Medieval devotion to the Wounds of Jesus

This typical image, multiplied countless times with the advent of printing in the 15th century, invites believers -- as John's Gospel did -- to look on him whom they have pierced. A text from the Good Friday liturgy often accompanies these mournful pictures:

"O my people, what have I done to you, and why are you tired of me? Answer me. I brought you from Egypt, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior."

In his passion, Jesus calls from his wounds for repentance for sin, and medieval Christians heard his call. "I myself am the wound of your sorrow, I am to blame for your murder. I have merited that you should die. I am the real malice of your passion, the real suffering of your crucifixion." (Meditations, St. Anselm +1109).

While inviting repentance, Jesus' wounds always promise new life. Medieval Christians saw them -- as earlier generations of Christians did -- as signs of the infinite love of Christ, inexhaustible wells from which his love flowed. Short popular prayers, like the following from late medieval England, show how ordinary people may have prayed as they passed a cross or church or possibly before going to bed at night:

"Jesus Christ of Nazareth
That for us all sufferedst death
Upon the rood tree;
Through virtue of your wounds five
That you suffered in your life
Have mercy on me."

Medieval popes encouraged devotion to the five wounds and promised rich indulgences to those who practiced it. It was a favorite devotion for those praying for a happy death, because it reminded them of the gracious love of Jesus who "having loved his own who were in the world, loved them till the end." Those immediately facing death were urged to look upon those wounds and, like Thomas, to believe and hope in Jesus. The Mass of the Five Wounds, with the Gospel reading from John, was a favorite in the medieval church.

above right: Ecce homo, "Behold the Man"

The tradition of the Reformation