otionless; from time to time you might distinguish her
plaintive moans; she appeared as if almost fainting from grief, and
Magdalen was quite beside herself. When the executioners had nailed the
right hand of our Lord, they perceived that his left hand did not reach
the hole they had bored to receive the nail, therefore they tied ropes
to his left arm, and having steadied their feet against the cross,
pulled the left hand violently until it reached the place prepared for
it. This dreadful process caused our Lord indescribable agony, his
breast heaved, and his legs were quite contracted. They again knelt
upon him, tied down his arms, and drove the second nail into his left
hand; his blood flowed afresh, and his feeble groans were once more
heard between the blows of the hammer, but nothing could move the
hard-hearted executioners to the slightest pity. The arms of Jesus,
thus unnaturally stretched out, no longer covered the arms of the
cross, which were sloped; there was a wide space between them and his
armpits. Each additional torture and insult inflicted on our Lord
caused a fresh pang in the heart of his Blessed Mother; she became
white as a corpse, but as the Pharisees endeavoured to increase her
pain by insulting words and gestures, the disciples led her to a group
of pious women who were standing a little farther off.

The executioners had fastened a piece of wood at the lower part of
the cross under where the feet of Jesus would be nailed, that thus the
weight of his body might not rest upon the wounds of his hands, as also
to prevent the bones of his feet from being broken when nailed to the
cross. A hole had been pierced in this wood to receive the nail when
driven through his feet, and there was likewise a little hollow place
for his heels. These precautions were taken lest his wounds should be
torn open by the weight of this body, and death ensue before he had
suffered all the tortures which they hoped to see him endure. The whole
body of our Lord had been dragged upward, and contracted by the violent
manner with which the executioners had stretched out his arms, and his
knees were bent up; they therefore flattened and tied them down tightly
with cords; but soon perceiving that his feet did not reach the bit of
wood which was placed for them to rest upon, they became infuriated.
Some of their number proposed making fresh holes for the nails which
pierced his hands, as there would be considerable difficulty in