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{{Short description|Series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion}}{{other uses}}{{Redirect|Via Crucis|other uses|Via Crucis (disambiguation)}}File:StationXII.JPG|thumb|The 12th Station of the Cross: Jesus dies on the Cross – St. Raphael's Cathedral (Dubuque, Iowa)St. Raphael's Cathedral (Dubuque, Iowa){{Devotions to Christ}}The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of the in Jerusalem, which is a traditional processional route symbolising the path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary. The objective of the stations is to help the Christian faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. It has become one of the most popular devotions and the stations can be found in many Western Christian churches, including those in the Roman Catholic, Lutheran,WEB, Stations of the Cross,weblink Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 20 October 2017, en, 20 October 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171020191659weblink">weblink dead, WEB,weblink Good Friday: Stations of the Cross Explained, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (KJZZ14), 15 April 2022, It has become standard for Catholic churches in the United States to mark the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. In addition to Catholics, some Protestant churches, especially those belonging to the Episcopal [i.e., Anglican] or Lutheran denominations, also commemorate the Stations of the Cross as of their Lenten activities., Anglican,WEB, Lent,weblink Church of England, 20 October 2017, 236, 5 July 2017,weblink dead, and Methodist traditions.WEB,weblink Stations of the Cross, 24 March 2013, Trinity UMC, en, 17 April 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150417235143weblink">weblink 17 April 2015, WEB, Quann, Lynn, Stations of the Cross,weblink Epworth United Methodist Church, 16 April 2022, English, 4 April 2017, 26 March 2023,weblink dead, Commonly, a series of 14 images will be arranged in numbered order along a path, along which worshippers—individually or in a procession—move in order, stopping at each station to say prayers and engage in reflections associated with that station. These devotions are most common during Lent, especially on Good Friday, and reflect a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during his passion.WEB,weblink Stations of the Cross, 2012, St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 3 March 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150217004848weblink">weblink 17 February 2015, dead, Ann Ball, 2003 Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices {{ISBN|0-87973-910-X}}BOOK,weblink The Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations (1883) by Patrick Francis Moran /The Way of the Cross, Browne and Nolan, As a physical devotion involving standing, kneeling and genuflections, the Stations of the Cross are tied with the Christian themes of repentance and mortification of the flesh.BOOK, Byrne, William, 5 Things with Father Bill: Hope, Humor, and Help for the Soul, 16 October 2020, Loyola Press, 978-0-8294-5327-0, English, BOOK, Ryder, Henry Ignatius Dudley, Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder, Sermons and Notes of Sermons, 1920, Sands & Company, English, 58, The style, form, and placement of the stations vary widely. The typical stations are small plaques with reliefs or paintings placed around a church nave. Modern minimalist stations can be simple crosses with a numeral in the centre.BOOK, Chryssides, George D., Wilkins, Margaret Z., Christians in the Twenty-First Century, 11 September 2014, Taylor & Francis, 978-1-317-54557-6, 51, Occasionally the faithful might say the stations of the cross without there being any image, such as when the pope leads the stations of the cross around the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday.WEB,weblink Frommer's Events – Event Guide: Good Friday Procession in Rome (Palatine Hill, Italy), Frommer's, 8 April 2008, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090107161525weblink">weblink 7 January 2009,

History

File:Three chapels of Verkiai Calvary.jpg|thumb|Three chapels of Verkiai CalvaryVerkiai CalvaryFile:Calváro Hungaro Fatima 0584 (19205580792).jpg|thumb|Station of the Cross near the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, in Portugal ]]File:Stacja. Droga Krzyżowa.JPG|thumb|“The way of the Cross” by Gennadiy Jerszow - 14 relief images (bronze) Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. GdańskGdańskFile:Jiřetín pod Jedlovou, calvary.jpg|thumb|Outdoor station in Jiřetín pod JedlovouJiřetín pod JedlovouFile:HK 16th Caine Rd 60405 lob.JPG|thumb|Typical indoor placement along the nave (Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionHong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionThe Stations of the Cross originated from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Roman Judaea and a desire to reproduce the Via Dolorosa. Imitating holy places was not a new concept. For example, the religious complex of Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, replicated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other religious sites, including the Mount of Olives and the Valley of Josaphat.JOURNAL, The Church of Santo Stefano: A "Jerusalem" in Bologna, Robert G., Ousterhout

volume=2

year=1981

doi=10.2307/766940

