ST. PATRICK RELIGIOUS EDUCATION at 71 Central Street, Stoneham, MA 02180 US - The Stations of the Cross, Presented by Grade 7
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The Stations of the Cross, Presented by Grade 7 |
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The Stations of the Cross is the most popular of all the Lenten devotions. Originating in Jerusalem, the Stations of the Cross (also called the Way of the Cross), first took its modern form in northern Europe, but it was in Italy that it became a permanent feature of every parish church. A tradition traceable to the seventh century asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary in her later years daily visited the Holy Sepulchre (the holy tomb) of Christ. Inspired in part by this Marian tradition, the Franciscan Order, after assuming guardianship of Jerusalem’s Catholic shrines in 1335, established a fixed route for pilgrims to follow between the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the house of Pilate.
In the fifteenth century, the direction that pilgrims traveled between these two sites was reversed so that they could literally follow the footsteps of Christ toward Calvary. As of 1530, this Via Dolorosa (Latin for “Way of Suffering”) featured only five stations or stopping points. The 1563 publication of the devotional book Spiritual Pilgrimage, written by the Belgian Carmelite Jan Pascha, established the fourteen stations now known as the Way of the Cross.
In the fifteenth century, the direction that pilgrims traveled between these two sites was reversed so that they could literally follow the footsteps of Christ toward Calvary. As of 1530, this Via Dolorosa (Latin for “Way of Suffering”) featured only five stations or stopping points. The 1563 publication of the devotional book Spiritual Pilgrimage, written by the Belgian Carmelite Jan Pascha, established the fourteen stations now known as the Way of the Cross.
In many parishes in the United States, the meditations of the Italian bishop and Redemptorist founder Saint Alphonsus Liguori are read during the Lenten observances of the stations. His work, The Way of the Cross, was published in 1761.
The object of the Stations of the Cross is to help the faithful to make a pilgrimage in spirit to the chief scenes of Christ’s suffering and death. To follow the Stationsof the Cross, participants move from station to station, saying certain prayers and reflecting on the incidents of Christ’s suffering and death commemorated by each station.
Click here to view the Seventh Grade students' Stations of the Cross artwork.