Word of the Day: Skull

SKULL. A symbol of death often found in conjunction with the Cross. The Latin calvaria is translated "skull" (John 19:17). St. Jerome and St. Mary Magdalene are symbolized with a skull denoting their preoccupation with death, penance, and eternity. (Etym. Middle English skulle; of Scandinavian origin, probably from Old High German scollo, clod, lump, scala, shell.) +++++ Father does not mention the pious legend that the skull of our First Father, Adam, was buried on the Mount Calvary, the 'Place of the Skull'. As the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia says,  There was a tradition current among the Jews that the skull of Adam, after having been confided by Noah to his son Shem, and by the latter to Melchisedech, was finally deposited at the place called, for that reason, Golgotha. The Talmudists and the Fathers of the Church were aware of this tradition, and it survives in the skulls and bones placed at the foot of the crucifix. The Evangelists are not opposed to it, inasmuch as they speak of one and not of many skulls. (Luke, Mark, John, loc. cit.) As mentioned, there is a tradition of a skull or skull and bones being placed on the bottom of crucifixes.