Roodmas
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Roodmas (from Old English rood "rod", "cross" and mas, Mass; similar to the etymology of Christmas) is a name for the celebration of the Feast of the Cross. It has been applied to both historical commemoration on May 3 and September 14. It commemorates the finding by Saint Helena of the True Cross in Jerusalem in 326.
"Invention" (Finding) of the True Cross
The feast originally commemorated the dedication of the Martyrium, and was linked with the finding of the Cross shortly thereafter. Saint Helena reportedly found the Cross on September 14, 326.[1] Many legends developed, and the story of the “invention,” or the finding of the cross, enhanced by romances, became a favourite throughout Christendom.[2] The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians.[3]
Beginning about the seventh century, the Gallican Church, celebrated the Feast of the Cross on May 3. The Feast of the "Invention of the True Cross" commemorates the recovery by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, of a portion of the Holy Cross on 3 May 629, after it fell into the hands of the Persians.[4]
According to Herbert Thurston:
[T]he portion of the Holy Cross preserved in Jerusalem afterwards fell into the hands of the Persians, but was recovered and,...was solemnly brought back to Jerusalem on 3 May, 629. This day seems to have attracted special attention among Celtic liturgists in the West and, though disregarded in the East, has passed through Celtic channels (we meet it first in the Lectionary of Silos and in the Bobbio Missal) into general recognition under the mistaken title of "Invention of the Cross.[1]
The commemoration of the "Invention of the True Cross', particularly popular in the historical Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church. was kept by the Western Church on 3 May.