Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Massimo Palombella
The Catholic Church, many Protestant Churches and the Orthodox Church celebrate the liturgical feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, the anniversary of the discovery of the true Cross by St Helen (14 September 320), mother of the Emperor Constantine, and the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (335). According to tradition, St Helena took part of the Cross to Rome, to what would become the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, and part remained in Jerusalem. It was stolen by the Persians in 614 and then brought back triumphantly to the Holy City.
In the Eucharistic Celebration on this day, the liturgical colour is red, the colour of Jesus’ Passion, which recalls the Holy Cross and is also used on Good Friday when the faithful perform adoration of the Cross. In the East, this feast is compared in importance to Easter.
The cross, our personal cross, our weakness, our “failure”, our inability… All this is God’s great, silent – and often incomprehensible – gift for our salvation. We become the men and women we can and should be only by going through our weakness, accepting it, carrying it, allowing ourselves to be slowly healed on a journey that is often dark and far from our logic of salvation.
The entrance antiphon, the Introit of today’s celebration is taken from the Letter of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (Gal 6:14) with the following text:
Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra,
per quem salvati et liberati sumus.
(Let our glory be in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;
in him we have salvation, life and resurrection;
through him we are rescued and set free).
The attached music, in Gregorian chant, is taken from the Graduale Novum published in Regensburg in 2011. The live performance is by the Musical Chapel of the Cathedral of Milan at the concert “The Liturgical Year between Gregorian Chant and Ambrosian Chant” in the Church of San Gottardo on 24 June 2025. If you would like to listen to the entire concert, here is the link: https://youtu.be/rSJ8hTUpbZ8?si=xQRS8ejscpI_6oeF
A blessed Feast and heartfelt greetings.
