According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or ) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew (Matthew 27:29), Mark (Mark 15:17) and John (John 19:2, 19:5),, and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others, along with being referenced in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter.
Since around 400 AD, a relic has been venerated as the crown of thorns. Louis IX acquired it in 1239 from the emperor Baldwin II, who was financially in debt due to heavy military expenses. Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle as a monumental reliquary to house the relic. Transferred to the French National Library during the Revolution of the 18th century, the crown of thorns has been displayed at Notre-Dame de Paris since 1804. The crown is made of reeds, formed into a circle and attached with reed fasteners. On 15 April 2019, it was rescued from a fire and moved to the Louvre Museum. In December 2024, a ceremony marking the relic's return to Notre Dame Cathedral was led by a procession attended by members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Veneration of the crown of thorns takes place every first Friday of the month from 3 pm to 5 pm.
Numerous other relics are purported to be from the original crown of thorns. Both the authenticity of the relics and the practice of venerating them have been criticized by some Christians, including by Protestant reformer John Calvin.
The crown of thorns and the curse in Genesis
Many theologians interpret the crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head during his crucifixion as symbolically linked to the curse pronounced in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 3:17–18, thorns are introduced as part of the punishment for humanity's disobedience:
The Gospels describe Roman soldiers placing a crown of thorns on Jesus' head as a form of mockery (Matthew 27:29, John 19:2). While intended as humiliation, many Christian theologians interpret this act as rich in symbolic meaning—Christ bearing the physical sign of the curse of the Fall of Man.
Early Christian writers saw this as a reversal of the Edenic curse. Origen interpreted the thorns as representing human sin borne by Christ.Origen, as cited in Catholic Tradition, "Crown of Thorns," https://www.catholictradition.org/Christ/crown-thorns.htm Jerome identified the thorns with the Genesis curse Christ assumed.St. Jerome, ibid. Theophilus of Antioch called the thorns "sins."Theophilus of Antioch, ibid.
Later commentators such as Matthew Henry, R.C. Sproul, and John Calvin also emphasized the crown as a symbol of Christ bearing the curse.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Matthew 27:29.R.C. Sproul, The Passion of Christ. Ligonier Ministries, 2008.John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, on Matthew 27:29. This view aligns with Galatians 3:13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
From this perspective, the crown of thorns serves not only as a tool of mockery but as a visible sign of Christ taking on the curse introduced in Eden and initiating its reversal.
As a relic
Jerusalem The three Biblical gospels that mention the crown of thorns do not say what happened to it after the crucifixion. The oldest known mention of the crown already being venerated as a relic was made by Paulinus of Nola, writing after 409, who refers to the crown as a relic that was adored by the faithful (Epistle Macarius in Migne, , LXI, 407). Cassiodorus () speaks of the crown of thorns among other relics which were "the glory" of the city of Jerusalem. "There", he says, "we may behold the thorny crown, which was only set upon the head of Our Redeemer in order that all the thorns of the world might be gathered together and broken" (Migne, LXX, 621). When Gregory of Tours in Published in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Merovingenses", I, 492. avers that the thorns in the crown still looked green, a freshness which was miraculously renewed each day, he does not much strengthen the historical authenticity of a relic he had not seen, but the Breviary of Jerusalem (a short text dated to about 530 AD), and the itinerary of Antoninus of Piacenza (6th century) clearly state that the crown of thorns was then shown in the "Basilica of Mount Zion," although there is uncertainty about the actual site to which the authors refer. From these fragments of evidence and others of later date (the "Pilgrimage" of the monk Bernard shows that the relic was still at Mount Zion in 870), it is shown that a purported crown of thorns was venerated at Jerusalem in the early centuries of the common era.
Constantinople Some time afterwards, the crown was purportedly moved to Constantinople, then capital of the Roman Empire. Historian François de Mély supposed that the whole crown was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople not much earlier than 1063. In any case, Emperor Justinian is stated to have given a thorn to Germain, Bishop of Paris, which was long preserved at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, while the Empress Irene, in 798 or 802, sent Charlemagne several thorns which were deposited by him at Aachen. Eight of these are said to have been there at the consecration of the basilica of Aachen; the subsequent history of several of them can be traced without difficulty: four were given to Saint-Corneille of Compiègne in 877 by Charles the Bald; Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, sent one to the Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan in 927, on the occasion of certain marriage negotiations, and it eventually found its way to Malmesbury Abbey; another was presented to a Spanish princess about 1160; and again another was taken to Andechs Abbey in Germany in the year 1200.History and Authenticity of the Relic of the Crown of Thorns (2019). Mystogogy Resource Center.
