Jesus fell 3 times and Veronica?

[JohnT58]

Was looking up Bible passages for meditating on the stations of the cross (Traditional).
Are there any New Testament passages to support Jesus falling 3 times under the cross, I know it can be infered at least once, as Simon was called in to help him carry it when he was struggling. Also, anything to support Veronica?
I’m hoping for New Testament, or even early, non-canonical historical sources, for these traditions. Did any early Fathers / Bishops write about it, or refer to an account of it?
I know some could point to passages to the Old Testament that could allude to this, I found some associated with the stations on another website.

 

[bpbasilphx]

There’s nothing to infer about St. Simon of Cyerene. The Scripture mentions him right out.

Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus is a pious legend. Her name means “True Image”–vera icona. She is identified as the Hemorissa who touched the hem of the Lord’s garment.

 

[Pawel_J]

Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus is a pious legend. Her name means “True Image”–vera icona.

I agree with you that this is a legend, but if so, why did pope Benedict XVI pray before the Veronica’s Veil during his visit to Saint Veil monastery in Manopello (Italy) on September 1, 2006?! Act of hypocrisy or audience attracting effort?

 

[AmbroseSJ]

I agree with you that this is a legend, but if so, why did pope Benedict XVI pray before the Veronica’s Veil during his visit to Saint Veil monastery in Manopello (Italy) on September 1, 2006?! Act of hypocrisy or audience attracting effort?

Pious legend does not mean it’s fictional, merely that we don’t have any original sources. IOW, a tradition that has emerged from the mists of the past, which we can (piously) suppose had a basis in fact. However, since it has been memorialized in the Stations of the Cross, I would be very inclined to give the story credence.

 

[JohnT58]

There’s nothing to infer about St. Simon of Cyerene. The Scripture mentions him right out.

Inferred that Jesus fell. That is, it is **implied **that Jesus fell, though not explicitly, stated. ** I dont recall inferring **that Simon helped Jesus, as I acknowldged, that is explicitly stated in the Gospels.

, as Simon was called in to help him*(Jesus)* carry it when he (Jesus) was struggling.

It could therefor be implied that Jesus fell under the weight of the cross, exhuasted and was unable to continue unaided. But thanks for missing the point and not answering the question; is there anything Biblical or in the early Church to support Jesus falling 3 times?:shrug:Or can I infer from the lack of an answer, that you are unaware of any Biblical or early sources to corroborate Jesus falling 3 times.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. . .
Are there any New Testament passages to support Jesus falling 3 times under the cross, I know it can be infered at least once, as Simon was called in to help him carry it when he was struggling. Also, anything to support Veronica?
I’m hoping for New Testament, or even early, non-canonical historical sources, for these traditions. Did any early Fathers / Bishops write about it, or refer to an account of it?
I know some could point to passages to the Old Testament that could allude to this, I found some associated with the stations on another website.

Father James Nisbet has written a short book [64 pages] entitled an illustrated Stations of the Cross: the devotion & its history which I find very informative.

Re the Falls he writes: The scriptures do not record the falls of Jesus but certainly as we consider Jesus’ weakened condition, the load he carries, and the crowds in the streets, it is apparent that the way of the cross is difficult and the fall frequent.

Re Veronica he writes: Although there is no scriptural evidence for the event, popular devotion has named a woman who comes forward as Jesus is walking to Calvary and wipes his face with the veil she is wearing. It appears to me oral history preserved the event, but her name was later added.

 

[Aaron_I]

John, while most of the stations are from Scripture, you accurately point out that some are only from tradition. Veronica is not in the Bible, but her veil still exists today. Although I believe it to be a true relic, such belief is not required of the faithful. Likewise the 3 falls are not mandatory for us to believe in. In fact, it may very well be an arbitrary number, or just chosen because it’s the number of the Trinity. Either way, it gives one ample opportunity to meditate on the pain that Jesus experienced on the way of the cross, which of course is the whole point.

Personally, I rather like the traditions of our faith. They unite us with Catholics not only around the world but also through time. If you would prefer a Way of the Cross that is FULLY Scriptural, however, that is perfectly reasonable. In fact, Pope Benedict used just such a thing in 2007 (see the wikipedia article on Stations of the Cross). I’m pretty sure JPII did the same set before him. Choose whichever set of Stations best helps you to meditate on the passion and death of Christ. Although for me, the traditional stations are the best, especially when singing stabat mater.

 

[patrick457]

IMO, it is probable that Jesus stumbled along the way carrying His crossbeam. As has been mentioned by everybody else here.

