> sometimes get the odd feeling that I am seeing too many nails in museums, as
> well as too many scraps of wood. Not quite enough nails to build a house,
> but more than there ought to be.
>
I realize that this is intended as pleasantry but have you really seen
nails in any museum at all? I had the impression that the nails were
never circulated as relics but (according to fourth century tradition)
melted down by the empress Helena and incorporated into the military
dress of her son Constantine to protect him in battle. On the other
side, however, the question of the number of original nails has always
been a puzzle to me as painters and sculptors seem to have no clear
convention as to whether there were three or four of them. Some
depictions show one nail for both feet and some have one for each foot.
It has always surprised me that there is apparently no authoritative
guidance on this point.
As to the wood of the cross--that is another story! In Peirefite's
wonderful novel "The Keys of Saint Peter" there is a scene I often
recount to my skeptical students. A group of Roman socialites goes on a
tour of the Vatican relic collection and are shown duplicates of many
relics that a sane person would suppose were unique (like the head of
John the Baptist). When questioned about this the relic-guardian throws
up his hands, raises his eyes to heaven and exclaims, "What a miracle!"
Jo Ann
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