Profession Crucifix

This is a crucifix given to Fr. Martin Ford, C.P. at the time of his profession as a Passionist. This crucifix was often worn in their belt when they preached. Fr. Martin died in 1955 and the crucifix was given to his sister, Sr. Anne Ford, SC. It is the usual procedure to give this crucifix to the next of kin at the time of death.

According to the archivist with the Sisters of Charity, Sr. Anne kept this crucifix on her pillow until the time when she was moved to St. Anne Villa in 1995. At that time it was hung over her bed which explains the hook it had when it came to us. A hook was not part of the original crucifix. We have removed the hook. We are grateful to Sr. Elizabeth Houlihan, S.C., archivist at Convent Station, for providing this artifact and the information about it.

The crucifix is dark brown wood and brass. It is 13.5 inches long and the cross beam is 7 inches long. On the back it is brass in the area where the corpus is on the front. The rest is wood. The 4 tips are brass.

On the front is the INRI at the top, the Corpus with a halo on the cross behind the head, Our Lady with a sword piercing her heart is below the Corpus, and below that is the skull and cross bones.