Stations of the Cross 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. Pope John Paul II led an annual public prayer of the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday. Originally, the pope himself carried the cross from station to station, but
The Way of the Cross Downtown Chicago the Cross (Via Crucis or Via Dolorosa) is the act of devotion commemorating Christ’s Passion. For centuries this tradition has accompanied Christians during Lent and particularly on Good Friday. In 1970, Fr. Luigi Giussani, a teacher and the founder of Communion and Liberation, started proposing this gesture of the Christian faith to his college students, gathering them by the thousands in Caravaggio, a Sanctuary near Milan, Italy. Together with the traditional readings from the Gospel, Giussani introduced short passages from some of the greatest contemporary Catholic writers, like Claudel and Peguy. The choir accompanied the procession singing at every station