The Yew Cross from Szczuczyn – a Symbol of Life and Death or an Unusual Memento?

Abstract

Archaeological research in the crypts of the Church of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary in Szczuczyn has been carried out since 2012. Many years of research have made it possible to identify some of the buried people, including the Piarists who served as the hosts of the church. One of the monks identified was Stanislaw Marszycki, who took the name Simeon of St Joseph after his monastic vows. Identification of the Piarist was possible thanks to the information on the coffin. On the deceased’s vestments rested a wooden crucifix, which can be interpreted as part of the deceased’s individual equipment. The crucifix was subjected to wood species identification using a microscope with transmitted light. This made it possible to determine that it was made from the wood of the common yew tree (Taxus baccata L.). Yew wood is a valuable material and was used to make both large boatbuilding components, furniture, and weapons, and was also readily used in 18th- -century gardens. The yew was also a tree around which there was a great deal of superstition. Because of its toxicity and longevity, it was treated as both a tree of death and life. The cross from the monk’s coffin, according to superstition, might have guarded the deceased against evil, been an individual object with which the deceased was associated, or perhaps was chosen because yew wood was eminently polishable and with a beautiful colouration.