Way of the Cross
(Also called Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, and Via Dolorosa).
These names are used to signify either a series of pictures or
tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ,
each corresponding to a particular incident, or the special form
of devotion connected with such representations. Taken in the
former sense, the Stations may be of stone, wood, or metal,
sculptured or carved, or they may be merely paintings or
engravings. Some Stations are valuable works of art, as those, for
instance, in Antwerp cathedral, which have been much copied
elsewhere. They are usually ranged at intervals around the walls
of a church, though sometimes they are to be found in the open
air, especially on roads leading to a church or shrine. In
monasteries they are often placed in the cloisters. The erection
and use of the Stations did not become at all general before the
end of the seventeenth century, but they are now to be found in
almost every church. Formerly their number varied considerably in
different places but fourteen are now prescribed by authority.
They are as follows:
1. Christ condemned to death;
2. the cross is laid upon him;
3. His first fall;
4. He meets His Blessed Mother;
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;
6. Christ's face is wiped by Veronica;
7. His second fall;
8. He meets the women of Jerusalem;
9. His third fall;
10. He is stripped of His garments;
11. His crucifixion;
12. His death on the cross;
13. His body is taken down from the cross; and
14. laid in the tomb.
The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make in
spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ's
sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular
of Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station
to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on
the various incidents in turn. It is very usual, when the devotion
is performed publicly, to sing a stanza of the "Stabat Mater"
while passing from one Station to the next. Inasmuch as the Way of
the Cross, made in this way, constitutes a miniature pilgrimage to
the holy places at Jerusalem, the origin of the devotion may be
traced to the Holy Land. The Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem (though not
called by that name before the sixteenth century) was reverently
marked out from the earliest times and has been the goal of pious
pilgrims ever since the days of Constantine. Tradition asserts
that the Blessed Virgin used to visit daily the scenes of Christ's
Passion and St. Jerome speaks of the crowds of pilgrims from all
countries who used to visit the holy places in his day. There is,
however, no direct evidence as to the existence of any set form of
the devotion at that early date, and it is noteworthy that St.
Sylvia (c. 380) says nothing about it in her "Peregrinatio ad loca
sancta", although she describes minutely every other religious
exercise that she saw practised there. A desire to reproduce the
holy places in other lands, in order to satisfy the devotion of
those who were hindered from making the actual pilgrimage, seems
to have manifested itself at quite an early date. At the monastery
of San Stefano at Bologna a group of connected chapels were
constructed as early as the fifth century, by St. Petronius,
Bishop of Bologna, which were intended to represent the more
important shrines of Jerusalem, and in consequence, this monastery
became familiarly known as "Hierusalem". These may perhaps be
regarded as the germ from which the Stations afterwards developed,
though it is tolerably certain that nothing that we have before
about the fifteenth century can strictly be called a Way of the
Cross in the modern sense. Several travellers, it is true, who
visited the Holy Land during the twelfth, thirteenth, and
fourteenth centuries, mention a "Via Sacra", i.e., a settled route
along which pilgrims were conducted, but there is nothing in their
accounts to identify this with the Via Crucis, as we understand
it, including special stopping-places with indulgences attached,
and such indulgenced Stations must, after all, be considered to be
the true origin of the devotion as now practised. It cannot be
said with any certainty when such indulgences began to be granted,
but most probably they may be due to the Franciscans, to whom in
1342 the guardianship of the holy places was entrusted. Ferraris
mentions the following as Stations to which indulgences were
attached: the place where Christ met His Blessed Mother, where He
spoke to the women of Jerusalem, where He met Simon of Cyrene,
where the soldiers cast lots for His garment, where He was nailed
to the cross, Pilate's house, and the Holy Sepulchre. Analogous to
this it may be mentioned that in 1520 Leo X granted an indulgence
of a hundred days to each of a set of scuptured Stations,
representing the Seven Dolours of Our Lady, in the cemetery of the
Franciscan Friary at Antwerp, the devotion connected with them
being a very popular one. The earliest use of the word Stations,
as applied to the accustomed halting-places in the Via Sacra at
Jerusalem, occurs in the narrative of an English pilgrim, William
Wey, who visited the Holy Land in 1458 and again in 1462, and who
describes the manner in which it was then usual to follow the
footsteps of Christ in His sorrowful journey. It seems that up to
that time it had been the general practice to commence at Mount
Calvary, and proceeding thence, in the opposite direction to
Christ, to work back to Pilate's house. By the early part of the
