They then offered him some vinegar and gall, from which, however, he turned away in silence.

The executioners did not allow him to rest long, but bade him rise and place himself on the cross that they might nail him to it.

Then seizing his right arm they dragged it to the hole prepared for the nail, and having tied it tightly down with a cord, one of them knelt upon his sacred chest, a second held his hand flat, and a third taking a long thick nail, pressed it on the open palm of that adorable hand, which had ever been open to bestow blessings and favours on the ungrateful Jews, and with a great iron hammer drove it through the flesh, and far into the wood of the cross.

Our Lord uttered one deep but suppressed groan, and his blood gushed forth and sprinkled the arms of the archers.

I counted the blows of the hammer, but my extreme grief made me forget their number.