Way (Stations) of the Cross

7/30/2019 Way (Stations) of the Cross

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Way/Stations of the Cross Page 1 of 8

Way/Stations of the Cross

(Also called 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, or the special form of

devotion connected with such representations.

Taken in the former sense, the Stations may be of stone, wood, or metal, sculptured or

carved, or they may be merely paintings or engravings. Some Stations are valuable

works of art, as those, for instance, in Antwerp cathedral, which have been much

copied elsewhere. 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 at all general before 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

by authority. 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
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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 Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Stationto 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 stanza of the

"Stabat Mater" while passing from one Station to the next.

Inasmuch as the Way of the Cross, made in this way, constitutes a miniature pilgrimage

to the holy places at Jerusalem, the origin of the devotion may be traced to the Holy

Land. The Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem (though not called by that name before the

sixteenth century) was reverently marked out from the earliest times and has been the

goal of pious pilgrims ever since the days of Constantine. Tradition asserts that theBlessed Virgin used to visit daily the scenes of Christ's Passion and St. Jerome speaks

of the crowds of pilgrims from all countries who used to visit the holy places in his day.

There is, however, no direct evidence as to the existence of any set form of the

devotion at that early date, and it is noteworthy that St. Sylvia (c. 380) says nothing

about it in her "Peregrinatio ad loca sancta", although she describes minutely every

other religious exercise that she saw practised there. A desire to reproduce the holy

places in other lands, in order to satisfy the devotion of those who were hindered from

making the actual pilgrimage, seems to have manifested itself at quite an early date. At

the monastery of San Stefano at Bologna a group of connected chapels were

constructed as early as the fifth century, by St. Petronius, Bishop of Bologna, which

were intended to represent the more important shrines of Jerusalem, and in

consequence, this monastery became familiarly known as "Hierusalem". These may

perhaps be regarded as the germ from which the Stations afterwards developed,

though it is tolerably certain that nothing that we have before about the fifteenth

century can strictly be called a Way of the Cross in the modern sense. Several

travellers, it is true, who visited the Holy Land during the twelfth, thirteenth, and

fourteenth centuries, mention a "Via Sacra", i.e., a settled route along which pilgrimswere conducted, but there is nothing in their accounts to identify this with the Via

Crucis, as we understand it, including special stopping-places with indulgences attached,

and such indulgenced Stations must, after all, be considered to be the true origin of

the devotion as now practised. It cannot be said with any certainty when such

indulgences began to be granted, but most probably they may be due to the

Franciscans, to whom in 1342 the guardianship of the holy places was entrusted.

Ferraris mentions the following as Stations to which indulgences were attached: the

place where Christ met His Blessed Mother, where He spoke to the women of

Jerusalem, where He met Simon of Cyrene, where the soldiers cast lots for His
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garment, where He was nailed to the cross, Pilate's house, and the Holy Sepulchre.

Analogous to this it may be mentioned that in 1520 Leo X granted an indulgence of a

hundred days to each of a set of sculptured Stations, representing the Seven Dolours

of Our Lady, in the cemetery of the Franciscan Friary at Antwerp, the devotion

connected with them being a very popular one. The earliest use of the word Stations, asapplied to the accustomed halting-places in the Via Sacra at Jerusalem, occurs in the

narrative of an English pilgrim, William Wey, who visited the Holy Land in 1458 and

again in 1462, and who describes the manner in which it was then usual to follow the

footsteps of Christ in His sorrowful journey. It seems that up to that time it had been

the general practice to commence at Mount Calvary, and proceeding thence, in the

opposite direction to Christ, to work back to Pilate's house. By the early part of the

sixteenth century, however, the more reasonable way of traversing the route, by

beginning at Pilate's house and ending at Mount Calvary, had come to be regarded asmore correct, and it became a special exercise of devotion complete in itself. During

the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries several reproductions of the holy places were

set up in different parts of Europe. The Blessed Alvarez (d. 1420), on his return from

the Holy Land, built a series of little chapels at the Dominican friary of Cordova, in

which, after the pattern of separate Stations, were painted the principal scenes of the

Passion. About the same time the Blessed Eustochia, a poor Clare, constructed a similar

set of Stations in her convent at Messina. Others that may be enumerated were those

at Grlitz, erected by G. Emmerich, about 1465, and at Nuremburg, by Ketzel, in 1468.

