By Deacon
Mike Manno
(The Wanderer) -- As I mentioned last
week, this is Lent. And after the first week marking the faithful with ashes in
the sign of the cross, we now turn our attention to an ancient devotion, the Stations
of the Cross, in order to commemorate Jesus’ path to his death on Good Friday.
I should say that the stations, for
me, are much more welcome than the scattering – a good description of what I do
– of ashes over the people. It seems that no matter how hard I try to be neat I
can’t help but to leave bunches of ashes all over the floor, myself, and
sometimes the folks I serve. This year I took my scattering to the hospitals
and nursing homes in our area.
I think each staff will now be
searching me to see that I’m without the dreaded container of ashes. I promise
to do better next year.
Anyway, back to the topic: the stations.
As we all know the devotion celebrated
in churches world-wide are meant to invoke the memory of Christ’s passion
through the representation of 14 points in his trip to Calvary. What most of us
do not know is that the origins of this devotion goes back to the early
Christians in the Holy Land that first memorialized Christ’s passion by
retracing his steps.
Originally the early Christian
pilgrims tried to follow Christ’s steps where they actually happened. But in 70
AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and those
early pilgrims could only guess at the true locations of the events of the first
Good Friday. 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,
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 that time pilgrims followed the path in reverse.
When the Moslem 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 the
number of stations at seven was the most popular.
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 and in 1731 Pope Clement XII allowed the stations to be
erected in all churches, provided a Franciscan erected them, and fixed the
number at 14.
In 1851 under Pope 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
19th Century the question arose about which side of the church
should the stations 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 is still available
to the faithful who “devoutly make the Stations of the Cross,” according to The
Handbook of Indulgences; Norms and Grants, as promulgated by The Holy Sea,
Catholic Book Publishing Company edition.
The usual conditions apply: a
sacramental confession, reception of the Holy Eucharist, and prayers for the
pope’s intentions. When I conduct the stations I announce these conditions and
lead the congregation in three Hail Marys for the pope’s intentions, announcing
what they are for the current month.
Additionally, there are a few other
requirements that should be mentioned. First, the stations must have been
lawfully erected which should cover most church erected stations, however you
might not qualify if the stations are home-made or erected in a manner or place
where they are not authorized, such as by a rogue group with little, if any,
connection to a legitimate house of faith.
The 14 stations should be accompanied by
images representing the events in Jerusalem, with pious readings “to which are
joined some vocal prayers.” In addition, as the faithful move from one station
to the next, the congregation should physically move along as well. However, if
that is impractical, only the leader need move from station to station. In some
cases I have seen the priest or deacon leading, go from station to station
along with the children from the congregation.
Friday night stations followed by a
fish fry. Sounds very Catholic to me. In case you are interested, there are two
possible dates during Lent which, if falling on a Friday, are considered
solemnities and no fasting or abstinence (no-meat day) is required: March 19,
the Solemnity of St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and March 25,
the Annunciation of the Lord.
I once ended the stations by bidding
the crowd to enjoy their steaks and hamburgers. I got a lot of funny looks over
that. I’d write a little more on this but I need to get my vestments to the
cleaners before Sunday. For some reason there are ashes all over them.
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every weekend on Faith On Trial or podcast at https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/)
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