The Quest for the True Cross

For close to a millennia, the most holy relic in Christendom were the alleged pieces of the true cross held in Jerusalem. That relic has long been lost as it was destroyed in the defeat of the Crusaders and retaking of the Holy Land by Muslim conquerors. In recent years, Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona have theorized in The Quest for the True Cross that we might still have a piece of that relic in part of the titulus (the inscription placed above Jesus' head on the cross) that had been taken to Rome. In a fast paced and enjoyable read, the authors take us back through the annals of time to the period of the early Church when Constantine came to power and legalized the Christian religion. The reader is taken on a marvelous ride through the beginnings of Christendom and the travels of Constatine's mother Helena to the Holy Land in search of holy sites for Christianity. Most important was the site of Golgotha and Christ's Tomb upon which was built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Also allegedly discovered were the true cross including the inscription that was placed above Christ's head. The relic was divided and some taken back to Constantinople and some to Rome while most ended in Jerusalem. As mentioned these relics were believed to be lost in the sands of time but one may have survived at a church on the outskirts of Rome called Santa Croce built upon Helena's old palace. We are given a possible reconstruction of how the piece of the inscription came to find its way there and some solid evidence that it is in fact a piece of the inscription that Helena recovered. Whether what Helena recovered was genuine or not is up to debate but a circumstantial case is made to support the possibility of this claim. For its excellent treatment of such a commonly misunderstood period alone, The Quest for the True Cross is essential reading. Given the possibility of finding such an important piece of Christian history, it makes it even more worthwhile.