Triclavianism is the belief that three nails were used to

crucify Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

. The exact number of the Holy Nails has been a matter of theological debate for centuries. The general modern understanding in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

is that Christ was crucified with four nails, but three are sometimes depicted as a symbolic reference to the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

Albigenses and Waldenses

Triclavianism was one of the beliefs attributed to

Albigenses Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

and

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

, who held that three nails were used to crucify

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

and that a Roman soldier pierced him with a spear on the left side. The 19th century Anglican scholar

George Stanley Faber George Stanley Faber (often written G. S. Faber; 25 October 1773 – 27 January 1854) was an Anglican theologian and prolific author. He was a typologist, who believed that all the world's myths were corrupted versions of the original sto ...

claimed that

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

declared this to be a heresy and maintained that four nails were used and Jesus was pierced on the right side. This was repeated in historical works such as Sofia Bompiani's ''A Short History of the Italian Waldenses''. Faber's book does not quote any primary source, and does not give the name or date of the document of Innocent III. Other scholarly treatments of the subject, such as Herbert Thurston's article in the 1914 Catholic Encyclopedia, make no mention of any such document. Crucifixion Cluny

's account of the history in his 1838 work ''An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses: As Exhibiting, Agreeably to the Promises, The Perpetuity of the Sincere Church of Christ'' is as follows: rom footnote on pages 396–8. Emphasis is Faber's.

Representation in art

Though in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the crucifixion of Christ typically depicted four nails, beginning in the thirteenth century some Western art began to represent Christ on the cross with his feet placed one over the other and pierced with single nail. The poem ''Christus patiens'' attributed to St. Gregory Nazianzus and the writings of

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Theb ...

and

Socrates of Constantinople Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus ( grc-gre, Σωκράτης ὁ Σχολαστικός), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret. He is the ...

also speak of three nails. The three nails, as a symbol for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, are also used on the coats of arms of Drahovce, Slovakia,

Saint Saviour, Jersey St Saviour (Jèrriais: ; ) is a parish of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is located directly east of St Helier. It has a population of 13,580. It has a land surface area of 3.6 square miles (9.3 km2) and has a very small coastline at Le Dicq. ...

, St. Clement Parish, Ottawa and in the seal of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. The plant

Passiflora edulis ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy ...

(Passion fruit) was given the name by early European explorers because the flower's complex structure and pattern reminded them of symbols associated with the

passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

. It was said that the flower contained the lashes received by Christ, the crown of thorns, the column, the five wounds and the three nails.

References

External links

Holy Nails
��Entry from the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' discussing the number of nails used. {{Heresies condemned by the Catholic Church Christian belief and doctrine Crucifixion of Jesus

Albigenses and Waldenses

Representation in art

See also

References

External links