Walking the Way to the Way of the Cross

After Emperor Constantine ended religious persecution in the fourth century, pilgrims again began flocking to Jerusalem. Churches and shrines marking the holy sites where Jesus had suffered and died were erected and venerated. The travel journal of a Spanish nun named Aetheria (or Egeria), who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the fourth century, describes Christians congregating on the Mount of Olives, processing into Jerusalem, then venerating the cross on Calvary. Saint Jerome is also attributed with visiting the same locations in that era and acknowledging the large number of Christian pilgrims in attendance.

By the seventh century Muslims occupied Jerusalem, and Christians who lived outside Palestine could not easily travel there to follow the Way of the Cross. This caused the faithful to begin building replicas of Jerusalem’s holy sites at locations close to their homes. In doing so, they sought and used the advice of pilgrims and crusaders who had been to the Holy Land. Eventually these reproductions would follow the route Jesus was forced to take between the Fortress Antonia, where he was sentenced by Pilate, and Calvary—a route which became known as the Way of the Cross. Now Christians unable to go to Jerusalem could make the spiritual pilgrimage at home.

In 1342, members of the Franciscan Friars Minor established a presence in the city and took on the responsibility of caring for the sacred sites associated with Jesus’ life. These included places along the way of his passion: places where he likely fell, where he met the women of Jerusalem, and where Simon of Cyrene was forced to help carry Christ’s cross. It is important to recall that the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and rebuilt at least three times by the fourteenth century, and thus it was difficult to be exact about the location of each holy site.