Triclavianism

Triclavianism is the belief that three nails were used to crucify Jesus Christ. The exact number of the Holy Nails has been a matter of speculation for centuries. Three nails are sometimes depicted as a symbolic reference to the Holy Trinity. In the early Church, two nails were posited by Ambrose (omitting any in the feet), notably in Ambrose's . Nonnus of Panopolis, in his paraphrase of the Gospel of John, has the crowd cry for Jesus to be crucified upon "four spikes" (19:15) but eventually hung with only three, "a single nail ..hammered into both his feet" (19:18).

Etymology

The words ''triclavian'' and ''Triclavianism'' were coined by Anglican scholar George Stanley Faber, in his work ''An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses'' (1838). Faber employs the words in the process of claiming that Pope Innocent III had implicitly, but " infallibly," endorsed the four-nail theory in 1209 through his endorsement of Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) – because in the last two years of his life Francis bore stigmata on his hands and feet which depicted four nailheads (not three). Faber calls Innocent's foundation of the Franciscan Order "a decision, which of course stamped the brand of heresy upon ''Triclavianism''." Faber also refers to Francis as an "impostor," suggesting that his argument here is not meant as any serious attempt to settle a question of Catholic theology. Further, there is no evidence Pope Innocent III made the number of nails a matter of orthodoxy/heresy. Nevertheless, Faber's claim was picked up and repeated in other works, such as Sofia Bompiani's ''A Short History of the Italian Waldenses'' (1899), in which Bompiani simply writes that Innocent had "condemned" triclavianism. Other scholarly treatments of the subject, such as Herbert Thurston's article in the 1914 ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', make no mention of Innocent III nor Francis.

George Stanley Faber's 1838 account is as follows (emphasis in the original):

Representation in art

Though in the Middle Ages the crucifixion of Christ typically depicted four nails, beginning in the 13th 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 attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus and the writings of Nonnus and Socrates of Constantinople 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. Clement Parish, Ottawa and in the seal of the Society of Jesus.

Elsewhere

According to Faber, Triclavianism was one of the beliefs of the Albigenses and Waldensians, who held that three nails were used to crucify Christ and that a Roman soldier pierced him with a spear on the left side.

The plant '' Passiflora edulis'' ( passionfruit) 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. 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.

See also

* Holy Nail

References

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1830s neologisms
Christian belief and doctrine
Crucifixion of Jesus