The Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross — the Via Crucis, or "Way of the Cross" — is the devotion of walking, in spirit, the road Our Lord trod from His condemnation to His burial, pausing at fourteen "stations" to contemplate each step of His Passion. It began in Jerusalem itself, where from the earliest centuries pilgrims retraced the Via Dolorosa, the sorrowful way to Calvary. Those who could not journey to the Holy Land longed to make the same pilgrimage at home, and so the stations were brought to the churches of Christendom.

The great spreaders of the devotion were the Franciscans, entrusted by the Church with guarding the holy places of Jerusalem. Over the centuries the number and choice of stations varied, until the Church fixed them at fourteen; Pope Clement XII confirmed this in 1731. The tireless apostle of the Stations was St. Leonard of Port Maurice (d. 1751), who is said to have erected over five hundred sets across Europe, including one in the Roman Colosseum, where popes still lead the Way of the Cross on Good Friday night.

At each station the faithful genuflect and pray, "We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world." Most of the stations are drawn straight from the Gospels; a few — the three falls, and Veronica’s veil — come from ancient and pious tradition rather than the explicit text of Scripture. The Church attaches a plenary indulgence to the devout making of the Stations before lawfully erected stations, moving from one to the next. Prayed especially on the Fridays of Lent and on Good Friday, it remains one of the most beloved of all Catholic devotions — a school of sorrow, gratitude, and love before the Crucified.