forth his right hand, then the other hand, not reaching the other arm of the cross, was stretched. And in like manner the feet were drawn to the holes prepared for them and crossed. Parting again below the knee, they were fastened to the wood of the cross by two nails, as the hands were.
At the first blow of the hammer, I fell into an ecstasy of grief, and on recovering, I beheld my Son nailed to the cross, and I heard men saying to each other: “What did he commit, theft, rapine, or falsehood ?” Others answering, that he was a liar. And then a crown of thorns was pressed tight on his head, descending to the middle of his forehead, many streams of blood flowing down his face from the points that entered, filling his hair, and eyes, and beard, so that he seemed to me nothing but blood; nor could he see me standing by the cross, except when he expelled the blood by compressing his eyelids.
After commending me to his disciples, raising his head, and lifting up his streaming eyes to heaven, he uttered a voice from the depth of his breast, saying: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?” — words that I never could forget till I came to heaven, and which he uttered more through compassion
