The Wood of the Cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified is the greatest Christian relic of all.
In materialising the memory of Christ’s suffering, it paved the way for the public circulation and
veneration of other relics within Christianity, such as the bones of martyrs. Such relics were highly
valuable and easy to counterfeit. At the Reformation, the sheer quantity of Wood of the Cross in
circulation made it a target for Protestant theologians seeking to impugn the authority of the Roman
Catholic Church. In response, Catholic scholars began to undertake the first scientific studies of
relics. The history of the Wood of the Cross therefore offers new insights nor only into the
development of the Christian world, but also into its scientific methods and concepts of materiality.
Today, in the twenty-first century, analyses have become available that permit us to obtain robust
data from materials such as wood and bone. Set within the context of the written sources, this can
provide new historical information concerning the origins, circulation and veneration of Christian
relics. The present article sets out current research aims, provides a general overview of the
historical and material evidence and proposes methods suitable for an integrated study of the Wood
of the Cross. These will be developed further as the authors’ research progresses.