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The traditional prayer in honor of theshoulder wound of Jesus calls to mind the wound thatJesus is said to have received carrying thecross on which he wascrucified. It is variously attributed toSaint Bernard of Clairvaux or toSaint Gertrude orSaint Mechtilde.[1]
According to pious legend, Saint Bernard askedJesus which was his greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that inflicted the most pain on him inCalvary. Jesus answered: "I had on my shoulder, while I bore my cross on theWay of Sorrows, a grievous wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men."[2]
In English:
The modern version of the prayer bears theimprimatur ofThomas Daniel Beaven, who was theBishop of Springfield in Massachusetts from 1892 to 1920.
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina venerated the shoulder wound of Jesus, and bore it himself as astigmata.
According to Stefano Campanella, author of "Il papa e il frate" (The Pope and the Friar), Karol Wojtyła (the futurePope John Paul II), while still a priest, visited Padre Pio and asked the question of which was his most painful wound – much like the manner Bernard did to Christ. Wojtyła expected that it was Pio's chest wound, but Pio replied: "It is my shoulder wound, which no one knows about and has never been cured or treated".[3]
The visions of BlessedAnne Catherine Emmerich, which also were a source ofThe Passion of the Christ, refer to the injury: “There was a frightful wound on the shoulder which had borne the weight of the Cross..." When scientists studied theShroud of Turin, they found one of Jesus's shoulders had a laceration and was dislocated.Psalm 22 also references it: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.."