Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

troubled. And he said to them, `My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch.'   (Mk 

14:33 34). Blessed Anne Catherine describes the great suffering of Christ in the garden in detail.

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 Christ must 

have suffered at the Last Supper, when He spoke of Judas Iscariot's betrayal (Mk 14:17 21), and again when 

He spoke of the Apostles falling away and of Peter's denial (Mk 14:27 31). However, there were other 

sufferings of this kind at other times in Christ's Ministry. I would count the beginning of the Passion from the 

intense sufferings of Jesus when he was at prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. 

     It was about nine o'clock when Jesus reached Gethsemani with his disciples. The moon had risen, and 

already gave light in the sky, although the earth was still dark. 

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 According to Blessed Anne Catherine, the 

agony of Jesus in the garden began about 9 p.m. She obviously counts the Passion of Jesus Christ as beginning 

at that time, since she later remarks that the Passion of Christ lasted about 18 hours. She describes a talk that 

the Apostle Saint Peter gave sometime after the Resurrection, but before the Ascension.  He told them, as I 

still remember, that Jesus, during His Passion of eighteen hours, had borne insult and outrage from the whole 

world. 

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 Here Blessed Anne Catherine is saying that Peter counted the length of Christ's Passion as 18 hours. 

Since Christ died about 3 p.m., the 18 hours would be counted from about 9 p.m. of the previous evening, the 

time that Christ entered the garden of Gethsemane. This length of time is approximate. 

The Opening of the Side of Christ 

     So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but 

when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers 

pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.  (Jn 19:32 34). 

    The soldiers were breaking the legs of those who had been crucified, so that they would die more quickly (Jn 

19:31). But Jesus was already dead, so they did not break His legs. The piercing of the side of Jesus occurred 

after His death, sometime after 3 p.m. sun time. 

    According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the soldier who pierced the side of Christ with his spear 

was named Cassius. He was inspired by the grace of God to pierce the side of Christ. 

     But Cassius was suddenly illuminated by grace, and being quite overcome at the sight of the conduct of 

the soldiers, and the deep sorrow of the holy women, determined to relieve their anxiety by proving beyond 

dispute that Jesus was really dead. The kindness of his heart prompted him, but unconsciously to himself he 

fulfilled a prophecy. 

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    The soldiers who had broken the legs of the others were still uncertain whether Jesus was really dead. The 

holy women who were at the foot of the Cross were afraid that the soldiers might do violence to the dead body 

of Christ on the Cross. So Cassius proved that Jesus was really dead by piercing His side with his spear. But 

God had a greater plan, unknown at that time to Cassius, to have the blood and water flow from the side of 

Christ, in fulfillment of Sacred Scripture (Jn 19:36 37), as the symbol and source of the Sacramental life of the 

Church. The suffering and death of Christ, the blood and water from the side of Christ, is the fountain of the 

seven Sacraments of Christ. 

     He seized his lance and rode quickly up to the mound on which the Cross was planted, stopped just 

between the cross of the good thief and that of our Lord, and taking his lance in both hands, thrust it so 

completely into the right side of Jesus that the point went through the heart, and appeared on the left side. 

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    The soldiers broke the legs of the others who were crucified so that the bodies would not remain on the 

crosses when the Sabbath and the first holy day of Passover began that same Friday evening at sunset. So the 

piercing of Christ's side must have occurred between about 3 p.m. sun time and sunset. Christ's body had to be 

taken down from the cross, washed and prepared for buried with spices, wrapped in linen cloths and placed in 

a tomb, all before the Sabbath and Passover began at sunset that day (cf. Jn 19:39 42). There had to be 

sufficient time after the piercing of Christ's side, but before sunset, to accomplish all of these tasks. 

    Sunset is by definition 6:00 p.m. sun time, and on that day, April 7, sunset also happened to coincide with 

18:00 hours or 6 p.m. by Jerusalem Standard Time.

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 Sunset on that day was also about 6 hours and 19 

minutes after the sixth hour (apparent solar noon). There were about 3 hours and 9 minutes between the sixth 

hour and the ninth hour, and the same length of time between the ninth hour and sunset. 

    The piercing of Christ's side occurred between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., but closer to 3 p.m., since there was so 

much to do afterwards. According to Blessed Anne Catherine, the piercing of Christ's side and the 

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