France In 1238, Baldwin II, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, anxious to obtain support for his tottering empire, offered the crown of thorns to Louis IX of France. It was then in the hands of the Venetians as security for a great loan of 13,134 gold pieces, yet it was redeemed and conveyed to Paris where Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle, completed in 1248, to receive it. The relic stayed there until the French Revolution, when, after finding a home for a while in the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Concordat of 1801 restored it to the Catholic Church, and it was deposited in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
The exact plant species used to make the crown is not confirmed. The relic that the church received was examined in the nineteenth century, and it appeared to be a twisted circlet of rushes of Juncus balticus,Cherry, 22 a plant native to maritime areas of northern Britain, the Baltic region, and Scandinavia. The thorns preserved in various other reliquaries appeared to be Ziziphus spina-christi, a plant native to Africa and Southern and Western Asia, and had allegedly been removed from the crown and kept in separate reliquaries since soon after they arrived in France. New reliquaries were provided for the relic, one commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, another, in jeweled rock crystal and more suitably Gothic, was made to the designs of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In 2001, when the surviving treasures from the Sainte-Chapelle were exhibited at the Louvre, the chaplet was solemnly presented every Friday at Notre-Dame. Pope John Paul II translated it personally to Sainte-Chapelle during World Youth Day. The relic can be seen only on the first Friday of every month, when it is exhibited for a special veneration Mass, as well as each Friday of Lent (see also Feast of the Crown of Thorns).
Members of the Paris Fire Brigade saved the relic during the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 15, 2019. It returned to the cathedral in December 2024.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
Third-class relics
Not all of the reputed holy thorns are considered to be "first-class" relics (relics held to be of the original crown). In Roman Catholic tradition, a relic of the first class is a part of the body of a saint or, in this case, any of the objects used in the Crucifixion that carried the blood of Christ; a relic of the second class is anything known to have been touched or used by a saint; a relic of the third class is a devotional object touched to a first-class relic and, usually, formally blessed as a sacramental.
M. de Mély was able to enumerate more than 700 holy thorns relics. The statement in one medieval obituary that Peter de Aveiro gave to the cathedral of Angers, ("one of the spines which were attached to the thorny crown of our Redeemer") indicates that many of the thorns were relics of the third class—objects touched to a relic of the first class, in this case some part of the crown itself. Again, even in comparatively modern times, it is not always easy to trace the history of these objects of devotion, as first-class relics were often divided and any number of authentic third-class relics may exist.
Purported remnants
Prior to the Seventh Crusade, Louis IX of France bought from Baldwin II of Constantinople what was venerated as Jesus' crown of thorns. It is kept in Paris to this day, in the Notre Dame Cathedral. Individual thorns were given by the French monarch to other European royals: the Holy Thorn Reliquary in the British Museum, for example, containing a single thorn, was made in the 1390s for the French prince Jean, duc de Berry, who is documented as receiving more than one thorn from Charles V and VI, his brother and nephew.
Two "holy thorns" were venerated, one at St. Michael's church in Ghent, the other at Stonyhurst College, both professing to be thorns given by Mary, Queen of Scots to Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland.John Morris, Life of Father Gerard (London, 1881), pp. 126-131.
The "Gazetteer of Relics and Miraculous Images" lists the following, following Cruz 1984: Belgium: Parochial Church of Wevelgem: a portion of the crown of thorns (since 1561) Belgium: Ghent, St. Michael's Church: A thorn from the crown of thorns. Czech Republic: Prague, St. Vitus Cathedral: A thorn of the crown of thorns, in the cross at the top of Crown of Saint Wenceslas, part of the Bohemian Crown Jewels France: Notre-Dame de Paris: The crown of thorns brought from the Holy Land by Louis IX in the 13th century, from which individual thorns have been given by the French monarchs to other European royals; it is displayed the first Friday of each month and all Fridays in Lent (including Good Friday) France: Sainte-Chapelle: A portion of the crown of thorns, brought to the site by Louis IX. Germany: Cathedral of Trier: A thorn from the crown of thorns Germany: Cologne, Kolumba: A thorn from the crown of thorns, given by Louis IX to the Dominicans of Liège, and a second thorn from the treasure of St. Kolumba, Cologne Germany: Elchingen: Church of the former Benedictine Abbey Kloster Elchingen: a thorn brought to the church in 1650/51 Italy: Rome, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme: Two thorns from the crown of thorns. Italy: Rome, Santa Prassede: A small portion of the crown of thorns Italy: Pisa, Chiesa di Santa Chiara: A branch with thorns from the crown of thorns Italy: Naples, Santa Maria Incoronata: A fragment of the crown of thorns Italy: Ariano Irpino, Cathedral: Two Thorns from the crown of thorns Portugal: Lisbon, Museum of St. Roque, SCML, Reliquary of the Holy Thorn Spain: Oviedo, Cathedral: Five thorns (formerly eight) from the crown of thorns Spain: Barcelona, Cathedral: A thorn from the crown of thorns Spain: Seville, Iglesia de la Anunciación (Hermandad del Valle): A thorn from the crown of thorns United Kingdom: British Museum: Holy Thorn Reliquary (see above), Salting Reliquary, each with a thorn United Kingdom: Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester: A thorn from the crown of thorns