Imitations of these were made at Louvain in 1505 by Peter Sterckx; at St. Getreu in

Bamberg in 1507; at Fribourg and at Rhodes, about the same date, the two latter being

in the commanderies of the Knights of Rhodes. Those at Nuremburg, which were carved

by Adam Krafft, as well as some of the others, consisted of seven Stations, popularly

known as "the Seven Falls", because in each of them Christ was represented either as

actually prostrate or as sinking under the weight of His cross. A famous set of Stations

was set up in 1515 by Romanet Bofin at Romans in Dauphine, in imitation of those at

Fribourg, and a similar set was erected in 1491 at Varallo by the Franciscans there,

whose guardian, Blessed Bernardino Caimi, had been custodian of the holy places. Inseveral of these early examples an attempt was made, not merely to duplicate the most

hallowed spots of the original Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem, but also to reproduce the

exact intervals between them, measured in paces, so that devout people might cover

precisely the same distances as they would have done had they made the pilgrimage to

the Holy Land itself. Boffin and some of the others visited Jerusalem for the express

purpose of obtaining the exact measurements, but unfortunately, though each claimed

to be correct, there is an extraordinary divergence between some of them.

With regard to the number of Stations it is not at all easy to determine how this cameto be fixed at fourteen, for it seems to have varied considerably at different times
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and places. And, naturally, with varying numbers the incidents of the Passion

commemorated also varied greatly. Wey's account, written in the middle of the

fifteenth century, gives fourteen, but only five of these correspond with ours, and of

the others, seven are only remotely connected with our Via Crucis:

The house of Dives,

the city gate through which Christ passed,

the probatic pool,

the Ecce Homo arch,

the Blessed Virgin's school, and

the houses of Herod and Simon the Pharisee.

When Romanet Boffin visited Jerusalem in 1515 for the purpose of obtaining correct

details for his set of Stations at Romans, two friars there told him that there ought to

be thirty-one in all, but in the manuals of devotion subsequently issued for the use of

those visiting these Stations they are given variously as nineteen, twenty-five, and

thirty-seven, so it seems that even in the same place the number was not determined

very definitely. A book entitled "Jerusalem sicut Christi tempore floruit", written by

one Adrichomius and published in 1584, gives twelve Stations which correspond exactly

with the first twelve of ours, and this fact is thought by some to point conclusively to

the origin of the particular selection afterwards authorized by the Church, especially

as this book had a wide circulation and was translated into several European languages.

Whether this is so or not we cannot say for certain. At any rate, during the sixteenth

century, a number of devotional manuals, giving prayers for use when making the

Stations, were published in the Low Countries, and some of our fourteen appear in them

for the first time. But whilst this was being done in Europe for the benefit of those

who could not visit the Holy Land and yet could reach Louvain, Nuremburg, Romans, or

one of the other reproductions of the Via Dolorosa, it appears doubtful whether, evenup to the end of the sixteenth century, there was any settled form of the devotion

performed publicly in Jerusalem, for Zuallardo, who wrote a book on the subject,

published in Rome in 1587, although he gives a full series of prayers, etc., for the

shrines within the Holy Sepulchre, which were under the care of the Franciscans,

provides none for the Stations themselves. He explains the reason thus: "it is not

permitted to make any halt, nor to pay veneration to them with uncovered head, nor to

make any other demonstration". From this it would seem that after Jerusalem had

passed under the Turkish domination the pious exercises of the Way of the Cross could

be performed far more devoutly at Nuremburg or Louvain than in Jerusalem itself. It
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may therefore be conjectured, with extreme probability, that our present series of

Stations, together with the accustomed series of prayers for them, comes to us, not

from Jerusalem, but from some of the imitation Ways of the Cross in different parts

of Europe, and that we owe the propagation of the devotion, as well as the number and

selection of our Stations, much more to the pious ingenuity of certain sixteenth-century devotional writers than to the actual practice of pilgrims to the holy places.