Now, I think that the commemoration of the three falls of Jesus in our modern-day Stations of the Cross, and the Stations itself, probably stem from the once-popular medieval devotion to the Seven ‘Falls’ of Jesus, the Septem Christi Casus (interestingly, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich sees Jesus falling seven times on the way, in accordance with medieval tradition, in her visions). The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that:

The three falls of Christ (third, seventh, and ninth Stations) are apparently all that remain of the Seven Falls, as depicted by [Adam] Krafft at Nuremburg and his imitators, in all of which Christ was represented as either falling or actually fallen. In explanations of this it is supposed that the other four falls coincided with His meetings with His Mother, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, and the women of Jerusalem, and that in these four the mention of the fall has dropped out whilst it survives in the other three which have nothing else to distinguish them. A few medieval writers take the meeting with Simon and the women of Jerusalem to have been simultaneous, but the majority represent them as separate events. The Veronica incident does not occur in many of the earlier accounts, whilst almost all of those that do mention it place it as having happened just before reaching Mount Calvary, instead of earlier in the journey as in our present arrangement.

The Gospels themselves do not record the Passion in much detail, and so do (it seems) the Early Fathers. Many of the specifics we have come from small-t tradition.
The Gospels dryly and directly say, “and they crucified Him,” without saying how this soldier pounded the nails, or even how many nails were used. For good reasons: (1) the Evangelists and the Fathers expected their audience, who most likely saw tens to hundreds being crucified every other day, to ‘fill in the details’ and just imagine for themselves the suffering Jesus went through, and (2) the fact that ‘Christ has died, Christ has risen’ is of much more importance; whereas dwelling on the specifics, the (gory) details is not. Therefore, I doubt that you can find an explicit mention of Jesus stumbling and falling in those sources, much less doing so thrice or seven times or whatever!

 

[patrick457]

I agree with you that this is a legend, but if so, why did pope Benedict XVI pray before the Veronica’s Veil during his visit to Saint Veil monastery in Manopello (Italy) on September 1, 2006?! Act of hypocrisy or audience attracting effort?

It might do to quote a reply I made in another thread, dated the 7th of June 2008:

As for Pope Benedict’s visit to Manoppello, yes I’ve heard of it; but that does not mean that there’s suddenly a Papal support for the Veil in Manoppello. We won’t hear the Pope suddenly declaring the Veil to be the true and actual one tomorrow, just as we won’t hear him declare infallibly that the Shroud is authentic (for the record, yes I do believe the Shroud is authentic).

I mean, there are quite a number of Veils in Europe aside from the Manoppello one (one is in St. Peter’s); I’m currently withholding my judgment on which is the original veil, if it still survives, and which are the copies.

 

[patrick457]

Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus is a pious legend. Her name means “True Image”–vera icona. She is identified as the Hemorissa who touched the hem of the Lord’s garment.

Once more, I’d just quote from a former post (with some alterations) since I’m lazy and do not wish to type it all over again.

An explicit mention of Veronica (usually connected with the bilingual phrase vera eikona but could also easily be a Latinization of the Greek name Berenike/Pherenike) first appears in the apocryphal Gospel known as the Acts of Pilate (first written and revised many times between 150-400 AD), where, at least in the Second Greek and Latin version of it, she appears as the hemorrhaging woman cured by Jesus (the First Greek version does not name the woman):

• 1st Greek Form:…And a woman cried out from a distance, and said, “I had an issue of blood, and I touched the hem of his garment, and the issue of blood which I had had for twelve years was stopped.”…
• 2nd Greek Form: …There was found there also a woman named Veronica, and she said, “Twelve years I was in an issue of blood, and I only touched the edge of His garment, and directly I was cured.”…
• Latin Form: …And also a certain woman, Veronica by name, from afar off cried out to the governor, “I was flowing with blood for twelve years; and I touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately the flowing of my blood stopped.”…

By the 7th-8th century, a work called The Avenging of the Savior continues the association of Veronica with the hemorrhaging woman. This also marks one of the first times that a mention of an image of Jesus in a cloth appears:

…[A]nd another woman, named Veronica, who suffered twelve years from an issue of blood, and came up to Him behind, and touched the fringe of His garment, He healed…

…And there came also the woman named Veronica, and said to him: “And I touched in the crowd the fringe of His garment, because for twelve years I had suffered from an issue of blood; and He immediately healed me…”

…And all who were in that same place said, “It is the woman called Veronica who has the portrait of the Lord in her house.” And immediately he ordered her to be brought before his power. And he said to her, “Hast thou the portrait of the Lord in thy house?” But she said, “No.” Then Velosianus ordered her to be put to the torture, until she should give up the portrait of the Lord. And she was forced to say, “I have it in clean linen, my lord, and I daily adore it.” Velosianus said, “Show it to me.”
Then she showed the portrait of the Lord. When Velosianus saw it, he prostrated himself on the ground; and with a ready heart and true faith he took hold of it, and wrapped it in cloth of gold, and placed it in a casket, and sealed it with his ring…

The story then continues with the veil being brought to Rome before the Emperor Tiberius, who was healed of a grave illness by gazing on it (the story also records that every sick and disabled person present during this audience was also healed), whereupon he converted to Christianity. Meanwhile, in another work, The Death of Pilate, Veronica tells Tiberius’ messenger thus:

And Veronica said to him, “When my Lord was going about preaching, and I, much against my will, was deprived of His presence, I wished His picture to be painted for me, in order that, while I was deprived of His presence, the figure of His picture might at least afford me consolation. And when I was carrying the canvas to the painter to be painted, my Lord met me, and asked whither I was going. And when I had disclosed to Him the cause of my journey, He asked of me the cloth, and gave it back to me impressed with the image of His venerable face. Therefore, if thy lord will devoutly gaze upon His face, he shall obtain forthwith the benefit of health.”

Here, she is a disciple of Jesus who who wished to have a picture of him. Jesus obliged her by pressing to his face a cloth which then bore his likeness. It is interesting to note that this story is quite similar to the story of King Abgar and the Mandylion of Edessa.

By the Middle Ages during William Caxton’s (who translated Jacobus Voragine’s Golden Legend) time, the incident in which this event happens was transferred: the imprinting of the cloth now occurs during the Passion, as Jesus makes his way to Calvary.

 

[patrick457]

So, based on these, we can say that:

-The woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem or fringe of Jesus’ garment is traditionally named Berenike/Veronica.
-This woman has some connection with an image of Jesus, usually presented as being in her possession.
-How this image came by is a mystery, miraculous in origin. The earlier versions of the story portray Veronica wanting to have an image of Jesus (who was walking about in the country preaching), who upon learning of her wish, then takes the cloth on which His portrait is to be painted and impresses His face onto it, leaving behind an image not made by human hands. Around the Middle Ages, this story is now transposed to when Jesus is carrying His cross, and the cloth now becomes Veronica’s kerchief or veil: Veronica’s act is now then one of compassion, wiping the blood, grime and sweat off the Lord’s face, which He then rewards.

 

[JohnT58]

Pious legend does not mean it’s fictional, merely that we don’t have any original sources. IOW, a tradition that has emerged from the mists of the past, which we can (piously) suppose had a basis in fact. However, since it has been memorialized in the Stations of the Cross, I would be very inclined to give the story credence.

I agree Ambrose, but, somewhere along the line, an oral account would have been written down for posterity. I agree with the point made elsewhere, that those living within the Roman Empire would know in detail what a crucifixion entailed, so could fill in the blanks, as it were, for themselves. I still think however, someone, at some point would have comitted it to the written record.

Father James Nisbet has written a short book [64 pages] entitled an illustrated Stations of the Cross: the devotion & its history which I find very informative. .

Thanks Joe, will try an check this out if I can get my hands on a copy.

John, while most of the stations are from Scripture, you accurately point out that some are only from tradition… Either way, it gives one ample opportunity to meditate on the pain that Jesus experienced on the way of the cross, which of course is the whole point.

Pope Benedict used just such a thing( a scriptrally based Way of the Cross) in 2007 (see the wikipedia article on Stations of the Cross). I’m pretty sure JPII did the same set before him. .

I agree Aaron, and also love the Catholic traditions, and if fact, I am getting more into to them, so to speak. I am aware of the other version of the Way of the Cross, and I believe you are correct, it was JPII that developed them, in line with what is available in the New Testament. Still the old Way, had to be based upon something. By the time of the 1st Crusade, over a 1,000 years after the Crucifixion, I would have thought/expected something to be written down by 1099 when Jerusalem was captured. From what I can make out the Way of the Cross begain after this event.

 

[JohnT58]

Thanks Patrick, I know the difference between recorded history and oral tradition. At some point though, the oral tradition becomes recorded, written down, and this is where I’m trying to get to. The earliest, reliable written source, not necessarily canonical.

