, more powerful and regal than all the other combined figures on the image. In the serenity of Christ's countenance, we sense that Jesus alone is in control of what is happening. Christ's outstretched arms appear to be relaxed, as if He were extending them in an embrace rather than having them pinned to a beam. Christ stands tall, as if He could walk right off the cross to which He is nailed. We sense that His sacrifice was never forced from Him but was His to give freely and with love. Meditation on the San Damiano Crucifix leads one to the true spirit of sacrifice, namely that giving must be granted with generosity and grace. 

The San Damiano Crucifix portrays a tender triad between Mother, Son, and God. Jesus is, of course, both God and Son. Beneath the left arm of the cross stands His Mother Mary and the beloved disciple John. From the cross, Jesus said to Mary, "Behold your son," referring to John, and to John, "Behold your mother," referring to Mary. Jesus was, in effect, saying, "Mother and John, do not consider Me as  son any longer--rather consider John as son," and, through John, all the rest of us. In this way, we, a multitude of poor and ungrateful sinners, replaced Mary's single, sinless son as Jesus asked her to give us the same loving care that she always gave to Him. And she, obedient and preserved from sin by Our Lord's grace, does as Jesus asks.

Jesus' giving of John as son to Mary was another way of Jesus saying to Mary, "No longer will you be able to mother Me as your son. I am going to My Father where human mothering is no longer necessary. Instead, from now on, you will mother humanity as you once mothered Me. Now you will relate to me not primarily as Mother to Son but as woman to God."

Did Mary's maternity toward Christ cease with His death?  Not at all. But her response to Him is no longer one of nurture or encouragement but rather one of support and petition. Mary intercedes for us with Christ, her son, as her God and she dispenses graces from Him back to us. Thus the first person we see on the San Damiano Crucifix, other than Christ, is His Mother who is His gift to us and our helpmate before Him. May God be praised for His goodness to us in giving His Mother to be our own.

Christ's halo on the San Damiano Crucifix is distinctive. Not only is it large but it also differs from the other halos on the icon. The other halos are red outlined circles of golden light. But Christ's halo has no outline. Moreover, it is not a uniformly burnished orb as are the other halos. Why does Christ's halo contain so much shadowing and uneven color of gold mixed with brown tones? And why is it embroidered with a golden, jewel-studded cross? The color variations are not the result of the iconographer's lack of skill or paint. Nor are they due solely to natural shadowing which occurs because the halo and head of Christ protrude from the actual icon (although that protrusion is not apparent in photographic reproductions). The embroidered, jeweled cross is not just a "nice touch." The colors and shading of Christ's halo suggest a mound of straw which would be reminiscent of Our Lord's being laid in a straw-filled manger as a newborn. The embroidered jewel-studded cross would be something one would find on a silken pillow, a luxury for kings and nobles. The halo of Christ on the San Damiano Crucifix shows that this Man was born poor, powerless, and homeless but that He is, nevertheless, both a wealthy King and our all-powerful God Who sacrificed Himself on the Cross for our sake.  May He, our King, our Brother, and our God, be forever praised.

At the position of Jesus' mid-calf and to its right, is a curious figure which is generally overlooked in commentaries on the symbolism of the San Damiano Crucifix. The small figure is located right at the break of the black border around Christ, which signifies death or the tomb. Below this curious figure there is no black border, only a gold border and a short length of red border (which will be discussed in another article). Above the figure the black border, or death, begins. The figure is difficult to distinguish, but, if viewed from the side, the figure is clearly a hog, pig, or swine. It is of the pinkish or whitish variety with a streak of black across the shoulders.

In medieval times, swine were common. They roamed the streets, consuming garbage, and were also raised in herds. Medieval minds viewed swine as a symbol of avarice. So it seems that the iconographer incorporated the swine on the Crucifix of San Damiano to recall the avarice of Judas in taking the thirty pieces of silver in ransom for the blood of Christ. Had the artist intended that message only, he would have drawn a silver piece, but he drew a swine. Why? Because the swine also recalls the miracle of Jesus, recorded in Matthew's, Mark's, and Luke's Gospels, in which Jesus cast demons out of a possessed  man and sent them into a herd of swine which then raced over a cliff and plunged into the sea to drown. The impulsive, propulsive power of demonic possession was demonstrated in the destruction of the herd of swine. The iconographer seems to be saying that the same impulsive,  propulsive power consumed Judas, turning him into a traitor. But just as Jesus had power over the demons in the Gospels, so He had power over the demonic force in Judas, had Judas turned to Jesus for help as did the possessed men in the Gospels.

