What are the 14 Stations of the Cross and their stories?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerThe Stations of the Cross are a devotion, used on Fridays, and during Lent (although they may be prayed anytime and carry a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions.from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980A devotion performed by meditating on the Passion of Christ, successively before fourteen stations of the Cross, normally wooden crosses, attached to the interior walls of a church, although they may be erected anywhere, and may have pictures of representations depicted various scenes from Christ’s Via Crucis as aids to devotion on the traditional stations:1. Jesus Is Condemned to Death2. Jesus Bears His Cross3. Jesus Falls the First Time4. Jesus Meets His Mother5. Jesus is Helped by Simon6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus7. Jesus Falls a Second Time8. Jesus Consoles the Women of Jerusalem9. Jesus Falls a Third Time10. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments11. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross12. Jesus Dies on the Cross13. Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross14. Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb. AnswerThis response relates to the current 15 Stations of the Cross, situated along the \\"Via Dolorosa\\" in the Old City of Jerusalem, where the events commemorated took place, with a detailed historical explanation of the Stations following. Today's 15 'Stations of The Cross" in the Old City of Jerusalem:Stn. Event
1 The Trial, Condemnation and Flagellation
2 Jesus Taking up His Cross
3 Jesus falls
4 Jesus meets his Mother
5 Simon of Cyrenia helps Jesus bear His cross
6 Veronica wipes His face
7 Jesus falls a 2nd time
8 The maidens of Jerusalem weep and lament Him
9 Jesus falls a 3rd time
10 Jesus is stripped of His garments and fixed to the cross

11 Jesus is crucified
12 Jesus dies on the cross
13 Jesus is taken down and removed from the cross
14 Jesus is entombed

• 15 Jesus is risen

Background to 'The Stations of The Cross"According to the Christian Tradition, after Jesus was condemned to death by crucifixion, he was ordered to carry his cross on his back to the site of crucifixions, at Golgotha, otherwise known as Calvary, situated outside the walls of the 2nd Temple City of Jerusalem.
All four Gospels tell of the trial before the High Priest and his being led to Pontius Pilate who, as Roman Governor had sole rights in law for Capital punishment. They describe the events between his being brought to the Praetorium (House of Roman Government) and his crucifixion at Golgotha.
The Roman Catholic church divided the route into its current 14 "Stations of The Cross".
Throughout Christian history, there have been traditions regarding the route to the crucifixion and the events that surrounded it, however, from the 14th Century the tradition has been more concrete on the ground, fixing events to known points of the current Old City of Jerusalem, called the "Route of Christ's Torment", or in Latin, The Via Dolorosa.
The route is strewn with chapels and small churches for its entire length, culminating in the Church of The Holy Sepulchre (tomb) at Golgotha, the site of Crucifixion, death, burial and Resurrection.
Each station describes a specific event deemed significant en the route of "suffering and torment".
Many parishes in Europe held similar Easter traditions of re-enacting the final route of Jesus, and as a natural result of this, the stations in Jerusalem were established primarily as a necessary answer to the needs of pilgrims, seeking to tread in the footsteps of their Lord on his final route.
The development of the route, tying events described in Gospel to actual sites and subsequent construction of the chapels and churches on these sites (stations) has been overseen by the Franciscan Order. Since the expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy Land, this Order has had an exclusive mandate from the Pope to oversee the safekeeping and development of all Holy Sites in the Holy Land. The order was basically responsible for pioneering the return of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land from the 14th Century onwards.
Only 3 out of the 14 stations signify events actually mentioned in Gospel, the additional 11 stations are the result of legend and tradition, but developed in order to deepen and dramatize, adding spiritual and emotional depth to the Pilgrims' experience, with emphasis on the suffering, by treading the route.
