The hour has come! The executioners stretch me there upon the cross. They violently seize and extend my arms that my hands may reach the holes prepared in the wood. Every shock causes my thorn-crowned head to come into violent contact with the cross . . . the thorns are driven deeper and deeper into it. Hear the first sound of the hammer that fixes my right hand . . . deep into the very earth it resounds. Listen again, they fasten my left hand. The very heavens tremble and the angels fall prostrate at the sight."