VATICAN - PRAYERS FOR LENT: THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Rome (Fides News Service) The STATIONS OF THE CROSS (or Way of the Cross; in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, or simply, The Way) refers to the depiction of the final hours (or Passion) of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition exists in Roman Catholicism, Anglican, and Lutheranism. It may be prayed at any time, but especially during the Season of Lent, on Good Friday and on Friday evenings during Lent

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer to the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular of Catholic devotions.
The Stations themselves are usually a series of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:
1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus receives the cross
3. The first fall
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her veil
7. The second fall
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. The third fall
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body removed from the cross (Pieta)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

The Stations of the Cross are images of stories about the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. Most of the stories which make up the Stations were drawn from Scripture, and others, such as Saint Veronica wiping the face of Jesus, were taken from tradition. The route traditionally held to have been taken by Jesus to his death at Calvary (Golgotha) in Jerusalem is called the Via Dolorosa or the Sorrowful Way. A very early tradition developed in the Holy Land to follow the Via Dolorosa, stopping and contemplating the events of Christ's Passion at sites or Stations where tradition held that they took place. European Christians on Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands brought back the custom of remembering the Passion through various devotions as early as the 4th century.
Some trace the history of these devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary who may have visited the locations of the Passion in Jerusalem after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but most trace the beginning of the specific devotion to Saint Francis of Assisi or his followers in the thirteenth century during the peak of Franciscan devotion to the crucified Jesus. During times when the Muslim occupation of the Holy Lands made Christian pilgrimage especially difficult or dangerous, the Stations were erected in the local churches as a way of bringing Jerusalem to the people. The number and names of the Stations changed radically at various times in the history of the devotion. In medieval versions, the number of Stations varied from 11 to 39.
The term Stations was first applied to these devotions by the English pilgrim, William Wey in 1428, by which time they were already widespread and popular throughout all of Europe. In 1505, Peter Sterchx of Flanders published the highly influential work called Cruysgang (“Way of the Cross”), a guide book to the Stations that did much to develop the devotions as we know them today. The first twelve Stations were placed in their current order by a Dutch writer, Adrichomius in 1584 in, Via Crucis, Way of the Cross. Pope Clement XII fixed the official number at 14, which was confirmed in 1742 by Pope Benedict XIV, and which is still the most common number.
Prayer of St. Francis to the Crucified Jesus:
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel; and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. While with great love and tender pity I contemplate Thy five wounds, pondering over them within me, calling to mind the words which David, Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus: “They have pierced My hands and My feet; they have numbered all My bones.”
(J.M.) (Fides Service, 21 February 2007)