I
patrick457;6217462:

IMO, it is probable…* (this).*

… stems from the once-popular medieval devotion to the Seven ‘Falls’ of Jesus, the Septem Christi Casus (interestingly, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich sees Jesus falling seven times on the way, in accordance with medieval tradition, in her visions). The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that:

The three falls of Christ (third, seventh, and ninth Stations) are apparently all that remain of the Seven Falls, as depicted by [Adam] Krafft at Nuremburg … the other four falls coincided with His meetings with His Mother, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, and the women of Jerusalem, and that in these four the mention of the fall has dropped out whilst it survives in the other three which have nothing else to distinguish them. A few medieval writers take the meeting with Simon and the women of Jerusalem to have been simultaneous,…

Thanks Patrick, now we starting to get somewhere. I’m not familiar with Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, but I take it she was a mystic/visionary. Will have to do more research.

An explicit mention of Veronica (usually connected with the bilingual phrase vera eikona

but could also easily be a Latinization of the Greek name Berenike/Pherenike) first appears in the apocryphal Gospel known as the Acts of Pilate (first written and revised many times between 150-400 AD), where, at least in the Second Greek and Latin version of it, she appears as the hemorrhaging woman cured by Jesus (the First Greek version does not name the woman):

• 1st Greek Form:…And a woman cried out from a distance, …"…
• 2nd Greek Form: …There was found there also a woman named Veronica,…

"…

• Latin Form: …And also a certain woman, Veronica by name, from afar off cried out to the governor, …"…

By the 7th-8th century, a work called The Avenging of the Savior continues the association of Veronica with the hemorrhaging woman. This also marks one of the first times that a mention of an image of Jesus in a cloth appears:."

…And all who were in that same place said, “It is the woman called Veronica who has the portrait of the Lord in her house.” …Then she showed the portrait of the Lord. When Velosianus saw it, he prostrated himself on the ground; and with a ready heart and true faith he took hold of it, and wrapped it in cloth of gold, and placed it in a casket, and sealed it with his ring…[/INDENT]

The story then continues with the veil being brought to Rome before the Emperor Tiberius, who was healed of a grave illness by gazing on it,…whereupon he converted to Christianity. Meanwhile, in another work, The Death of Pilate, Veronica … is a disciple of Jesus who who wished to have a picture of him. Jesus obliged her by pressing to his face a cloth which then bore his likeness. It is interesting to note that this story is quite similar to the story of King Abgar and the Mandylion of Edessa.

By the Middle Ages during William Caxton’s (who translated Jacobus Voragine’s Golden Legend) time, the incident in which this event happens was transferred: the imprinting of the cloth now occurs during the Passion, as Jesus makes his way to Calvary.

This has been most informative Patick, it gives me a good starting point to go off and try a bit more research. 150AD(perhaps) for a source is a lot better than I imagined possible, rather than some vague tradition begun with Crusader knights in Jerusalem!!!
Thanks for sharing your research. You mention medieval, writers, do you know of any names I could look up? Thanks again for the info provided already.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

There’s nothing to infer about St. Simon of Cyerene. The Scripture mentions him right out.

Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus is a pious legend. Her name means “True Image”–vera icona. She is identified as the Hemorissa who touched the hem of the Lord’s garment.

Bishop Basil:

I think you meant to say that Scripture directly mentions Simon of Cyrene - I’m sure you’ve memorized the Scriptures in 3 or 4 different languages:
And as they were marching him away, they caught hold of Simon, a native of Cyrene in Africa, who was on his way home from the fields, and put the cross on his back for him to carry behind Jesus.

A huge crowd of people followed him, including women who wrung their hands and wept for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem, do not shed your tears for me, but for yourselves and for your children! For the days are coming when men will say, ‘Lucky are the women who are childless - the bodies which have never borne, and the breasts which have never given nourishment.’ Then men will begin ‘to say to the mountains, Fall on us! and to the hills, Cover us!’ For if this is what men do when the wood is green, what will they do when it is dry?”
Luke 23:26-31 J.B. Phillips
*
And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).*
Mark 15:21-22 ESV
I’ve know a few people who were multi-lingual. It seems like a blessing until they forget which language they’re speaking in. My father did that once or twice, and I saw it happen with one of my co-workers a long time ago at a local Thai Restaurant with some friends.

Now, I just have to remind my fellow Catholics to read your posts a little more carefully and to stop assuming the worst. After all, you’re a cleric, not some idiot who doesn’t know Scripture. If they assume the best and not the worst, they won’t “knee-jerk” as they did here… My apologies.

Good Night Bishop.

