Then his mother seeing this, trembled all over, and would have fallen to the ground in her bitter anguish, had she not been supported by the other women. At that hour, his hands shrunk a little from the place of the piercing, in consequence of the great weight of his body, and it rested almost entirely on the nail with which the feet were attached to the cross. But his fingers, and hands, and arms were more extended than before; his shoulders and back were pressed on the cross.
Finally, all the Jews standing around, mockingly cried against his mother, saying many things; for some said: “Mary, thy Son is dead.” Others spoke other jeering words, and thus, while the crowd stood around, one running up with great fury, plunged a lance into his right side so powerfully, that the lance seemed about to come forth in the opposite side of the body, and when it was drawn out, a very river of blood gushed impetuously from that wound; but the lance-head and part of the handle came forth blood-stained. His mother seeing this, trembled so violently and with bitter groans, that her countenance and manner showed that her soul was then pierced with a keen sword of grief.
After this, when the crowd had departed,
