The Sixth Wound of Christ: From a vision of St. Bernard. Unrecorded.

[Shoulder Wound of Christ]. Dein Schulter wund Herr Jesu Christ / Sehr Schmertzlieh Dir gewesen ist. / Wir Bitten dich durch diese Wund / Mach uns an Leib und Seel gesund. Offenbarung, welche dem heil. Abt Bernardus von Clarevalle geschehen wegen der unbekanneten und schmerzhaftesten Wunde, so Christus auf seiner heiligen Achsel oder Schulter im Austragen seines schweren Kreuzes empfunden. S.l. [Vienna or Graz?]: s.n., s.a [18th century]. [15.6 x 9.3 cm], [2] ff., including full-page engraving. Fold, unevenly trimmed edges.

Unrecorded 18th-century prayer booklet—illustrated with a full-page engraving­—concerning the mysterious sixth wound of Christ, i.e., a wound He suffered while shouldering the Cross on the way to Calvary. This devotion spread across Europe, but it perhaps was strongest in Vienna (Stephansdom) and Graz (Franziskanerkirche), which were home to venerated images of the subject.

The pamphlet’s letterpress text is useful and should be quoted at length here. It reads: “Revelation which occurred to the holy Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux concerning the unknown and most painful wound that Christ suffered on his holy shoulder while carrying his heavy cross. The holy Abbot Bernard once asked our dear Lord in prayer what his most unknown suffering had been. The Lord answered: ‘I had a wound three fingers deep on my shoulder when I carried my Cross; this wound was far more painful to me than all the other wounds. This wound is rarely remembered by people because it is almost unknown; therefore, honor it, and whatever you desire by virtue of this wound, I will grant you. And all those who honor me because of this wound, and who often consider the pain I suffered and endured for their sake, shall receive from me grace and mercy.’”

Elfriede Grabner provides a concise history of the Shoulder Wound, which I quote here (again, in translation): “The veneration of the ‘Shoulder Wound of Christ,’ which belongs to the so-called ‘Secret (or Unknown) Sufferings,’ was probably already known in the Middle Ages, but it only became a popular cult around the middle of the 17th century. The earliest veneration of the Shoulder Wound of Christ is evident in the mystical visions of the Passion of the Thuringian visionary Gertrude of Helfta (1256–1302). In her Exercitia spiritualis, which were published many times, the prayer Ad vulnus Humeri (‘On the Wound of the Shoulder’) is also found. The explanation for this prayer is based on the Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) asking Christ what his greatest unknown suffering was. Christ is said to have answered: The Shoulder Wound on which he bore the Cross. Christ is then said to have asked the saint to venerate this wound, promising to grant him everything he asked for because of it. And so the legend of Bernard of Clairvaux continues, stating that he added that he would remit the venial sins of all who venerated this shoulder wound and would no longer remember their grave sins” (p. 160).

The booklet’s full-page engraving depicts Christ seated in prayer on the way to his Crucifixion. His shoulder wound is plainly visible. The German verse below can be translated: “Your Shoulder Wound, Lord Jesus Christ, was very painful to you. Through this Wound we ask you to heal us in body and soul.” The engraver’s monogram is visible at the bottom right of the image, but I have been unable to decipher it.

Two prayers are to the Shoulder Wound complete the piece. There are titled, “Gebeth zu der heiligen Achsel- oder Schulter-Wunde Christi” (“Prayer on the Holy Shoulder Wound of Christ”) and “Ein sehr kräftiges Gebethlein, um ein seliges Sterbstündlein zu erlangen, zu unserm am heil. Keuze sterbenden Jesu” (“A very powerful prayer, to obtain a blessed death, for our Jesus dying on the Holy Cross”).

This item is not located by OCLC or KVK.

*K. M. Rudy, Rubrics, Images and Indulgences in Late Medieval Netherlandish Manuscripts; Elfriede Grabner, “Ein steirisches Fastnachtsmirakel. Zur Geschichte eines Grazer Kultbildes in der Franziskanerkirche zwischen Legende und Wirklichkeit,” Zeitschrift des Historischen Vereins für Steiermark, vol. 80 (1989), pp. 141-65.