Pilgrimage the True Cross and an English Village
Holy Relic the Cause of Miracles and Murder
Sep 25, 2009
Shortly after Constantine declared Rome a Christian city, his mother, Helena, went on a journey to the Holy Land to seek out Christian relics. It is believed that she found the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. In order to preserve the cross for all time she had it divided into several pieces and these were taken back to Constantine. It was said that one piece bore the scarlet bloodstains of Jesus where his feet had been nailed to the cross and that this particular relic had the power to perform healing miracles. This remnant of the True Cross was made into a smaller cross and secured in a jewel-encrusted box. This was then handed down through the generations to successive emperors until it finally came into the hands of Emperor Baldwin I.
Miraculous Powers of a Holy Relic
Baldwin believed the miraculous powers of the relic and always carried it with him in battle and was always victorious. However, in 1205 he embarked on a crusade. There was much preparation and confusion at the time and consequently Baldwin left without taking the relic with him. His chaplain was in charge of the religious artefacts and relics and he decided it was too valuable to be sent with a rider and the relic remained at Court.
Some months later news reached the Court that Baldwin had been slain. In the confusion the Chaplain decided to leave the Court, and slipped away with a number of relics, including the true cross. It is not clear whether he did this out of duty to protect the cross, or whether he had some ulterior motive for his action.
How a Priceless Christian Relic Came to a tiny Norfolk Village in England.
Suffice it to say that the Chaplain took his two sons with him and travelled to England and eventually arrived at the tiny village of Bacton in Norfolk, where Bromholme Priory was a small a struggling community. He presented the Prior with the True Cross and told of it’s miraculous powers.
Thenceforth Bromholme Priory became a place of pilgrimage and many miracles were performed. Chroniclers of the day record 39 people were raised from the dead and 19 people received their sight. Such was its notoriety that Henry III visited the priory, and later King Edward II to see the cross for themselves.
The Location of the True Cross Remains a Mystery
Bromholme Priory, which had previously been destitute, flourished until 1533 when under order of Henry VIII the priory was suppressed in a bloody and violent manner, and the priory abandoned. What happened to the cross remains a mystery. Legend says it was hidden by the monks near the Priory. No one knows for sure.
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