LITERAL RENDERING OF THE SENTENCE
647.
“I Pontius Pilate, presiding over lower Galilee and governing Jerusalem, in
fealty to the Roman Empire, and being within the executive mansion, judge,
decide, and proclaim, that I condemn to death, Jesus, of the Nazarean people
and a Galileean by birth, a man seditious and opposed to our laws, to our
senate, and to the great emperor Tiberius Cesar.
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| Pilate delivering the sentence of death upon Christ |
For the execution of this
sentence I decree, that his death be upon the cross and that He shall be
fastened thereto with nails as is customary with criminals; because, in this
very place, gathering around Him every day many men, poor and rich, He has
continued to raise tumults throughout Judea, proclaiming Himself the Son of God
and King of Israel, at the same time threatening the ruin of this renowned city
of Jerusalem and its temple, and of the sacred Empire, refusing tribute to
Caesar; and because He dared to enter in triumph this city of Jerusalem and the
temple of Solomon, accompanied by a great multitude of the people carrying
branches of palms. I command the first centurion, called Quintus Cornelius, to
lead Him for his greater shame through the said city of Jerusalem, bound as He
is, and scourged by my orders. Let Him also wear his own garments, that He may
be known to all, and let Him carry the Cross on which He is to be crucified.
Let Him walk through all the public streets between two other thieves, who are
likewise condemned to death for their robberies and murders, so that this
punishment be an example to all the people and to all malefactors.” “I desire
also and command in this my sentence, that this malefactor, having been thus
led through the public streets, be brought outside the city through the pagora
gate, now called the Antonian portal, and under the proclamations of the
herald, who shall mention all the crimes pointed out in my sentence, He shall
be conducted to the summit of the mountain called Calvary, where justice is
wont to be executed upon wicked transgressors.
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| He stood while the sentence was passed on him |
There, fastened and crucified
upon the Cross, which He shall carry as decreed above, his body shall remain
between the aforesaid thieves. Above the Cross, that is, at its top, He shall
have placed for Him his name and title in the three languages; namely in
Hebrew, Greek and Latin; and in all and each one of them shall be written: THIS
IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS, so that it may be understood by all and
become universally known.” “At the same time I command, that no one, no matter
of what condition, under pain of the loss of his goods and life, and under
punishment for rebellion against the Roman empire, presume audaciously to
impede the execution of this just sentence ordered by me to be executed with
all rigor according to the decrees and laws of the Romans and Hebrews.
Year of the creation of the world 5233, the
twenty-fifth day of March.” Pontius Pilatus Judex et Gubernator Galilaeae
inferioris pro Romano Imperio qui supra propria manu. (Pontius Pilate, Judge
and Governor of lower Galilee for the Roman Empire, who signed the above with
his own hand.)
According
to the above reckoning the creation of the world happened in March; and from
the day on which Adam was created until the Incarnation of Jesus Christ 5199 years; adding the nine months,
during which He remained in the virginal womb of his most holy Mother, and the
thirty-three years of his life, we complete the 5233 years and three months,
which according to the reckoning of the Romans intervened between the
anniversary of his birth and the 25th of
March, the day of his death. According to the reckoning of the Roman Church
there are not more than nine months and seven days to the first year, since it
begins its count of years with the first of January of the second year of the
world. Of all the opinions of the teachers of the Church I (Venerable Mary of
Agreda) have understood the one which corresponds to the reckoning of the Roman
Church in the Roman martyrlogy to be the correct one.
