Four nails bad – three nails worse!

2.7.12

The significance of the nails used to crucify Christ

I have often been asked if I know the significance of the 3 nails versus 4 nails crucifixion so I thought I’d share my findings with you.

According to various sources on the Internet it seems that at the time of Christ’s Crucifixion it would have been the practice to use four nails in a crucifixion, one for each hand and foot, and early images – and also this Renaissance painting by Filippino Lippi above – reflected the contempory practice of having a small shelf on the cross for both the victim’s feet to be impaled separately.

However, there was an even crueller way to crucify a person, which was to put one nail through both feet – this gave the victim still less leverage from their feet to enable them to hold their chest up and draw breath – and whilst death on the cross came through the ultimate failure and shut-down of all internal organs according to the Mayo Clinic the actual cause of death usually came from respiratory failure.

Therefore, the thesis seems to be, that although four nails were actually used to crucify Jesus, from Medieval times artists began to use the image of Christ on the Cross with one nail piercing both his feet. This was to make his death seem even more horrific, but also for the religious purpose of linking his Passion with the Holy Trinity, and so the three nails could also be used to remind the viewer of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

According to the report done by the Mayo Clinic, the archaeological remains of a crucified body, found in an ossuary near Jerusalem and dating from the time of Christ, indicate that the nails were tapered iron spikes approximately 5 to 7 in (13 to 18 cm) long with a square shaft 3/8 in (1 cm) across.

Fr. James Groenings, S.J. in the Passion of Jesus and Its Hidden Meaning claims that four nail holes were discovered on the True Cross, and that the stigmata of St. Francis reflected the use of four nails during the crucifixion of Christ.

Interestingly because of the shape of their dried buds, clove flowers are symbols of the Holy Nails. “Clove” comes from the Latin “clavus” meaning “nail” – and thus cloven hoof.

The disciples of Christ – most famously Peter – declared that they were not worthy to die in the same way as their Master and Peter choose the even more excruciating agony – although possibly quicker    death- of being crucified upside down – as shown in another painting by Filippino Lippi to be found in the Brancacci Chapel in Piazza del Carmine.