History of the Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross, also called The Way of the Cross, is a devotion to the passion of
Christ consisting of prayers and meditations on fourteen occurrences that were experienced by
Christ on His way to the crucifixion. During the time of the crusades (1095-1270), it became
popular for pilgrims in the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary. After
the Moslems recaptured the Holy Land pilgrimages were too dangerous. As a result, the Stations
of the Cross became a popular substitute pilgrimage throughout Europe. The Stations represented
critical events from Scripture or tradition of Jesus' journey to Calvary. Originally done only
outdoors, the Stations were allowed inside churches in the mid-18th century. Eventually fixed
at fourteen, the Stations soon became a familiar feature in all Catholic chruches. In the
1960s, it became popular to add a fifteenth station representing the end of the journey:
the resurrection. The devotion may be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way
from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move
from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist
of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses, pictures alone do not suffice, and they must be
blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations.