The Way of the Cross

The Stations and their companions — five forms of the Way of the Cross, the Via Lucis of the Resurrection, and the Seven Sorrows of Mary at the foot of the Cross.

The Way of the Cross is the oldest pilgrimage of Christendom, brought home from Jerusalem by the Franciscans and prayed every Friday in Lent. It is fourteen pauses along the road of the Passion — and a fifteenth, in newer forms, at the empty tomb. Different traditions tell the same story differently: the classic St. Alphonsus form, the scriptural form preferred by John Paul II, the Franciscan version still prayed in Brazil. Choose the one that fits your week.

Stations of the Cross

The classic devotion in five complementary forms.

Stations of the Cross 30 min Stations of the Cross 20 min Stations of the Cross 20 min Stations of the Cross 20 min

Way of Light / Via Lucis

Fourteen stations of the Resurrection — a newer Eastertide companion to the Way of the Cross, walking from the empty tomb to Pentecost.

Way of Light 30 min Way of Light 30 min

The Seven Sorrows of Mary

The seven swords that pierced Mary's heart — prayed alongside the Stations or as a Marian devotion in its own right.

Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows 25 min Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows 25 min Stabat Mater 5 min

Chaplets and Prayers of the Passion

Chaplet of the Five Wounds 10 min Chaplet of the Precious Blood 20 min Fifteen Prayers of St. Bridget 25 min

Hymns of the Cross

What the Church sings before the wood of the Cross.

Vexilla Regis 3 min Crux fidelis 8 min The Reproaches 8 min

Reading

The Way of the Cross as preached by St. Alphonsus Liguori. TODO source: chapter on the history and variants of the Stations.

Exercise of the Way of the Cross St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori Letter to the Friends of the Cross St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort