# The Caravaca cross

**Cruz de Caravaca**

**Known today as.** A patriarchal cross with two cross-arms, after the relic of the True Cross kept at Caravaca de la Cruz in Murcia, Spain.

Kind: Sacramental

## What was it used for?

Worn and hung in houses in Spain and Latin America against storms, lightning, and every danger, and blessed with water in the town each year.

## What does modern science say?

The sanctuary holds a jubilee year every seven years.

## What lore surrounds it?

Legend says that in 1231 angels brought the cross to a captive priest who was about to celebrate Mass before a Moorish ruler, and the ruler was converted. The relic was stolen in 1934 and replaced by a fragment sent from Rome.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Catholic Encyclopedia.** The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the cross with two bars has, outside its few bearers, “for the most part only a heraldic existence,” though “certain metropolitans (e.g. the Patriarch of Lisbon and the Archbishop of Armagh) are accustomed to wear a cross with two bars or transoms.” Pectoral crosses “seem originally to have been little more than costly ornaments upon which much artistic skill was lavished and which usually contained relics,” such as the jewel of Queen Theodelinda at Monza and the cross found in the tomb of St. Cuthbert.

## Sources

- *The Catholic Encyclopedia* (New York, 1907–1914), “Cross and Crucifix in Liturgy.” newadvent.org/cathen/04533a.htm

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*The Caravaca cross.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/caravaca-cross

Historical description, not medical advice.