Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ

Alphonsus Liguori examines the final days and crucifixion of Jesus, visiting the subject with intense detail and close readings of the Gospel scriptures.

The final days and hours of Christ's life contain some of the most important events in Christianity. Jesus was innocent of any crime: his unjust execution, and horrific treatment at the hands of a mob as he went to his place of death, form the basis of the idea that Christ died for the sins of humanity. This commentary explains the role of Pontius Pilate, King Herod, and others present at the time of Christ's sentencing and crucifixion, with individual topics and episodes in the story discussed at length. The work contains ample referencing and quotations of the Gospels in Latin, that readers may refer to the story.

The author was a priest and later a bishop working in the Catholic Church in the 1700s. Liguori's scholarly abilities brought him renown, his prolific researches and writings gained favor with church and academic scholars and theologians. The sagely wisdom which he dispensed moral theology and devotional histories of Christianity across volumes resulted in his being canonized as a saint by Pope Pius IX in 1839.