Most noteworthy of these examples is the 4th Station, where a cross-bearing Jesus meets his mother. It is noteworthy that whilst Christian scripture in John 19:25 mentions Mary's presence at the crucifixion, there is no mention whatever of her presence on the "Route of Torments" prior to this, but has been marked out as a development of the scripture story by the Franciscans.
The rationale behind this is simple, as the role or "greatness" of Mary is not much lower in Catholic tradition, that that of the Son of God Himself, signified for example, in her ascendance to heaven, something worthy only of Jesus and Elijah.
A further example is the story of the 6th Station. Here, Veronika, a 'maiden of Jerusalem', taking pity on the perspiring, suffering Jesus as he strains to carry His Cross towards the hill of Calvary, steps forward and wipes His sweat-covered face with a handkerchief, leaving an imprint of his complete face in the material.
Her name is a direct extrapolation of the event - Vera Icona - meaning "true image" in Latin.
Whilst it is true that the event at this point is absent from Scripture, it can be seen as a development of a mention in Luke 23:27-30, which describes Jesus conversing with the maidens of Jerusalem, who wail and lament as they join the masses following His route, developing into a procession. It is not impossible to then interpret from this mention, that one such girl, taking pity on His pain, decided to do her part to ease it by wiping His brow or His face.
The remaining Stations of the Cross all relate to events specifically mentioned in the gospels as having taken place on that journey.
For example, the 5th Station, where Simon of Cyrenia has to step in and participate in the efforts of Jesus in carrying the Cross.
To summarise the sources of the positioning of the stations, the whereabouts of the beginning and end of the route had to be taken as a given consensus:
v Pontius Pilatus was the Roman Governor of Jerusalem, who lived in Caesarea, which was the Roman administrative centre for Judea. His presence in Jerusalem is easily explained, as the events leading up to the betrayal and subsequent trials and crucifixion take place in the days leading up to the Passover, one of the 3 main "Foot", or Pilgrimage festivals for the Jews. For such a festival, Jerusalem would be inundated with tens to hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims, who would journey to observe the Temple rituals surrounding the festival.
v In order to 'keep tags' on sources of political trouble or disturbances, it would be prudent for the Governor, accompanied by a military force, to take up residence in the Jewish city at such times.
v Caesarea was a mixed pagan-Jewish-Samaritan city, one where a Roman governor, with his own pagan temples and Roman city life, would feel more at home and significantly, safer.
An obvious place to take up residence and establish his government Praetorium for times like this, when the Governor was resident in the city, would be the huge Fortress of Antonia, which King Herod "the Great" had built for the exact purposes of:
- protection of the Temple Mount it was adjacent to;
- positioning on the (then) outer northern walls providing access routes independent of the city streets; and
- as a safe refuge in the event of an insurrection.
v The positioning of the Antonia fortress is a known factor, much of its foundations remained at surface level well into the Middle Ages and would have been either visible, or distinctly known to be at the North West corner of the Temple Mount.
v The final point on the Route of tribulations of Jesus, being the site of Crucifixion and close-by burial is the Golgotha (Calvary), which is situated outside the walls of the 2nd Temple City, as is necessitated by Jewish Law, by which the city was governed, which proscribes emphatically either execution or burial of the dead within the confines of the City Walls. It is also a burial site, as can be seen by an intact 2nd Temple catacomb aside one of the crypts in the Holy Sepulchre Church, traditiinally credited to being the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
Upon this basis of two sites seen as unequivocally proven, the Franciscans constructed their route, a route designed to commemorate the events, from the trial, to the conviction, leaving the Praetorium, taking a cross on which to be crucified, carrying it to the site of crucifixion, death on the cross, burial and rising from the dead - all among the most significant and defining events in Christianity.

