The Via Dolorosa

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – As I watch the world around me, mankind seems to be tripping from one crisis to another. There is a war in Europe which we seem unable to deal with, soaring inflation the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades, and an aggressive effort by our governmental leaders and their political allies to attack the Church, its doctrines, teachings, and even how Christians practice their faith.

And so it is probably prudent to take a rest from the ongoing travails of ordinary life in today’s America and experience a spiritual respite and embrace the spiritual during this Lenten season. We have a little ways to go yet before we celebrate the Resurrection, a feat which should really tell us who is in charge and remind us that without a Good Friday there would be no Easter.

Most folks think of Lent as that time where we need to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays – actually for our younger readers, it used to be every Friday (ugh) not just in Lent. But it is a time of penitence and self-reflection, a time when we should take stock of ourselves and understand what happened two thousand years ago in a remote outpost of the Roman Empire.

Since that time the faithful have found numerous ways to mark the anniversary of the Passion. Two that are popular in the United States today are fish fries and the Stations of the Cross. Fish fries are nice (thank you, Knights of Columbus), but a better and more prayerful remembrance is the Stations of the Cross which, at least in my locale, draw a much smaller crowd than the fish fries.

Several years ago for another project, I did a little research on the history and development of the devotion. Here’s a bit of what I found:

While popular today, the devotion took centuries to evolve into the 14 representations of Jesus’ path to Calvary that we know today.

The origin of the devotion goes back to the early Christians in the Holy Land that first memorialized Christ’s Passion by retracing His steps. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds since in the AD 70s the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and early pilgrims could only guess at the true locations of the first Good Friday events. But they did congregate at Pilate’s praetorium where Christ was sentenced to death and later at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher erected by Constantine in 335. Early steps (they weren’t called “stations” until 1462) contained as few as seven points of devotions.

In the fifth century, as the devotion grew when pilgrims began bringing back relics from the Holy Land, St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna, built a series of chapels which reproduced some of the more important shrines in the Holy Land, including several of what we now call stations.

In 1342 the Franciscans were given the responsibility as protectors of the shrines in the Holy Land and pilgrims were given indulgences for visiting Pilate’s house, the place where Jesus met His Mother, where He met Simon of Cyrene, where He was stripped of His garments, where He was nailed to the cross and His tomb.

In 1462 an English pilgrim, William Wey, coined the term “stations” and numbered them at 14; however, only five corresponded to the ones used today. He also turned the stations around, beginning with Christ’s condemnation and ending at the tomb, prior to the time pilgrims followed the path in reverse.

When the Muslim Turks blocked access to the Holy Land, reproductions of the stations were erected by the Franciscans; the number of stations varied between seven and 30, although seven stations was the most popular number.

In 1686 the stations moved indoors when Pope Innocent XI granted the Franciscans the right to erect stations in their churches and granted indulgences to those affiliated with the Franciscans the same as if they had traveled to the Holy Land. In 1726 Pope Benedict XIII extended the indulgences to all — more about the current indulgence below.

In 1731 Pope Clement XII allowed the stations to be erected in all churches, provided that a Franciscan erected them, and fixed the number at 14.

In 1851 under Pius IX, the bishops of England were authorized to permit the erection of stations in churches not affiliated with the Franciscans, and in 1862 Pius expanded that permission to all churches. During the nineteenth century, the question arose as to which side of the church the stations should begin. In 1837 the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, while not taking sides on the issue, suggested that beginning on the side where the Gospel is read was the most appropriate.

Of the current 14 stations used today, the three stations representing Jesus falling, Jesus meeting His Mother, and Veronica wiping Jesus’ face have no scriptural foundation. In recent times some have added a fifteenth station: Jesus is raised from the dead.

A plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, is still granted to the faithful who devoutly attend a public presentation of the Stations of the Cross. One other condition is that the congregation must move from station to station with the person leading the devotion; however, if that is not possible “it is sufficient that the person who is leading the exercise move from station to station while the others remain in their places” (Handbook of Indulgences 63, 4).

So as we move through Lent, let’s realize that there is more to it than meatless Fridays and fish fries. Reconnect, if you can, to your parishes’ remembrance of the Road to Calvary, the Via Dolorosa. If you do, I think that the fried fish the Knights serve up will taste a bit better.

And, by the way, Friday March 25 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. As it is a solemnity, you are dispensed from your obligation to abstain from meat that day. Stations first, then enjoy your Friday steak dinner.

Pray for Ukraine.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)