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Stations of the Cross
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Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way) refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion.
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Encyclopedia
Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way) refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval period. It is less often observed in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. It may be done at any time, but is most commonly done during the Season of Lent, especially on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent.
Spiritual significance
The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer, through meditating upon the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death. It has become one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics, as well as featuring in the worship and devotion of other Christian denominations.
Catholic reparations
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the meditation is often performed in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during His Passion.
In his encyclical letter, Miserentissimus Redemptor, on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus.
Pope John Paul II referred to Acts of Reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".
The stations
Traditional form
The Stations themselves are usually a series of 14* pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus is given his cross
- Jesus falls the first time
- Jesus meets His Mother
- Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
- Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
- Jesus falls the second time
- Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
- Jesus falls the third time
- Jesus is stripped of His garments
- Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
- Jesus dies on the cross
- Jesus' body is removed from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)
- Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense.
Alternate forms
Including the resurrection
An alternate set of stations is now being used by some churches. Although not part of the traditional set of Stations, the Resurrection of Jesus is now more and more integrated as part of The Way. Usually at the end of these stations there is a place where one can light candles and place them upon an altar.
Note that this form departs from the traditional form by including the resurrection (see later section on the place of the resurrection in the Stations).
- Jesus institutes the the Eucharist
- Jesus prays in Gethsemane
- Jesus before the Sanhedrin
- Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns
- Jesus carries the cross to Calvary
- Jesus falls under the weight of the cross
- Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene
- Jesus meets the pious women of Jerusalem
- Jesus is nailed on the cross
- Jesus promises Heaven to the repentant thief
- Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other
- Jesus suffers and dies on the cross
- Jesus is laid in the tomb
- Jesus rises from death
Scriptural Way of the Cross
Out of the fourteen traditional Stations of the Cross, only eight have clear scriptural foundation. Stations 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are not specifically attested to in the gospels and Station 13 (representing Jesus's body being taken down off the cross and laid in the arms of his mother Mary) seems to embelish the gospels' record which state that Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus down from the cross and buried him. In order to provide a version of this devotion more closely aligned with the biblical accounts, Pope John Paul II introduced a new form of devotion, called the Scriptural Way of the Cross on Good Friday 1991. He celebrated that form thereafter at the Colosseum in Rome. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved this set of stations for meditation and public celebration: They follow this sequence:
- Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
- Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,
- Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,
- Jesus is denied by Peter,
- Jesus is judged by Pilate,
- Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,
- Jesus takes up his cross,
- Jesus is helped by Simon to carry his cross,
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,
- Jesus is crucified,
- Jesus promises his kingdom to the good thief,
- Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,
- Jesus dies on the cross,
- Jesus is laid in the tomb.
Modern Usage
In the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II led an annual public prayer of the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday. Originally, the Pope himself carried the cross from station to station, but in his last years when age and infirmity limited his strength, John Paul presided over the celebration from a stage on the Palatine Hill, while others carried the cross. Just days prior to his death in 2005, Pope John Paul II observed the Stations of the Cross from his private chapel in the Vatican. Each year a different person is invited to write the meditation texts for the Stations. Past composers of the Papal Stations include several non-Catholics. The Holy Father himself wrote the texts for the Jubilee year 2000 and used the traditional Stations.
The celebration of the Stations of the Cross is especially common on the Fridays of Lent, especially Good Friday. Community celebrations are usually accompanied by various songs and prayers. Particularly common as musical accompaniment is the sequence Stabat Mater Dolorosa. At the end of each station, the Adoramus Te is sometimes sung. The Alleluia is also sung; however, that holy word is buried during Lent.
Structurally, Mel Gibson's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, follows the Stations of the Cross. The fourteenth and last station, the Burial, is not prominently depicted (compared to the other thirteen) but it is implied since the last shot before credit titles is Jesus resurrected and about to leave the tomb.
Will Scally, Produced and Directed `Stations of The Cross` for Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ),
and several other language dubs, including `Welsh` for S4C.
Debates regarding the Stations of the Cross
The place of the resurrection in the Stations
Some Christians maintain that the traditional Stations of the Cross are incomplete without a final scene depicting the empty tomb and/or Jesus rising from the dead (the Resurrection). This view comes about because of the traditional Christian view that Jesus' rising from the dead was an integral part of his salvific work on earth. This same consideration contributes to the idea that the three days commencing with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, and concluding with Vespers on the evening of Easter Sunday are to be regarded as a liturgical unity—the most sacred time on the Christian calendar—known as the Holy Triduum (also known as the Easter or Paschal Triduum).
Advocates of the traditional form of the Stations ending with the body of Jesus being placed in the tomb point out that the Stations are intended as a meditation on the atoning death of Jesus, and not as a complete picture of his life, death, and resurrection.
The Stations of the Resurrection (also known by the Latin name of Via Lucis) are used in some churches at Eastertide to meditate on the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus.
De-Latinization and the Stations of the Cross in the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church
In recent years, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has embarked on a campaign of de-Latinization reforms consisting of the removal of the stations of the cross, the rosary and the monstrance from the liturgy and parishes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In response a schismatic group, the Society of Saint Josaphat (SSJK), has formed with a seminary in Lviv, at which currently thirty students reside. The SSJK is affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X. Critics claim that the SSJK's liturgical practice favors severely abbreviated services and favors imported Roman devotions over the traditional and authentic practices and devotions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Proponents counter that these symbols and rituals, borrowed from their Roman Catholic Polish neighbors have been practised by Ukrainian Greek Catholics for centuries now, and to deny them is to deprive themselves of a part of their sacred heritage which is a valuable reminder of Jesus' suffering.
Gallery
Other pictures related to the stations of the cross
See also
External links
- article from The Catholic Encyclopedia
- .
- from the perspective of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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