Walking the Way to the Way of the Cross
The Franciscans’ influence and responsibility for the Way of the Cross was such that for a long time, Church regulations required all replicas be blessed by a Franciscan. Saint Leonard of Port Maurice (1676–1751), a Franciscan, reportedly was responsible for building nearly 600 sets of Stations, including the one in the Roman Colosseum.
Between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, the number of stations making up the Way of the Cross varied. Some sets included twelve stops, some seven, and in Jerusalem at one time, as many as thirty-seven. Certain versions added stations depicting the capture of Jesus, Peter’s denial, the accusations against Christ before Caiaphas, and other scenes. Interestingly, none of the early stations included any reference to Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus. The fourteen stations we follow today were formally established by Pope Clement XII in 1731.
The Way of the Cross today directs us to move from station to station meditating on the passion and death of Jesus. The distance over which Jesus struggled with the cross was about a half mile to the site of crucifixion outside the walls of the city—a much longer journey than most of us take in our churches on Fridays during Lent or at any other time of the year. Likely too is that Jesus’ pain was witnessed by many of the thousands of people in Jerusalem for the Passover. We today are in the multitude of people following Christ along the Way. (See Lk 23:27.) That he struggled in physical pain is certain, but that he also suffered emotional pain from abandonment is also true. Yet for all the suffering, he made no response; his demeanor was one of love and forgiveness. Let us follow our loving Savior along the Way of the Cross this Lent, mindful of the meaning behind this devotion.
D.D. Emmons is a freelance writer from O’Fallon, Illinois.