Cross and Crucifix, the.—For greater clearness and convenience the article under this general heading will be divided, to correspond as nearly as possible with three broad aspects of the subject, into three principal sections, each of which will again be divided into subsections, as follows:
I. ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CROSS: (1) Primitive Cruciorm Signs; (2) The Cross as an Instrument of Punishment in the Ancient World; (3) The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ; (4) Gradual Development of the Cross in Christian Art; (5) Later Development of the Crucifix.
II. THE TRUE CROSS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF IT AS OBJECTS OF DEVOTION: (1) Growth of the Christian Cult; (2) Catholic Doctrine on the Veneration of the Cross; (3) Relics of the True Cross; (4) Principal Feasts of the Cross.
III. CROSS AND CRUCIFIX IN LITURGY: (1) Material Objects in Liturgical Use; (2) Liturgical Forms Connected with Them; (3) Festivals Commemorative of the Holy Cross; (4) Rite of the "Adoration"; (5) The Cross as a Manual Sign of Blessing; (6) Dedications of Churches, etc. to the Holy Cross; (7) The Cross in Religious Orders and in the Crusades; (8) The Cross outside of the Catholic Church.
I. ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CROSS
I. PRIMITIVE CRUCIFORM SIGNS
The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization. In fact, some have sought to attach to the widespread use of this sign, a real ethnographic importance. It is true that in the sign of the cross the decorative and geometrical concept, obtained by a juxtaposition of lines pleasing to the sight, is remarkably prominent; nevertheless, the cross was originally not a mere means or object of ornament, and from the earliest times had certainly another -- i.e. symbolico-religious -- significance. The primitive form of the cross seems to have been that of the so-called "gamma" cross (crux gammata), better known to Orientalists and students of prehistoric archæology by its Sanskrit name, swastika.