Background_to_the_tradition_of_the_stations_of_the_cross">v Background to the tradition of the stations of the crossThe Original (Byzantine) Route for Christian pilgrims was:

1. Mount of Olives
2. Gethsemane
3. Peter in Gallicantu
4. The Citadel (Jaffa Gate)
5. And from there to the Holy Sepulchre

Over the years the route has been shortened, leading from Gethsemane directly to the "Route of the Agony" and on to the Holy Sepulchre.
It is important to note, that according to research, the "Route of the Agony" is a tradition from the 13th Century. The reason for the alteration of the route was a political change.
About the year 1340, The Ottoman Empire requested assistance from the King of France. The French King, in return, requested to be recognized as "Guardian of the Holy Land".
As a result, the Franciscan Order received land in the Holy places and throughout the Holy Land.
The Franciscans did not find "virgin territory', but rather, the presence of Greek Orthodox Christians from the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The tradition of 14 stations developed over the years, in contrast to the Byzantine "Route of the Agony" which was not seen as holy.
The 2nd wall of Jerusalem erected by Herod the Great enlarged the area of the city and included the Fortress of Antonia within it (until then, the fortress had protruded from the North wall of the Temple Mount. Herod died in the year 4 CE and Jesus was born between 4-6 CE. In other words, Jesus living and operating in Jerusalem would have seen Herod's walls (the 1st and 2nd walls). Jesus would not have known the walls built by Agrippa I and Agrippa II, as they were constructed around 44 CE, 11 years after his death.
The Route of the Agony now has a total of 14 stations.
9 of these stations receive mention in the Gospels and 5 more which are not mentioned.
Stations 3,7& 9 are the stations where Jesus falls from the weight and pain of The Cross.
Stations 4 & 6 are additional stations which the New Testament doesn't mention.
The Christian tradition tells that after Jesus is convicted and sentenced to death by crucifixion, He is ordered to load the cross upon which He's to be crucified onto His back and to make his way on foot to the site of crucifixion - Golgotha, which Christian tradition further maintains to be at the site upon which the Holy Sepulchre church is constructed.
The books of the 4 Evangelists which comprise "the Gospel" tell us in the briefest of detail of the story of Jesus from being captured by the guards who accompanied Judas Escariot, the disciple who gave His whereabouts away to them, up until His trial before Pontius Pilate - the ruling Roman Governor of Judea at the time.
Further on, the same Gospels tell the tale of events leading to the Crucifixion and death of Jesus - what transpired between His trial in the Praetorium and His Crucifixion at Golgotha.
On the basis of these related events, told by the Evangelists of the New Testament, the Christians formed, over the generations, a route to describe the last path of Jesus. The_history_of_today's_Via_Dolorosa">v The history of today's Via DolorosaToday, walking the Via Dolorosa is one of the pinnacles of a visit by Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land.
However, bearing in mind that Jerusalem was rebuilt after being almost entirely destroyed in 70 AD, together with the fact that the sites within it were also destroyed and rebuilt many times, it is very difficult to try and reconstruct the historical last path of Jesus.
The procession along the route of the Agony which is walked by Christian pilgrims today, as such, has to be seen as a spiritual procession to identify with the suffering of Jesus, and not as an authentic historical procession.
In ancient times, the concept of the "Via Dolorosa" didn't exist, nor the accepted Stations of the Cross of today, but together with this, pilgrims followed a custom of following the route Jesus took, from Gethsemane or from the Praetorium, the site of his trial by Pontius Pilate, to Golgotha.
At the end of the Byzantine era, it was customary to walk from the Kidron Valley to the church of Peter in Gallicantu on the slope of Mt. Zion (held traditionally to be the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where Jesus was imprisoned) then to continue to the Church of St. Sophia (the precise site of which is now unknown) and from there on to Golgotha.
The current route is to a great extent the creation of the Franciscan Order, which from 1342 was appointed by the Holy See as Guardian of the Holy Places in the Holy Land.
The establishment of the sites along the Via Dolorosa was part of the ideology of the Franciscan monks for the "peaceful liberation" of the Holy Places, in contrast to earlier attempts, such as the Crusader conquests, which held up the concept of the liberation of Holy Sites by force of arms.
Not only the route itself, but also the number of its stations has changed from place to place and from period to period in history. The tradition of the current route of the Agony of Jesus in Jerusalem is quite a late one. The Stations of the Cross have changed,including some which bear no mention in Gospel, but are the fruit of later traditions.
William Wey, a 15th century pilgrim, mentions 14 stations, but only 5 of them coincide with Stations accepted today and 7 others are only loosely related to the Route of the Agony - stations such as the gate of the city and of Herod's home.
A book written by Adrichomius in 1584 identifies 12 stations identical to those accepted today.
The beginning of consistent mention of 14 stations was during the 16th Century, but whilst the ritual of 14 stations was reconstructed in European cities at Easter, the same was not true in Jerusalem.
Zuallardo, who published a book on the subject in 1587 in Rome, describes the rituals and prayers at sites within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which were in Franciscan hands, but did not give the same description of the stations along the Via Dolorosa. He explained that the Muslim Ottoman rulers did not allow the rituals at those sites on route and even forbade stopping at them.
During periods of Muslim rule when the public performance of Christian ritual and prayer was forbidden, a number of places of worship were established within the Holy Sepulchre Church as alternatives for those outside on the route where prayer was forbidden. Part of these places of worship, such as the Jesus' prison cell, or the pillar against which He was flogged, are to be found inside the church of the Sepulchre to this day, in parallel to the sites along the Route of the Agony.
