Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross

(Via Crucis, and Via Dolorosa).

These names are used to signify either a series of pictures or tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ, each corresponding to a particular incident in Christ's journey to the Tomb. They are usually ranged at intervals around the walls of a church, though sometimes they are to be found in the open air, especially on roads leading to a church or shrine. In monasteries, they are often placed in the cloisters.

The erection and use of the Stations did not become universal until the end of the seventeenth century, but they are now to be found in almost every church.

Formerly their number varied considerably in different places but fourteen are now prescribed, they are as follows:

Christ condemned to death ;

the cross is laid upon him;

His first fall;

He meets His Blessed Mother;

Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;

Christ's face is wiped by Veronica;

His second fall;

He meets the women of Jerusalem ;

His third fall;

He is stripped of His garments;

His crucifixion;

His death on the cross;

His body is taken down from the cross; and

laid in the tomb.

The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular of devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on the various incidents in turn. It is very usual when the devotion is performed publicly, to sing a verse of the Hymn "Stabat Mater" while passing from one Station to the next.