Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross are among the familiar Lent traditions, along with reconciliation services and fish frys, in which Lent would not be the same without them. As we gather on Fridays in our church parishes and declare, “We adore you O Christ and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world” we are participating in “a Lenten tradition of love.”

It is held that the Blessed Mother introduced the devotion. She is said to have visited the scenes of the Passion on a daily basis.

The devotion follows the path of Jesus from his appearance before Pontius Pilot and sentencing to death in the Praetorium to his being placed in a tomb after his death on the cross. In the 16th century, this pathway was officially entitled the Via Dolorosa (Sorrowful Way), or simply the Way of the Cross or Stations of the Cross.

Emperor Constantine officially marked this pathway after he legalized Christianity in 313. St. Jerome testified in his later life that crowds of pilgrims from around the world visited “the way of the cross.” English pilgrim William Wey created the term “stations” after a trip to the Holy Land in 1462 to describe to pilgrims to these sites in terms they would remember and revere Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice.

Pilgrims originally followed the Stations of the Cross path in reverse order of the way we do today. They started at the tomb and ended at the praetorium.

In 1342, Pope Clement VI appointed the Franciscans as “custodians” or caretakers of the Holy Land shrines when he promulgated the papal bull Gratias Agimus. The stations became popular at that time.

At the end of the 17th century, the erection of stations in churches became very popular.

To accommodate pilgrims who could not travel to the Holy Land, Pope Innocent XI granted churches the right to erect stations and Franciscans and those affiliated with them the same indulgences as those who went on an actual pilgrimage.

Pope Benedict XIII extended these indulgences to all of the faithful in 1726.

The number of stations has varied over the years but in 1731, Pope Clement XII permitted stations to be created in all churches and fixed the number at 14.

Saints have written different meditations when praying the stations, such as St. Ignatius, St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Francis. There’s also Mary’s Way of the Cross that reflects on the passion through the eyes of the Blessed Mother. People can offer prayers for souls in purgatory in a way of the cross dedicated to them.

The Roman tradition of holding the Way of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday dates to the pontificate of Benedict XIV, who led the Church from 1740 to 1758. The Vatican choir sings in the Roman Colosseum during the Stations of the Cross presided over by the pope on Good Friday.

Pope Saint John Paul II introduced a new Stations of the Cross in 1991 in the Roman Colosseum, in which he altered the traditional 14 and added a 15th station which features Christ’s resurrection.

Through today’s technology, there are also many online Stations of the Cross featuring creative meditative ways to reflect on the Christ’s passion.

Whether you journey to the Holy Land, stand in the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday or drive or walk to your local church parish, make your Lent complete by spending time with the Lord one station at a time. Be sure to also purchase a fisher dinner from your church parish!