With regard to the particular subjects which have been retained in our series of

Stations, it may be noted that very few of the medieval accounts make any mention of

either the second (Christ receiving the cross) or the tenth (Christ being stripped of

His garments), whilst others which have since dropped out appear in almost all the early

lists. One of the most frequent of these is the Station formerly made at the remains

of the Ecce Homo arch, i.e. the balcony from which these words were pronounced.

Additions and omissions such as these seem to confirm the supposition that our

Stations are derived from pious manuals of devotion rather than from Jerusalem itself.

The three falls of Christ (third, seventh, and ninth Stations) are apparently all that

remain of the Seven Falls, as depicted by Krafft at Nuremburg and his imitators, in all

of which Christ was represented as either falling or actually fallen. In explanations of

this it is supposed that the other four falls coincided with His meetings with His

Mother, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, and the women of Jerusalem, and that in these

four the mention of the fall has dropped out whilst it survives in the other three which

have nothing else to distinguish them. A few medieval writers take the meeting withSimon and the women of Jerusalem to have been simultaneous, but the majority

represent them as separate events. The Veronica incident does not occur in many of

the earlier accounts, whilst almost all of those that do mention it place it as having

happened just before reaching Mount Calvary, instead of earlier in the journey as in our

present arrangement. An interesting variation is found in the special set of eleven

stations ordered in 1799 for use in the diocese of Vienne. It is as follows:

the Agony in the Garden;

the betrayal by Judas;

the scourging;

the crowning with thorns;

Christ condemned to death;

He meets Simon of Cyrene;

the women of Jerusalem;
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He tastes the gall;

He is nailed to the cross;

His death on the cross; and

His body is taken down from the cross.

It will be noticed that only five of these correspond exactly with our Stations. The

others, though comprising the chief events of the Passion, are not strictly incidents of

the Via Dolorosa itself.

Another variation that occurs in different churches relates to the side of the church

on which the Stations begin. The Gospel side is perhaps the more usual. In reply to a

question the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, in 1837, said that, although nothing

was ordered on this point, beginning on the Gospel side seemed to be the more

appropriate. In deciding the matter, however, the arrangement and form of a church

may make it more convenient to go the other way. The position of the figures in the

tableaux, too, may sometimes determine the direction of the route, for it seems more

in accordance with the spirit of the devotion that the procession, in passing from

station to station, should follow Christ rather than meet Him.

The erection of the Stations in churches did not become at all common until towards

the end of the seventeenth century, and the popularity of the practice seems to havebeen chiefly due to the indulgences attached. The custom originated with the

Franciscans, but its special connection with that order has now disappeared. It has

already been said that numerous indulgences were formerly attached to the holy places

at Jerusalem. Realizing that few persons, comparatively, were able to gain these by

means of a personal pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Innocent XI, in 1686, granted to the

Franciscans, in answer to their petition, the right to erect the Stations in all their

churches, and declared that all the indulgences that had ever been given for devoutly

visiting the actual scenes of Christ's Passion, could thenceforth be gained by

Franciscans and all others affiliated to their order if they made the Way of the Cross

in their own churches in the accustomed manner. Innocent XII confirmed the privilege

in 1694 and Benedict XIII in 1726 extended it to all the faithful. In 1731 Clement XII

still further extended it by permitting the indulgenced Stations to all churches,

provided that they were erected by a Franciscan father with the sanction of the

ordinary. At the same time he definitely fixed the number of Stations at fourteen.