sixteenth century, however, the more reasonable way of traversing
the route, by beginning at Pilate's house and ending at Mount
Calvary, had come to be regarded as more correct, and it became a
special exercise of devotion complete in itself. During the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries several reproductions of the
holy places were set up in different parts of Europe. The Blessed
Alvarez (d. 1420), on his return from the Holy Land, built a
series of little chapels at the Dominican friary of Cordova, in
which, after the pattern of separate Stations, were painted the
principal scenes of the Passion. About the same time the Blessed
Eustochia, a poor Clare, constructed a similar set of Stations in
her convent at Messina. Others that may be enumerated were those
at G�rlitz, erected by G. Emmerich, about 1465, and at Nuremburg,
by Ketzel, in 1468. Imiations of these were made at Louvain in
1505 by Peter Sterckx; at St. Getreu in Bamberg in 1507; at
Fribourg and at Rhodes, about the same date, the two latter being
in the commanderies of the Knights of Rhodes. Those at Nuremburg,
which were carved by Adam Krafft, as well as some of the others,
consisted of seven Stations, popularly known as "the Seven Falls",
because in each of them Christ was represented either as actually
prostrate or as sinking under the weight of His cross. A famous
set of Stations was set up in 1515 by Romanet Bofin at Romans in
Dauphine, in imitation of those at Fribourg, and a similar set was
erected in 1491 at Varallo by the Franciscans there, whose
guardian, Blessed Bernardino Caimi, had been custodian of the holy
places. In several of these early examples an attempt was made,
not merely to duplicate the most hallowed spots of the original
Via Dolorosa at Jerusalem, but also to reproduce the exact
intervals between them, measured in paces, so that devout people
might cover precisely the same distances as they would have done
had they made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land itself. Boffin and
some of the others visited Jerusalem for the express purpose of
obtaining the exact measurements, but unfortunately, though each
claimed to be correct, there is an extraordinary divergence
between some of them.
With regard to the number of Stations it is not at all easy to
determine how this came to be fixed at fourteen, for it seems to
have varied considerably at different times and places. And,
naturally, with varying numbers the incidents of the Passion
commemorated also varied greatly. Wey's account, written in the
middle of the fifteenth century, gives fourteen, but only five of
these correspond with ours, and of the others, seven are only
remotely connected with our Via Crucis:
* The house of Dives,
* the city gate through which Christ passed,
* the probatic pool,
* the Ecce Homo arch,
* the Blessed Virgin's school, and
* the houses of Herod and Simon the Pharisee
When Romanet Boffin visited Jerusalem in 1515 for the purpose of
obtaining correct details for his set of Stations at Romans, two
friars there told him that there ought to be thirty-one in all,
but in the manuals of devotion subsequently issued for the use of
those visiting these Stations they are given variously as
nineteen, twenty-five, and thirty-seven, so it seems that even in
the same place the number was not determined very definitely. A
book entitled "Jerusalem sicut Christi tempore floruit", written
by one Adrichomius and published in 1584, gives twelve Stations
which correspond exactly with the first twelve of ours, and this
fact is thought by some to point conclusiv ely to the origin of
the particular selection afterwards authorized by the Church,
especially as this book had a wide circulation and was translated
into several European languages. Whether this is so or not we
cannot say for certain. At any rate, during the sixteenth century,
a number of devotional manuals, giving prayers for use when making
the Stations, were published in the Low Countries, and some of our
fourteen appear in them for the first time. But whilst this was
being done in Europe for the benefit of those who could not visit
the Holy Land and yet could reach Louvain, Nuremburg, Romans, or
one of the other reproductions of the Via Dolorosa, it appears
doubtful whether, even up to the end of the sixteenth century,
there was any settled form of the devotion performed publicly in
Jerusalem, for Zuallardo, who wrote a book on the subject,
published in Rome in 1587, although he gives a full series of
prayers, etc., for the shrines within the Holy Sepulchre, which
were under the care of the Franciscans, provides none for the
Stations themselves. He explains the reason thus: "it is not
permitted to make any halt, nor to pay veneration to them with
uncovered head, nor to make any other demonstration". From this it
would seem that after Jerusalem had passed under the Turkish
domination the pious exercises of the Way of the Cross could be
performed far more devoutly at Nuremburg or Louvain than in
Jerusalem itself. It may therefore be conjectured, with extreme
probability, that our present series of Stations, together with
the accustomed series of prayers for them, comes to us, not from
Jerusalem, but from some of the imitation Ways of the Cross in
different parts of Europe, and that we owe the propagation of the
devotion, as well as the number and selection of our Stations,
much more to the pious ingenuity of certain sixteenth-century
devotional writers than to the actual practice of pilgrims to the
holy places.