Swine were unclean to Jews, and Jesus commented that we must not "throw our pearls before swine or else they will trample them and then turn and tear you." Isn't that what Judas did--trample the teachings of Christ and then turn on Him? However, the swine also recalls the parable which Jesus told about the prodigal son, who went off and squandered all his father's money until he had nothing left. Then he took a job feeding swine until he realized that he would be better off to go home, repentant, where he could eat real food in his father's house. The father welcomed back the son, who had lived like a swine himself in his avarice and forgave the boy for his sins.

All of these images--avarice, betrayal, forgiveness--are recalled in the image of the swine on the San Damiano Crucifix. The iconographer seems to be saying that, no matter how bad we become, we can be welcomed back into the Father's house, Judas included, if only we repent. That is why the rooster, which symbolizes Peter's betrayal, is a short distance above the swine on the Crucifix. Peter betrayed Jesus, too, but, unlike Judas, he was repentant. Like the prodigal son's father, Jesus forgave the one who betrayed Him and welcomed him back into the family. He would have welcomed back Judas, too, if Judas had repented.

Rooster--Sign of Betrayal

Between Christ's ankle and knee, in the black border surrounding the San Damiano Crucifix, is a very small, crowing rooster, a symbol of the apostle Peter's denial of Christ during the Passion. The rooster reminds us that Jesus told Peter, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times" (Mark 14:30). While Peter insisted that this would never happen, it did indeed happen, and Peter "went out and wept bitterly" as soon as the cock crowing the second time reminded him of Jesus' prophecy (Mark 14:72). By this time, Jesus was on the path to Golgotha.

The rooster reminds us of our own betrayals but also of those who have betrayed us. He reminds us that God knows about these before they happen and that, in His Providence, He permits them for a greater good. In Peter's case, Peter's denial fostered in the future first Pope a humility that he did not naturally have. For us, denials and betrayals will serve other purposes in God's eternal plan. The small size of the rooster, overpowered by the majestic Christ and the other figures on the icon of the Crucifix, indicates that, while these betrayals may seem monstrous to us, they are really rather insignificant to God. God is not so much concerned with betrayals and denials as He is with the fruit He wishes to bring from them. 

The rooster also reminds us that denials and betrayals look different depending on whether one is the betrayer or the one betrayed. On July 4, the United States celebrates Independence Day. The colonists who rebelled against England in 1776 and set up a new nation were considered traitors by their native land. After all, they refused to pay taxes and wanted to govern themselves, but who had sent them to the colonies in the first place and provided for their needs but England? The colonists themselves felt justified in their rebellion precisely because the taxes to them seemed unfair and because they had no voice in their government while England, who governed them, was too distant from their problems, being an ocean away.

In a similar way, Peter was trying to preserve his life when he cried out, "I do not know the Man." Suppose that he had been braver and admitted that he was a follower of Christ. Then he might have been seized and slain on the spot, thus depriving generations of Christians of his leadership, healings, exhortations, and teachings not to mention the witness of his future martyrdom in Rome. God uses all things to advance His Kingdom, even those that are or seem to be evil. Because He is God, God can bring good out of evil. The rooster is a reminder that even evil can serve God's plan for good.

Love and Lent

Red is a predominant color on the San Damiano Crucifix. Red is associated with love (red hearts, roses) and also with sacrifice (the shedding of blood). When Valentine's Day falls during Lent, as it does in 2008, we can study the San Daminao Crucifix to reflect on the link between love and sacrifice. By his expression and posture, Christ clearly shows that He has made Himself totally vulnerable to others because of His love. He Who is Love has chosen to die for the beloved.  Love is always linked to sacrifice of self for the good of another. Perhaps this is why red is associated with Valentine's Day--to remind lovers that love must be so selfless that it leads to self-emptying for the other. Especially pertinent during Lent is Jesus' invitation to give of ourselves for the good of others.  Whatever we could give  to another, but that we hold back, is an affront to God Who gave His all to us. May He teach us to follow Him by our actions as well as our words.