The Via Dolorosa as we know it today was not designed in Jerusalem, but rather began to develop across Europe towards the end of the 17th Century, when bills of absolution (Indulgencies) were given to people who walked the Stations of the Cross in parallel fashion within the churches. The custom was established by the Franciscans who received Papal approval from Pope Innocent XI for the custom and began to set up the stations within their churches.
In 1731, Pope Clement XII enlarged the possibility of receiving a bill of absolution for the Route of the Agony in any church, conditional upon the stations being constructed by the Franciscans. Clement XII also finally determined the number of stations as 14.
Processions of the Route of the Agony take place not only in churches, but at many additional sites. One famous one, for example, to this day is performed by a Franciscan monk every Friday at the Coliseum in Rome.
Since the 14th Century, such a route has been marked in Jerusalem, referred to as the route of the Agony of Christ, or the Route of Christ's Passion, or by its Latin name, the Via Dolorosa, a route marked by small chapels almost along its entire length, signifying the events of the last few hours of the life of Jesus.
Over time, the Christian pilgrim to the Holy Land, used to the traditional procession back in the church courtyard, or along the streets of his home town, naturally sought to re-live the route of the Agony of Christ in Jerusalem, the very city where the actual events took place.
Since that time, the current Via Dolorosa has been designed, developed and constructed, by the Roman Catholic Church since the 14th Century, precisely to provide an answer to that need for the pilgrim.
Some are traditions taken from later interpretations of scripture.
There is no mention in scripture of the falls, but 3 out of the 14 stations are dedicated to them, albeit a repeated act which has its basis in logic. The design of the Stations of the Cross is such that can afford the pilgrim the means of personally experiencing the depth of the suffering of Jesus in His last hours.
As such is the 4th Station, dedicated to the meeting between his mother Mary and Jesus, carrying his cross to his the assigned site of his death. This event has no mention in any of the Gospels, nor in their interpretations, however, insofar as Roman Catholicism raises the status of Mary to one close to that of the Son of God himself, (the Catholic church maintains she too rose to heaven in body and spirit) and furthermore considering that she is specifically mentioned in John, 19:25 as being present at the crucifixion, there is an assumption by the Franciscans that she accompanied him on the Route of the Agony too.
Another example is the event told at the 6th Station, according to which one of the daughters of Jerusalem by the name of Veronica - according to the Franciscans - witnesses Jesus perspiring in the effort of bearing his cross along the route from his trial to his crucifixion, takes out a kerchief and wipes the perspiration from his face. As a result, the actual image of Jesus is imprinted in the kerchief itself. The name Veronica is derived from "Vera Icona", meaning "The real Image" in Latin, which is said to have permeated the kerchief from his perspiration. This event too, has no foundation in scripture, but is derived from mention in Luke 23:27-30 of the daughters of Jerusalem as part of a large crowd mourning and lamenting him in his wake. It's possible, and this is the source for the Franciscans, that one of them in an act of mercy, sought by this small act to reduce his suffering, by wiping the perspiration that had built up on his face.
The rest of the stations relate to actual events described in scripture, such as, for example, the 5th Station, marked as the point where Simon of Cyrenia is forced to help Jesus in carrying the cross.
The route of the Via Dolorosa has been laid out by the Franciscans based on the design of Jerusalem in the 4th decade of the 1st century, taken together with the mention in scripture of the time being a festival of mass-pilgrimage and possible seat of unrest for the Jews, to assume that when Pontius Pilate, (as the Roman Governor of the Privince of Judea and normally resident in Caesarea), would take up residence in his Jerusalem Praetorium, assumed to be by the the fortress of Antonia, thereby determining this site as that of the 1st station, of the trial and conviction of Jesus, continuing on from that point following the route from East to West across the city to the hill of Calvary, the site of the Crucifixion and burial and the last Stations of the Cross in the Holy Sepulchre. The_Via_Dolorosa_in_Scripture">v The Via Dolorosa in ScriptureThe Holy Scripture version of the Via Dolorosa begins at Gethsemane, including only those stations which commemorate events specifically mentioned: Pope John Paul II celebrated this route twice in the Colisseum in Rome, in 1991 and 1994.
The stations are as follows:
Stn. Event
1 Jesus in Gethsemane
2 Jesus is betrayed by Judas Escariot
3 Jesus is convicted by the Sanhedrin (of Herecy)
4 Peter denies Jesus
5 Jesus is convicted by the people
6 Jesus is dressed in Indigo robes and with a crown of thorns
7 Jesus takes up and carries His cross
8 Simon of Cyrenia helps Jesus bear His cross
9 Jesus meets the maidens of Jerusalem
10 Jesus is crucified
11 Jesus speaks to the thief
12 Jesus speaks to His mother
13 Jesus dies on the cross
14 Jesus is entombed The New "Way of the Cross"The latest change that the Catholic Church has adopted and has already been enacted in the Philippines begins at the Last Supper and ends with the resurrection.
The Church has more recently begun to recommend avoiding stations which do not appear in the Gospels and as such, the three falls are reduced to just one. The concept is that the Route of The Agony is a form of personal spiritual guide, such that each community and even each individual may choose which of the parts of the suffering of Jesus they wish to relate to.
The real importance is therefore embedded in personal identification with the suffering of Jesus and meditation upon it.
These stations are as follows:
Stn. Event
1 The Last Supper
2 The Sorrow of Jesus in Gethsemane
3 Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin
4 The flagellation and crowning with a crown of thorns
5 Jesus takes up and carries his cross
6 Jesus falls
7 Simon of Cyrenia helps Jesus bear his cross
8 Jesus meets the maidens of Jerusalem
9 Jesus is nailed to the Cross
10 The thief repents his sins
11 John and Mary with Jesus, below the cross
12 Jesus dies on the cross
13 Jesus is entombed
14 Jesus rises from the dead
15 Other sites on the Route of the Agony

Answer 2

The 14 Stations of the Cross represent key events on Jesus' journey to his crucifixion. Some of the stations include Jesus' condemnation, carrying the cross, meeting his mother, and being crucified. Each station is a meditation on the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus leading to his death and resurrection.