s2cid=191752841, 0016-920X, Following the siege of 1187, Jerusalem fell to the forces of Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. Forty years later, members of the Franciscan religious order were allowed back into the Holy Land. Their founder, Francis of Assisi, held the Passion of Christ in special veneration and is said to have been the first person to receive stigmata.BOOK, Mary, Weitzel Gibbons,weblink 72–73, Giambologna: Narrator of the Catholic Reformation, University of California Press, 1995, 978-0-520-08213-7, In 1217, Francis also founded the Custody of the Holy Land to guard and promote the devotion to Christian holy places. The Franciscans' efforts were recognized when Pope Clement VI officially proclaimed them the custodians of holy places in 1342. Although several travelers who visited the Holy Land during the 12–14th centuries (e.g. Riccoldo da Monte di Croce, Burchard of Mount Sion, and James of Verona), mention a "Via Sacra", i.e. a settled route that pilgrims followed, there is nothing in their accounts to identify this with the Way of the Cross, as we understand it.BOOK, The Stations of the Cross: an account of their history and devotional purpose, Thurston, Herbert,weblink 20–21, 46, Burns & Oates, London, 1914, 843213, The earliest use of the word "stations", as applied to the accustomed halting-places along the Via Sacra at Jerusalem, occurs in the narrative of an English pilgrim, William Wey, who visited the Holy Land in the mid-15th century and described pilgrims following the footsteps of Christ to Golgotha. In 1521, a book called Geystlich Strass (German: "spiritual road") was printed with illustrations of the stations in the Holy Land.During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Franciscans began to build a series of outdoor shrines in Europe to duplicate their counterparts in the Holy Land. The number of stations at these shrines varied between seven and thirty; seven was common. These were usually placed, often in small buildings, along the approach to a church, as in a set of 1490 by Adam Kraft, leading to the Johanniskirche in Nuremberg.Schiller, Gertrud, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II, p. 82, 1972 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, {{ISBN|0-85331-324-5}} A number of rural examples were established as attractions in their own right, usually on attractive wooded hills. These include the Sacro Monte di Domodossola (1657) and Sacro Monte di Belmonte (1712), and form part of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy World Heritage Site, together with other examples on different devotional themes. The sculptures at these sites are very elaborate and often nearly life-size. Remnants of these sites are often referred to as calvary hills.In 1686, in answer to their petition, Pope Innocent XI granted to the Franciscans the right to erect stations within their churches. In 1731, Pope Clement XII extended to all churches the right to have the stations, provided that a Franciscan father erected them, with the consent of the local bishop. At the same time the number of stations was fixed at fourteen. In 1857, the bishops of England were allowed to erect the stations by themselves, without the intervention of a Franciscan priest, and in 1862 this right was extended to bishops throughout the church.The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907). s.v. "The Way of the Cross". Stations File:Cross Stations a.jpg|thumb|A set of the traditional 14 scenes from Portuguese Church, Kolkata ]]File:Normandie Manche Avranches3 tango7174.jpg|thumb|A set of the traditional 14 scenes in Limoges enamelLimoges enamelFile:The last Station of the Cross, Saint Mary Rawaseneng Prayer Garden.JPG|thumb|The Resurrection of Jesus at the Saint Mary Rawaseneng Prayer Garden, in the Rawaseneng MonasteryRawaseneng MonasteryThe early set of seven scenes was usually numbers 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11 and 14 from the list below. From the late 16th century to the present, the standard complement has consisted of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:WEB, Text of the Stations of the Cross for 2020, led by Pope Francis, 9 April 2020, Aleteia / Foundation for Evangelization through the Media (FEM),weblink 19 May 2020, WEB, First Station: Jesus is condemned to death, Libreria Editrice Vaticana,weblink 19 May 2020, WEB, Francesca Merlo, Way of the Cross: Meditations from a corrections facility, Vatican News, 10 April 2020,weblink 19 May 2020, Jesus is condemned to death Jesus takes up his Cross Jesus falls the first time Jesus meets his Mother Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross Veronica wipes the face of Jesus Jesus falls for the second time Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem Jesus falls for the third time Jesus is stripped of his garments (sometimes called the "Division of Robes") Jesus is nailed to the Cross Jesus dies on the Cross Jesus is taken down from the Cross Jesus is laid in the tomb Although not traditionally part of the Stations, the Resurrection of Jesus is sometimes included as an unofficial fifteenth station.{{dubious|The first source was utterly misunderstood and the second is dead, so...