“Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow, and on all occasions: over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings, before sleep…it is a grace from God, a badge of the faithful, and a terror to devils.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem (4th century, Doctor of the Church)

“God stretched out His arms upon the cross to embrace the furthest bounds of the world, making Golgotha the true pole of the earth.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“The heavenly bridegroom… came to the marriage bed of the cross, a bed not of pleasure, but of pain, united himself with the woman [the Church], and consummated the union forever.” St. Augustine (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church)

“How splendid the cross of Christ! It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; Paradise, not its loss. It is the wood on which the Lord, like a great warrior, was wounded in hands and feet and side, but healed thereby our wounds. A tree has destroyed us, a tree now brought us life” St. Theodore the Studite (8th-9th centuries)

“O blessed cross! The faith of the patriarchs, the prophecies of the prophets, the judgments of the apostles, the victorious army of the martyrs and the ranks of all the saints venerate you, preach you, and honor you.” St. Peter Damian (11th century, Doctor of the Church)

“While the world changes, the cross stands firm.” St. Bruno (11th-12th centuries)

“I pray you, go to the nearest church, and bring me the cross, and hold it up level with my eyes until I am dead. I would have the cross on which God hung be ever before my eyes while life lasts in me.” St. Joan of Arc (15th century)

“The good God wishes us never to lose sight of the cross; therefore it is placed everywhere, by the roadside, on the heights, in the public squares, in order that at the sight of it we may say, ‘See how God has loved us!’” St. John Vianney (18th-19th centuries)

“The cross is the book in which we read of the love of a redeeming God.” St. Gaspar del Bufalo (18th-19th centuries)

“How sweet is the word “cross”! Here at the foot of Jesus’ cross souls are clothed in light and inflamed with love; here they acquire wings to bear them upward in loftiest flight. May the same cross always be our bed of rest, our school of perfection, our beloved heritage. For this reason we must never separate the cross from Jesus’ love; otherwise it would become a weight which in our weakness we could not carry. May the Sorrowful Virgin obtain for us from her most holy Son the grace to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of the cross and like her to become inebriated with Jesus’ sufferings. The surest sign of love is the capacity to suffer for the beloved, and since the Son of God endured many sufferings for pure love, there is no doubt the cross carried for him becomes as lovable as love itself.” St. Pio (19th-20th centuries)

“Yes I love the cross, the cross alone. I love it because I always see it behind Jesus’ shoulders.” St. Pio

“The cross is evil at its worst and Goodness at its best.” Ven. Fulton Sheen (19th-20th centuries)

“Avoiding the cross is the essence of the demonic… Consider the softness of the Church today: the desire to accommodate herself to the world, shrinking away from sacrifice, self-denial. We have today in the Christian world a new dirty word, but it doesn’t have four letters. The new dirty word has five: c-r-o-s-s. Christ without the cross? Sure, anyone will accept that.” Ven. Fulton Sheen