Stations of the Cross

An Acccount of Their History and Devotional Purpose

Fr. Herbert Thurston, S.J.---Reprinted from 1914 edition

 

In the words of Fr. Thurston himself: "The devotion commonly known to us as the Stations of the Cross... constituted a miniature pilgrimage to the Holy Land."

 

From the earliest days of Christianity, Catholics have been solicitous in determining the exact locations of sacred places connected with the Faith—from marking the tomb of St. Peter in a cemetery on the Vatican Hill to St. Helena’s efforts in the Holy Land to discover the Holy Sepulchre—which in turn have influenced our devotions.

One such popular act of piety based upon actual sites are the Stations of the Cross—or Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem—which commemorate the acts of Christ during His Passion. Indeed, this devotion has become so prevalent today, that nearly every Roman Catholic church features the Stations on its walls.

While Catholics accept the pious exercise of the Stations on faith, what are the actual historical proofs for the sites on the Via Dolorosa? Or, has the Way of the Cross always been practiced in the same manner throughout the centuries?

In answering these questions, Fr. Thurston expertly applies a historian’s scalpel to critically examine the authenticity of the Via Dolorosa sites and how they have led to the current fourteen Stations of the Cross.

 

174 pages, softcover, and 21 illustrations.