However, before we get to that moment we must let St. Ambrose speak, who as the bishop of Milan in the year 395 in a speech given at the funeral of Theodosius the Great, announced the news of the discovery by Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great) less than 60 years earlier, of the cross on which Christ had died. This story, for centuries forgotten, had its second unveiling thanks to the quill of a well-known medieval hagiographer Jacobus de Voragine, the author of The Golden Legend, who provides us with a lot of information on the subject. And it is based on this information that Antoniazzo Romano prepared himself to paint the apse of the Basilica of Santa Croce. Three episodes are depicted on the frescoes.

Episode I (left side) – The discovery and recognition of the True Cross

According to Christian tradition the Empress Helena went to the Holy Land in order to find the True Cross in the year 326. On the fresco she is shown in Jerusalem accompanied by an Israelite by the name of Judah. This man, initially unwilling to cooperate, only after spending six days in a well without water and food decided to share his secret. He revealed that the cross is located in the place where Christ was crucified, meaning under the Temple of Venus built by Emperor Hadrian. And in fact, we can see as youths dig up three crosses (Christ’s and two thieves, who were crucified along with him) – however, we do not know which one is the cross in question. In order to find out for sure, a passing funeral conduct was used: a deceased woman was taken out of her coffin (some claim that a young man is depicted on the fresco) and she was placed on each of the crosses. And as the artist shows, when her corpse touched the true cross, she came back to life. We see her sitting upon one of the crosses, giving thanks. Judah, on the other hand, being witness to the miracle of the Cross, converts to Christianity and is baptized.

Episode II (middle) – The struggle for power and the relics

The main scene of the fresco shows a standing Helena, supporting the cross, while kneeling at her feet is the titular bishop of the Church of Santa Croce and at the same time the cardinal and archbishop of Toledo, Pedro González de Mendoza. He was the one that commissioned Antoniazzo Romano to paint the frescoes. This is like a contemporary addition to the story, which is told by Jacob de Voragine in subsequent episodes. Helena divided the cross into parts – she sent one of these to her son in Constantinople, another to Rome, while the third she decided to leave in Jerusalem. And it is those relics that were placed in a silver framing and kept in the so-called Martyrium (the latter Basilica of the Holy Cross). At this moment the plot moves about three hundered years forward, when the ruler of Persia, King Khosrow II in 614, conquers Jerusalem and captures the relics of the True Cross. Khosrow himself wants to be treated by his subjects as a god, while the relics of the cross are supposed to come to his aid.

Episode III (right) – Recovery of the relics and their deposition in Jerusalem

When news of the robbery of the holy relics reaches the Emperor of the Eastern Empire Heraclius, he arrives to face the robber in battle. In a fight he bests the son of the Persian king and recovers the holy treasure. On the fresco we see two men fighting upon a bridge, accompanied on either side by representatives of the two camps. We can only assume that Heraclius wins, while Jacobus goes on to say that the subjects of Khosrow at the behest of his son, not only acknowledge the victory of the Christian ruler, but also accept his faith. In the next scene we see the emperor, who in golden robes with a crown upon his head, mounts his steed and goes to Jerusalem in order to place the relics where they should be. From behind a cloud an angel appears to him, ordering him to – as Christ had done in the past – to take the cross and carry it, to which, as we see in the last part of the fresco, the emperor humbly obliges. As de Voragine goes on to say, Heraclius did not enjoy it very much, crying he took off his shoes and robe and in a shirt, placed the heavy cross upon his shoulders.

The frescoes seen from a distance, unfortunately do not provide us with the opportunity to become familiar with the details of the painting, which is interesting not only in the narrative layers, but also rich in details. The story is told upon a varied landscape, which we can call exotic, surprisingly richly populated, full of towns upon hills, castles and wanderers moving upon mountain trails. This is an enchanted, harmonious and to some degree a fairy-tale world, which was created by the painters of the early Renaissance. There is no lack of fashionably dressed youths, soldiers in armor, as well as elegant ladies. Immersed in an aura of peace, even the battle upon the bridge looks more like a courtly game. This is how Antoniazzo saw it – a man who wanted to tell the story of the True Cross in the most conciliatory way possible – showing that it is not only a relic, but also a medium which performs miracles, in this case influencing the spread of the Christian faith among infidels – Jews and Persians.

It is interesting that, Antoniazzo Romano, a painter who was very active in Rome at the turn of the XV and XVI centuries, only in the year 2000, meaning after a thorough restoration of the frescoes of the apse of the Church of Santa Croce is considered as their author. Until then they were attributed to other artists. Some saw in them the hand of Pinturicchio, others Perugino.