Deposition of Christ, Francesco Cabianca; 1711

MANY magnificent works of art such as this 18th-century altarpiece depict the Passion of Our Lord dramatically and movingly.

Though these works are viewed as morbid by the world at large — especially in a society that engages in mass panic over the seasonal flu —  they rarely depict the full horrors of the Crucifixion. It was much more bloody, gruesome, brutal and humiliating than is typically shown, even by some of the greatest artworks.

In 1950, Pierre Barbet, chief surgeon at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paris, published A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon. Other physicians have since published similar books, and, though none have produced accounts as seemingly thorough or as moving as Barbet’s, they dispute some of his anatomical conclusions. Even if the French doctor was in error on some points, his sincerity in seeking to know more is not in doubt and his book constitutes a compelling and realistic examination of the physical sufferings and humiliations Christ endured.

Here are conclusions Barbet defended:

1. Jesus was fully naked on the cross. The early Fathers believed that he was.

2.During his appearance before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was beaten by his guards on the face with slaps, fists and a stick so brutally that his nose was broken and his face heavily bruised.

3.The scourging by Roman soldiers involved leather straps threaded with small balls made out of lead or bone. They left bloody slashes and gouges everywhere except on his forearms and face.

4.The Crown of Thorns was more likely a full headpiece, held in place by a wreath of reeds. It tore open the top of his scalp as well as the front and sides of his head. In the back of his head, where he leaned against the cross, it created an especially deep wound.

5.He likely carried the horizontal piece of the cross, not the entire cross, to Calvary. This piece alone would have weighed more than 100 pounds. When he fell under its weight, his knees were torn open by stones in the ground. The beam of wood left wounds in his shoulders and back.

6.He was nailed to the cross, not bound with ropes.

7.The nails were applied to the creases of the wrists.

8.The feet were nailed, left in front of right, with a single nail.

9.The cross was probably T-shaped (not t-shaped) and closer to the ground than is normally depicted.

10.The weight of the body on the nailed arms brought on excruciating cramps, especially in the sides of the torso.

11.He was likely not seated on a wooden sedile which could temporarily support his weight.

12.He died in less time than most people crucified because of the intensity of his suffering beforehand when he was scourged and beaten. These severely weakened him.

13.He died of asphyxiation brought on by cramping throughout the body and the inability to hold up his frame any longer.

The doctor also described how it is possible for someone to sweat blood, as Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemene.

Barbet relied partly on the Shroud of Turin to come to his conclusions. He had studied the authenticity of the shroud for years. (Carbon dating has not, since Barbet’s book was published, settled the question against its authenticity, as some assert. See more on this subject here.) He also relied on the Gospels, other sacred writings, and his own anatomical research with real bodies.

After writing his book and completing his research, Barbet said he could no longer pray the Way of the Cross. The suffering and the horror were too fresh and real in his mind.

*****

“In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.

“Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.”

— Thomas à Kempis

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