O Crux ave, spes unica! (Hail, O Cross, our only hope!)

On the cover of this issue of Magnificat we meet again an artist who is already familiar to us, Jean Bourdichon (1457–1521). His exquisite miniature celebrating the discovery of Christ’s cross by Saint Helen (1) (248–330) was produced between 1503 and 1508, for The Great Book of Hours of Anne of Brittany, Queen of France.

Bourdichon always illustrates the lives of the saints in such a way as to exalt their charming closeness to everyone in the communion of saints. Here, his Saint Helen is a faithful portrait of the Queen of France, Anne of Brittany, commissioner of the Book of Hours. The oval of her beautiful face is circled by the tresses of her golden hair, resembling a mandorla. Her eyes discreetly invite us to turn our hearts to behold Him who loved us first. As when Queen Anne appears in majesty, Saint Helen wears the royal crown with the fleur-de-lis motif; a royal cape of red velvet lined with ermine, with gold piping and buttons, with a clasp consisting of two floral brooches made of gold, each one adorned with four pearls and a sapphire; a gold surcoat (“waistcoat”) with an ermine panel; and an azure robe of patterned silk taffeta. Azure is the color of the French monarchy, and ermine figures in the coat of arms of Brittany, of which Anne is the Duchess.

In order to invite his contemporaries to bring holiness into their lives, here and now, Bourdichon does not hesitate, then, to depict the scene of the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helen as though it were unfolding “today” (in the early 16th century) in Touraine. Here, then, on the right, we see the residence where Queen Anne lived with her daughters; then, in the middle of the landscape, the city of Tours; (2) and finally, in the background, the meandering Loire River with rolling hills along its banks, dominated by the famous castles. Thus, in Bourdichon’s work, the saints have come close to us, like men or women of our own acquaintance, each in his or her specific role and vocation; this is done with infinite charm to which the depths of our soul remain sensitive even today.

This year September 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is specially highlighted, not only because it is ­celebrated on a Sunday (which happens every five or six years) but also because in the year of our Lord 2025 its celebration sheds a ­perfectly ­appropriate light on the fruit of the Jubilee: Hope. Indeed, on this Sunday, the Church invites us to celebrate the cross, ­inasmuch as it is “our only hope, in the glory of its ­triumph,“ as the hymn Vexilla Regis puts it so well.(3)

[O Cross,] Magnificent, resplendent tree,
Empurpled by the King’s Blood;
Sacred stock, worthy to stand shoulder to shoulder
With the flesh of the All-Holy One.

Blessèd tree, on whose branches
The price of the world was suspended:
You weighed the value of this body,
So as to redeem the hostages in hell.

In the glory of your triumph, (4)
Hail, O Cross, our only hope!
Pour out grace upon the faithful;
Forgive the misconducts of sinners, as well.

And you, source of all Salvation,
Trinity whose praises the choirs of angels sing,
You, who by the cross gave us the victory:
Bestow on us forever the crown of glory! (5)

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1. In 326 (or 327) the search expedition directed by Saint Helen, in her capacity as Augusta, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great, discovered the True Cross of Christ, beneath the esplanade and the temple of Venus that had been planned and constructed over the place of the crucifixion by the Emperor Hadrian (76–138). It should be noted that the authentic relic of the body of Saint Helen can still be venerated in the crypt of the Church of Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles in Paris.

2. Around 1505, in Tours, the construction of the northern tower of the Cathedral of Saint Gatien was completed; the southern tower would not be finished until forty years later.

3. In 552, Radegund, Queen of the Franks, wife of Clotaire I, son of Clovis, no longer wished to live together with the king, who had murdered his brother, so she founded the Monastery of Notre Dame and retired there as a simple nun. In 569, the Emperor of Constantinople, Justin II, sent her a piece of the True Cross discovered by Saint Helen. For the solemn reception of this distinguished relic, Radegund commissioned a hymn to be written by Venantius Fortunatus, a famous poet who later became Bishop of Poitiers: he composed the Vexilla Regis. Even today this hymn may be chanted from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, as well as on September 14, at Evening Prayer (Vespers) of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Radegund and Venantius Fortunatus were both canonized.

4. The use of this line is reserved for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. During Passiontide, we sing: “In the time of the Passion.”

5. A literary English translation of the French translation of the hymn by the author of the commentary. Several versions of this hymn exist; it was revised over the course of the 1,546 years that have passed since its composition. Click here for the usual liturgical version in Latin, with the Gregorian chant setting.

Pierre-Marie Dumont

Saint Helena and the Discovery of the Holy Cross, illumination from The Great Book of Hours of Anne of Brittany, Latin 9474, fol. 207v, Jean Bourdichon (1457–1521), Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. © BnF, Dist. RMN-GP / image BnF.