He is Crucified

    The death and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fifth and final mystery for the Sorrowful Mysteries. After He has agonized on the coming trials and pain, He was scourged and viciously bled, then crowned with a plant containing a toxic sap, and finally forced to carry His massive cross a long distance to the place where He would be executed and willingly sacrificed Himself as a sin offering an accordance to the Mosaic and Levitical laws.

    The Law required sacrifice in order that the Israelites can perform proper worship to the Lord our God. The sacrifices were measures of repentance and restitution for violations of the law. However, the nature of the sacrifices were limited in the scope of how they remitted the sin. The offenders had God. They are beings in time, or limited in nature, and the offense to God who is infinite is also infinite. Those limited in nature can only offer finite repentance to He who is Infinite. This is the reason the Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, came down and assumed the Human nature in addition to His infinitely Divine Nature. He, Jesus Christ, offered Himself, the sacrifice of infinite worth to He who is Infinite. This is why Jesus Christ says "It is finished"; this referred to His mission of redemption. The mission where He came to save us as the all sufficient offering to the Father.

With the brief understanding of the why of the Crucifixion, that is the theological necessity and not the political causation, let us look into the how of the crucifixion. When we look back to the Memoire sur les Instruments de La Passion by CH Rohault de Fleury we can see his investigation into the relics of the Crucifixion, in particular to the relic nails used to crucify Him to His Holy Cross. 

In book two, chapter 1 of the Monseigneur's work we see the 17th planche, or board, depicting sketches of the nails that are kept as relics. Similarly, with planche 16. Here we see two kinds of nails the larger nail is said to be the nails which held the crucified to the cross and the smaller nails are the nails that held the cross together. The larger nail is measured at 51.4 cm in length, roughly 20 inches. Each of these would have been driven through the hands of the overextended arms and then bent a little on the other side to reduce or prevent slipping of the nail back through the wood. The image in the middle is said to be the tool that would have pulled the limbs to the extended point such that they could then be nailed through. 

As a result of His arms being over extended and pierced, along with the grievous wounds to His back, leading to pneumothoraxes after prolonged hanging and the trauma causing interior bleeding into the chest cavity, He would have had to push Himself up with His feet, similarly pierced with a 51.4 cm (20 inch) nail, in order to get as full of a breath as He could. His death was absolutely torturous, full of pain, but offered for us out of His abundant love to rectify us with the Father. 

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The Scriptural Rosary is:

1. The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: His Crucifixion and Death
1. Pater Noster …
2. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha. (John 19:17)
1. Ave Maria …
3. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. (John 19:18)
1. Ave Maria …
4. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." (John 19:19)
1. Ave Maria …
5. Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. (John 19:20)
1. Ave Maria …
6. The chief priests of the Jews then said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." (John 19:21-22)
1. Ave Maria …
7. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfil the Scripture, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." (John 19:23-24)
1. Ave Maria …
8. So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25-27)
1. Ave Maria …
9. After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), "I thirst." A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30)
1. Ave Maria …
10. Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. (John 19:31-33)
1. Ave Maria …
11. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
    He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "Not a bone of him shall be broken." And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced." (John 19:34-37)
1. Ave Maria …
12. O My Jesus …
13. Gloria Patri …