|date=May 2020}}WEB, Fr. William Saunders, 2009-04-04,weblink Because of the intrinsic relationship between the passion and death of our Lord with His resurrection, several of the devotional booklets now include a 15th station, which commemorates the Resurrection.,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090430201735weblink">weblink 2009-04-30, dead, WEB,weblink Stations of the Cross Explained, Ficcaglia, Jennifer, Catholic Courier, 12 February 2016, The Way of the Cross traditionally consists of 14 iconic stations that depict the events of Jesus’ journey to crucifixion. A 15th station, which is not depicted by an icon, is meant to remember Jesus’ resurrection., One very different version, called the Via Lucis ("Way of Light"), comprising the Fourteen Stations of Light or Stations of the Resurrection, starts with Jesus rising from the dead and ends with Pentecost.WEB, The Official Web Site for the Archdiocese of Detroit, 2012-02-13,weblink In some contemporary Stations of the Cross, a fifteenth station has been added to commemorate the Resurrection of the Lord., dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101223130823weblink">weblink 2010-12-23, Scriptural form Out of the fourteen traditional Stations of the Cross, only eight have a clear scriptural foundation. Station 4 appears out of order from scripture; Jesus's mother is present at the crucifixion but is only mentioned after Jesus is nailed to the cross and before he dies (between stations 11 and 12). The scriptures contain no accounts whatsoever of any woman wiping Jesus's face nor of Jesus falling as stated in Stations 3, 6, 7 and 9. Station 13 (Jesus's body being taken down off the cross and laid in the arms of his mother Mary) differs from the gospels' record, which states that Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus down from the cross and buried him.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 many times but not exclusively at the Colosseum in Italy,Joseph M Champlin, The Stations of the Cross With Pope John Paul II Liguori Publications, 1994, {{ISBN|0-89243-679-4}}Pope John Paul II, Meditation and Prayers for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603105242weblink |date=2013-06-03 }}, Good Friday, 2000 using the following sequence (as published by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops):WEB,weblink Scriptural Stations of the Cross, www.usccb.org, 2019-03-11, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane; Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested; Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin; Jesus is denied by Peter three times; Jesus is judged by Pilate; Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns; Jesus takes up his cross; Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross; Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem; Jesus is crucified; Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief; Jesus (Sayings of Jesus on the cross3. Behold your son: behold your mother|entrusts Mary and John to each other); Jesus dies on the cross; and Jesus is laid in the tomb. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved this set of stations for meditation and public celebration.WEB, Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, Way of the Cross at the Colosseum, April 6, 2007, Vatican.va,weblink February 18, 2018,weblink" title="archive.today/20130707081209weblink">weblink July 7, 2013, live, NEWS,weblink Pope Benedict leads Good Friday service, ABC News, April 6, 2007, www.abc.net.au, The New Way of the Cross (Philippines) Another set of Stations are being used by the Catholic Church in the Philippines. Filipinos use this set during Visita Iglesia, which is usually done every Holy Week. The Last Supper The Agony in Gethsemane Jesus Before the Sanhedrin Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns Jesus Receives His Cross Jesus Falls under the weight of the Cross Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus carry the Cross Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem Jesus is nailed to the Cross The Repentant Thief Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross Jesus dies on the Cross Jesus is laid in His Tomb Jesus rises from the Dead Modern usage File:Ulm Neu-Ulm Lebendiger Kreuzweg 2011 Bild 11.JPG|thumb|Station 5: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross, Good Friday procession 2011 at UlmUlmIn the Roman Catholic Church, the devotion may be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses—pictures alone do not suffice—and they must be blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations.WEB,weblink Catholic Encyclopedia: Way of the Cross, Newadvent.org, 1912-10-01, 2014-07-03, 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. 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 pope himself wrote the texts for the Great Jubilee in 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 Stabat Mater. At the end of each station the Adoramus Te is sometimes sung. The Alleluia is also sung, except during Lent.Structurally, Mel Gibson's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, follows the Stations of the Cross.Review {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430015224weblink |date=2012-04-30 }}, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004 Debates Place of Christ's resurrection Some modern liturgistsBOOK, 978-0-06-065338-5, 1222, McBrien, Richard P., Harold W. Attridge, The HarperCollins encyclopedia of Catholicism, 1995, Harper Collins,weblink say the traditional Stations of the Cross are incomplete without a final scene depicting the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus because Jesus' rising from the dead was an integral part of his salvific work on Earth. Advocates of the traditional form of the Stations ending with the body of Jesus being placed in the tomb say 