With regard to th particular subjects which have been retained in
our series of Stations, it may be noted that very few of the
medieval accounts make any mention of either the second (Christ
receiving the cross) or the tenth (Christ being stripped of His
garments), whilst others which have since dropped out appear in
almost all the early lists. One of the most frequent of these is
the Station formerly made at the remains of the Ecce Homo arch,
i.e. the balcony from which these words were pronounced. Additions
and omissions such as these seem to confirm the supposition that
our Stations are derived from pious manuals of devotion rather
than from Jerusalem itself. The three falls of Christ (third,
seventh, and ninth Stations) are apparently all that remain of the
Seven Falls, as depicted by Krafft at Nuremburg and his imitators,
in all of which Christ was represented as either falling or
actually fallen. In explanations of this it is supposed that the
other four falls coincided with His meetings with His Mother,
Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, and the women of Jerusalem, and that in
these four the mention of the fall has dropped out whilst it
survives in the other three which have nothing else to distinguish
them. A few medieval writers take the meeting with Simon and the
women of Jerusalem to have been simultaneous, but the majority
represent them as separate events. The Veronica incident does not
occur in many of the earlier accounts, whilst almost all of those
that do mention it place it as having happened just before
reaching Mount Calvary, instead of earlier in the journey as in
our present arrangement. An interesting variation is found in the
special set of eleven stations ordered in 1799 for use in the
diocese of Vienne. It is as follows:
1. the Agony in the Garden;
2. the betrayal by Judas;
3. the scourging;
4. the crowning with thorns;
5. Christ condemned to death;
6. He meets Simon of Cyrene;
7. the women of Jerusalem;
8. He tastes the gall;
9. He is nailed to the cross;
10. His death on the cross; and
11. His body is taken down from the cross.
It will be noticed that only five of these correspond exactly with
our Stations. The others, though comprising the chief events of
the Passion, are not strictly incidents of the Via Dolorosa
itself.
Another variation that occurs in different churches relates to the
side of the church on which the Stations begin. The Gospel side is
perhaps the more usual. In reply to a question the Sacred
Congregation of Indulgences, in 1837, said that, although nothing
was ordered on this point, beginning on the Gospel side seemed to
be the more appropriate. In deciding the matter, however, the
arrangement and form of a church may make it more convenient to go
the other way. The position of the figures in the tableaux, too,
may sometimes determine the direction of the route, for it seems
more in accordance with the spirit of the devotion that the
procession, in passing from station to station, should follow
Christ rather than meet Him. The erection of the Stations in
churches did not become at all common until towards the end of the
seventeenth century, and the popularity of the practice seems to
have been chiefly due to the indulgences attached. The custom
originated with the Franciscans, but its special connection with
that order has now disappeared. It has already been said that
numerous indulgences were formerly attached to the holy places at
Jerusalem. Realizing that few persons, comparatively, were able to
gain these by means of a personal pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
Innocent XI, in 1686, granted to the Franciscans, in answer to
their petition, the right to erect the Stations in all their
churches, and declared that all the indulgences that had ever been
given for devoutly visiting the actual scenes of Christ's Passion,
could thenceforth be gained by Franciscans and all others
affiliated to their order if they made the Way of the Cross in
their own churches in the accustomed manner. Innocent XII
confirmed the privilege in 1694 and Benedict XIII in 1726 extended
it to all the faithful. In 1731 Clement XII still further extended
it by permitting the indulgenced Stations to all churches,
provided that they were erected by a Franciscan father with the
sanction of the ordinary. At the same time he definitely fixed the
number of Stations at fourteen. Benedict XIV in 1742 exhorted all
priests to enrich their churches with so great a treasure, and
there are few churches now without the Stations. In 1857 the
bishops of England received faculties from the Holy See to erect
Stations themselves, with the indulgences attached, wherever there
were no Franciscans available, and in 1862 this last restriction
was removed and the bishops were empowered to erect the Stations
themselves, either personally or by delegate, anywhere within
their jurisdiction. These faculties are quinquennial. There is
some uncertainty as to what are the precise indulgences belonging
to the stations. It is agreed that all that have ever been granted
to the faithful for visiting the holy places in person can now be
gained by making the Via Crucis in any church where the Stations
have been erected in due form, but the Instructions of the Sacred
Congregation, approved by Clement XII in 1731, prohibit priests
and others from specifying what or how many indulgences may be
gained. In 1773 Clement XIV attached the same indulgence, under
certain conditions, to crucifixes duly blessed for the purpose,
for the use of the sick, those at sea or in prison, and others
lawfully hindered from making the Stations in a church. The
conditions are that, whilst holding the crucifix in their hands,
they must say the "Pater" and "Ave" fourteen times, then the
"Pater", "Ave", and "Gloria" five times, and the same again once
each for the pope's intentions. If one person hold the crucifix, a
number present may gain the indulgences provided the other
conditions are fulfilled by all. Such crucifixes cannot be sold,
lent, or given away, without losing the indulgence.