Benedict XIV in 1742 exhorted all priests to enrich their churches with so great a

treasure, and there are few churches now without the Stations. In 1857 the bishops of

England received faculties from the Holy See to erect Stations themselves, with theindulgences attached, wherever there were no Franciscans available, and in 1862 this
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last restriction was removed and the bishops were empowered to erect the Stations

themselves, either personally or by delegate, anywhere within their jurisdiction. These

faculties are quinquennial. There is some uncertainty as to what are the precise

indulgences belonging to the stations. It is agreed that all that have ever been granted

to the faithful for visiting the holy places in person can now be gained by making theVia Crucis in any church where the Stations have been erected in due form, but the

Instructions of the Sacred Congregation, approved by Clement XII in 1731, prohibit

priests and others from specifying what or how many indulgences may be gained. In

1773 Clement XIV attached the same indulgence, under certain conditions, to

crucifixes duly blessed for the purpose, for the use of the sick, those at sea or in

prison, and others lawfully hindered from making the Stations in a church. The

conditions are that, whilst holding the crucifix in their hands, they must say the

"Pater" and "Ave" fourteen times, then the "Pater", "Ave", and "Gloria" five times, andthe same again once each for the pope's intentions. If one person hold the crucifix, a

number present may gain the indulgences provided the other conditions are fulfilled by

all. Such crucifixes cannot be sold, lent, or given away, without losing the indulgence.

The following are the principal regulations universally in force at the present time with

regard to the Stations:

If a pastor or a superior of a convent, hospital, etc., wishes to have the Stations

erected in their places he must ask permission of the bishop. If there are Franciscan

Fathers in the same town or city, their superior must be asked to bless the Stations or

delegate some priest either of his own monastery or a secular priest. If there are no

Franciscan Fathers in that place the bishops who have obtained from the Holy See the

extraordinary of Form C can delegate any priest to erect the Stations. This delegation

of a certain priest for the blessing of the Stations must necessarily be done in writing.

The pastor of such a church, or the superior of such a hospital, convent, etc., should

take care to sign the document the bishop or the superior of the monastery sends, so

that he may thereby express his consent to have the Stations erected in their place,

for the bishop's and the respective pastor's or superior's consent must be had beforethe Stations are blessed, otherwise the blessing is null and void;

Pictures or tableaux of the various Stations are not necessary. It is to the cross placed

over them that the indulgence is attached. These crosses must be of wood; no other

material will do. If only painted on the wall the erection is null (Cong. Ind., 1837, 1838,

1845);

If, for restoring the church, for placing them in a more convenient position, or for any

other reasonable cause, the crosses are moved, this may be done without theindulgence being lost (1845). If any of the crosses, for some reason, have to be
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replaced, no fresh blessing is required, unless more than half of them are so replaced

(1839).

There should if possible be a separate meditation on each of the fourteen incidents of

the Via Crucis, not a general meditation on the Passion nor on other incidents notincluded in the Stations. No particular prayers are ordered;

The distance required between the Stations is not defined. Even when only the clergy

move from one Station to another the faithful can still gain the indulgence without

moving;

It is necessary to make all the Stations uninterruptedly (S.C.I., 22 January, 1858).

Hearing Mass or going to Confession or Communion between Stations is not considered

an interruption. According to many the Stations may be made more than once on the

same day, the indulgence may be gained each time; but this is by no means certain

(S.C.I., 10 Sept., 1883). Confession and Communion on the day of making the Stations

are not necessary provided the person making them is in a state of grace;

Ordinarily the Stations should be erected within a church or public oratory. If the Via

Crucis goes outside, e.g., in a cemetery or cloister, it should if possible begin and end in

the church.

In conclusion it may be safely asserted that there is no devotion more richly endowed

with indulgences than the Way of the Cross, and none which enables us more literally toobey Christ's injunction to take up our cross and follow Him. A perusal of the prayers

usually given for this devotion in any manual will show what abundant spiritual graces,

apart from the indulgences, may be obtained through a right use of them, and the fact

that the Stations may be made either publicly or privately in any church renders the

devotion specially suitable for all. One of the most popularly attended Ways of the

Cross at the present day is that in the Colosseum at Rome, where every Friday the

devotion of the Stations is conducted publicly by a Franciscan Father.

- http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15569a.htm
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Documents

Way (Stations) of the Cross