The Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross (in Latin Via Crucis, “the Way of the Cross”) are fourteen stops, usually pictures or plaques around a church, where people pause to remember Jesus’ walk to his crucifixion. They began with pilgrims to Jerusalem who retraced the route along the Via Dolorosa. The Franciscans, who have had custody of the holy places since 1342, encouraged the devotion.

People who could not travel built copies of the route in Europe. The number of stations varied for centuries; the fourteen now familiar were settled in the 17th–18th centuries. The Franciscan preacher St. Leonard of Port Maurice (d. 1751) set up hundreds of sets, and in 1731 Pope Clement XII allowed them in all churches. Several traditional stations (the three falls, Veronica’s veil) come from pious tradition rather than the Gospels.

In 1991 John Paul II introduced a Scriptural Way of the Cross using only events from the Gospels, as an option alongside the traditional form.

1. Begin with an act of sorrow or a short prayer. Walk to each station in turn (or picture it at home).
2. At each station, the leader announces it and says the versicle below; all respond.
3. Read a short reflection or Scripture passage, then pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be.
4. Many sing a verse of the hymn Stabat Mater while moving to the next station.

The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001) §131–135 calls the Via Crucis the most popular of the devotions connected with the Cross and encourages both the traditional and scriptural forms. It is especially prayed on Fridays in Lent.