The following are the principal regulations universally in force
at the present time with regard to the Stations:
* If a pastor or a superior of a convent, hospital, etc., wishes
to have the Stations erected in their places he must ask
permission of the bishop. If there are Franciscan Fathers in the
same town or city, their superior must be asked to bless the
Stations or delegate some priest either of his own monastery or a
secular priest. If there are no Franciscan Fathers in that place
the bishops who have obtained from the Holy See the extraordinary
of Form C can delegate any priest to erect the Stations. This
delegation of a certain priest for the blessing of the Stations
must necessarily be done in writing. The pastor of such a church,
or the superior of such a hospital, convent, etc., should take
care to sign the document the bishop or the superior of the
monastery sends, so that he may thereby express his consent to
have the Stations erected in their place, for the bishop's and the
respective pastor's or superior's consent must be had before the
Stations are blessed, otherwise the blessing is null and void;
* Pictures or tableaux of the various Stations are not necessary.
It is to the cross placed over them that the indulgence is
attached. These crosses must be of wood; no other material will
do. If only painted on the wall the erection is null (Cong. Ind.,
1837, 1838, 1845);
* If, for restoring the church, for placing them in a more
convenient position, or for any other reasonable cause, the
crosses are moved, this may be done without the indulgence being
lost (1845). If any of the crosses, for some reason, have to be
replaced, no fresh blessing is required, unless more than half of
them are so replaced (1839).
* There should if possible be a separate meditation on each of the
fourteen incidents of the Via Crucis, not a general meditation on
the Passion nor on other incidents not included in the Stations.
No particular prayers are ordered;
* The distance required between the Stations is not defined. Even
when only the clergy move from one Station to another the faithful
can stil l gain the indulgence without moving;
* It is necessary to make all the Stations uninterruptedly
(S.C.I., 22 January, 1858). Hearing Mass or going to Confession or
Communion between Stations is not considered an interruption.
According to many the Stations may be made more than once on the
same day, the indulgence may be gained each time; but this is by
no means certain (S.C.I., 10 Sept., 1883). Confession and
Communion on the day of making the Stations are not necessary
provided the person making them is in a state of grace;
* Ordinarily the Stations should be erected within a church or
public oratory. If the Via Crucis goes outside, e.g., in a
cemetery or cloister, it should if possible begin and end in the
church.
In conclusion it may be safely asserted that there is no devotion
more richly endowed with indulgences than the Way of the Cross,
and none which enables us more literally to obey Christ's
injunction to take up our cross and follow Him. A perusal of the
prayers usually given for this devotion in any manual will show
what abundant spiritual graces, apart from the indulgences, may be
obtained through a right use of them, and the fact that the
Stations may be made either publicly or privately in any church
renders the devotion specially suitable for all. One of the most
popularly attended Ways of the Cross at the present day is that in
the Colosseum at Rome, where every Friday the devotion of the
Stations is conducted publicly by a Franciscan Father.
G. CYPRIAN ALSTON
Transcribed by Marie Jutras
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver, Colorado, USA, 80228.
(
[email protected]) Taken from the New Advent Web Page
(www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
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mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
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