Stations of the Cross

“Stations of the Cross,” also called “Way of the Cross” is a devotion to the Passion of Christ which recalls a series of events at the end of Jesus’ life from his condemnation to his burial.

• The Stations of the Cross imitate the practice of visiting the places of Jesus’ Passion in the Holy Land by early Christian pilgrims.
• The first stations outside Palestine were built in Bologna in the fifth century. This devotion was encouraged by the Franciscans, and it became common in the fifteenth century.
• The number of stations for prayer and meditation in the Stations of the Cross has varied, but it typically includes fourteen stations.
• Each station may have a cross and an artistic representation of the scene and the stations may be erected inside a church or outdoors.

THE STATIONS are:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus takes up his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets his afflicted mother
5. The cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene
6. A woman wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls a second time
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls a third time
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. The body of Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.