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. Another point of contention, at least between some ranking liturgists and traditionalists, is (the use of) the "New Way of the Cross" being recited exclusively in the Philippines and by Filipinos abroad.The Stations of the Resurrection (also known by the Latin name of Via Lucis, Way of Light) are used in some churches at Eastertide to meditate on the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. Music Franz Liszt wrote a Via Crucis for choir, soloists and piano or organ or harmonium in 1879. In 1931, French organist Marcel Dupré improvised and transcribed musical meditations based on fourteen poems by Paul Claudel, one for each station.Peter Maxwell Davies's Vesalii Icones (1969), for male dancer, solo cello and instrumental ensemble, brings together the Stations of the Cross and a series of drawings from the anatomical treatise De humani corporis fabrica (1543) by the Belgian physician Andreas van Wesel (Vesalius). In Davies's sequence, the final "station" represents the Resurrection, but of Antichrist, the composer's moral point being the need to distinguish what is false from what is real.Peter Maxwell Davies: Composer's note in the published score (Boosey and Hawkes, B & H 20286).David Bowie regarded his 1976 song "Station to Station" as "very much concerned with the stations of the cross".JOURNAL, Cavanagh, David, ChangesFiftyBowie, Q (magazine), Q magazine, February 1997, 52–59, Polish composer Paweł Łukaszewski wrote Via Crucis in 2000 and it was premiered by the Podlaska Opera and Orchestra on March 8, 2002. WEB,weblink Via Crucis by Paweł Łukaszewski, www.viacrucis.pl, Stefano Vagnini's 2002 modular oratorio, Via Crucis,Falcon Valley Music Ed., Stefano Vagnini, Via Crucis, Rome, 2002.{{Nonspecific|date=January 2020|reason=Is that a publication, a website, a recording?}} is a composition for organ, computer, choir, string orchestra and brass quartet. Italian composer Fabio Mengozzi released his electronic album Via crucis in 2022.WEB, Esce il primo disco del compositore e pianista astigiano Fabio Mengozzi, elettronica e magia,weblink 18 October 2022, La Stampa, IT, 18 October 2022, As the Stations of the Cross are prayed during the season of Lent in Catholic churches, each station is traditionally followed by a verse of the Stabat Mater, composed in the 13th century by Franciscan Jacopone da Todi. James Matthew Wilson's poetic sequence, The Stations of the Cross, is written in the same meter as da Todi's poem.WEB,weblink The Stations of the Cross : Clarion Review, www.clarionreview.org, en-US, 2017-12-16, Literature Dimitris Lyacos' third part of the Poena Damni trilogy, The First Death, is divided into fourteen sections in order to emphasise the "Via Dolorosa" of its marooned protagonist during his ascent on the mount of the island which constitutes the setting of the work.WEB, Toti O’Brien,weblink Poena Damni/Poetry Review - Ragazine, October 2018, 2024-01-21, Gallery Theophile Lybaert - Pilate condemns Jesus to die.jpg|1st Station: Jesus is condemned to deathSculpture at Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross.JPG|2nd Station: Jesus takes up his CrossChapel in 3rd Station (Via Dolorosa).JPG|3rd Station: Jesus falls for the first timeChapel in 4th Station (Via Dolorosa).JPG|4th Station: Jesus meets his MotherChapel in 5th Station (Via Dolorosa).JPG|5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the CrossFriesach - Dominikanerkirche - Kreuzwegstation6.jpg|6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus7 Jezus poraz drugi pod krzyzem upada, kolegiata, Lidzbark Warmiński.jpg|7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time8 Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem. Church of St. John Nepomucen in Brenna.JPG|8th Station: Jesus meets the women of JerusalemCalvary of Karl I of Austria. Station 9. Jesus falls the third time. - Tihany.JPG|9th Station: Jesus falls for the third timeFr Pfettisheim Chemin de croix station X full.jpg|10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments (sometimes called the "Division of Robes")Holy Sepulchre1.jpg|11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the CrossГолгофа.jpg|12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross13 Jezus z krzyza zdjety, kościół sw Jana Chrzciciela i Michała Archanioła, Lubawa.jpg|13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross1-Ademuz-viacrucisEstación XIV (2011).jpg|14th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb See also Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ Life of Jesus in the New Testament Seven Sorrows of Mary Sayings of Jesus on the cross Three Hours' Agony Via Lucis Mysteries of the Rosary References {{Reflist}} External links {{Commons category}} Scriptural Stations of the Cross from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The Way Of The Cross: Presentation (historical development; present form, both traditional and scriptural), from the official Vatican website (accessed 19 May 2020) Via Crucis celebration texts used by the Vatican on Good Fridays since 1991 from the official Vatican website Video: Corine Schleif. Adam Kraft's Seven Falls of Christ. Walking the History of Emotions in Nuremberg. Part 1 Video: Corine Schleif. Adam Kraft's Seven Falls of Christ. Walking the History of Emotions in Nuremberg. Part 2 "Way of the Cross" article from The Catholic Encyclopedia {{Catholic Prayers}}{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church}}{{Authority control}}