Stations of the Cross is a devotion performed by meditating on the last hours of the life of Jesus Christ. The Stations often follow a series of 14 images that trace Jesus’s final journey. The Stations usually begin with Jesus’s condemnation to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. They end with Jesus’s entombment after the Crucifixion. The series is also called the Way of the Cross. Jesus’s suffering during these hours is known as the Passion.
The stations accepted by the Roman Catholic Church today are (1) Jesus is condemned by Pilate; (2) Jesus is forced to carry the cross; (3) Jesus falls for the first time; (4) Jesus meets His mother; (5) Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross; (6) Veronica wipes Jesus’s face; (7) Jesus falls for the second time; (8) Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem; (9) Jesus falls for the third time; (10) Jesus is stripped of His garments; (11) Jesus is nailed to the cross; (12) Jesus dies on the cross; (13) Jesus is taken down from the cross; (14) Jesus is laid in the tomb.
Sets of Stations of the Cross in the form of sculptures or paintings can be found in many churches and such religious places as monasteries and convents. Some sets were commissioned as acts of piety by donors. Some are erected out of doors, such as in cemeteries or in locations considered suitable because of their natural beauty or association with a religious person or event. Believers move from station to station, praying and meditating on Jesus’s Passion.
The devotion of the Stations originated with pilgrims in Jerusalem. They visited the supposed scenes of Jesus’s Passion, walking the traditional route from Pilate’s house to Calvary, also called Golgotha, the hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. The first Stations outside the Holy Land were erected in the Church of San Stefano in Bologna, Italy, during the 400’s. The Franciscan religious order actively promoted devotion to the Stations of the Cross beginning in 1342, when the order became custodian of holy places for the church. The devotions were first called stations, meaning to stop or stand, in the mid-1400’s.
The number of the stations and their subject matter varied widely for centuries. The present number of 14 stations first appeared during the 1500’s. Pope Clement XII formally approved the number of stations and guidelines to the devotion in 1731.
Jesus Christ (Early life) ; Mary ; Pilate, Pontius ; Veronica, Saint .