Your Brother & Servant in Christ, Michael

 

[patrick457]

Hey there!
JohnT58, have you ever seen Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ? One of the sources from which it draws is the work detailing Blessed Anne Catherine’s visions: the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

As for the Stations:
The Way of the Cross as we know it today was only officially ‘fixed’ in 1731 by Clement XII. Before that, there was a HUGE variation in the Middle Ages: the Stations could range from as few as 11 to as many as 37! Also, until the later half of the Medieval period (somewhere before the 15th century), the common practice by pilgrims is to go through the present Via Dolorosa backwards, starting at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and finishing at Pilate’s house. By the early part of the 16th century, however, the more reasonable way of traversing the route, by beginning at Pilate’s house and ending at Golgotha, had come to be regarded as more correct, and it became a special exercise of devotion complete in itself.

Apparently these fourteen did not have their origins in the Holy Land (as the Holy Land was under control of the Turks and it would have been dangerous to make any veneration in some Holy sites; a writer named Zuallardo, while providing prayers for the shrines within the Holy Sepulchre, provides none for the Stations themselves, saying that, “it is not permitted to make any halt, nor to pay veneration to [these places] with uncovered head, nor to make any other demonstration”), but to the ‘imitation’ Ways of the Cross in Europe, which was built as ‘replicas’ due to the cost and danger of visiting the Holy Land (having a replica of a Holy Place in the comforts of your own country was more safe and cheaper), and that we owe the propagation of the devotion, as well as the number and selection of our Stations, much more to the pious ingenuity of certain 16th-century devotional writers than to the actual practice of pilgrims to the holy places.

 

[JohnT58]

If they assume the best and not the worst, they won’t “knee-jerk” as they did here… My apologies.

Your absolutely right Traditional Ang but the apolgy should be mine. I was too harsh.

Aplogies Basil:imsorry:
patrick457;6217594:

have you ever seen Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ? One of the sources from which it draws is the work detailing Blessed Anne Catherine’s visions: the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ahhhh, I knew there was an associatation of some sort, with someone who had visions, to Mel Gibsons ‘The Passion’. You are joining the dots and filling in the blanks for me Patrick, thanks. Will be looking up the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Yes, by the way, I have a copy of ‘The Passion’ on DVD. Will be getting it out again over lent.)

As for the Stations:
The Way of the Cross as we know it today was only officially ‘fixed’ in 1731 by Clement XII. Before that, there was a HUGE variation in the Middle Ages: the Stations could range from as few as 11 to as many as 37! Also, until the later half of the Medieval period (somewhere before the 15th century), the common practice by pilgrims is to go through the present Via Dolorosa backwards, …
a writer named Zuallardo

, while providing prayers for the shrines within the Holy Sepulchre, provides none for the Stations themselves, saying that, “it is not permitted to make any halt, nor to pay veneration to [these places] with uncovered head, nor to make any other demonstration”),…

Will be sure to try and look up Zuallardo, see where it leads me. You sure know your stations Patrick. Thanks.:tiphat:

 

[patrick457]

Will be sure to try and look up Zuallardo, see where it leads me. You sure know your stations Patrick. Thanks.:tiphat:

I attempted to look it up (just to see where the whole thing goes), and it led me to this little work called Il devotissimo viaggio di Gerusalemme (in Renaissance - I think - Italian), written by Giovanni Zuallardo and published in 1587.

From what I culled (there are, unfortunately, only few informations written about him in English), Giovanni was a Belgian pilgrim, a member of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre (his real name is Jean Zuallart; incidentally, he has a French wikipedia article!) who went to the Holy Land in 1586. He later published his experiences on that book a year later in Rome. Zuallart then later made a revised and expanded French version in 1608, published in Anvers/Antwerp (Le Tresdevot Voyage de Jerusalem; another edition here).

 

[patrick457]

As an aside, here’s an engraving from Zuallart’s book depicting the Via Dolorosa, if it’s of any interest to you. I labeled the shrines which correspond to our modern Stations with these brackets: ].

http://books.google.com/books?id=If...o_IwIgsDn68Yk6PNaVQ&ci=123,440,807,603&edge=0

A St. Stephen’s Gate
B Gate of the Temple Court
C The Temple (i.e. the Dome of the Rock)
D The Piscina Probatica (i.e. the pool of Bethesda)
E St. Anne’s Church
F Praetorium (Pilate’s House)
G Herod’s House
H ‘Scala santa’ (labeled in the French as ‘le lict de la montee’)
I Pilate’s arch, or the Lithostratos 1st Station]
K Church of the Spasm 4th Station]
L Simon of Cyrene 5th Station]
M The Women of Jerusalem 8th Station]
N The Rich Man’s House (from Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus)
O Simon the Pharisee’s House
P Veronica’s House
Q The Gate of Judgment ****9th Station?]
R Calvary 10th-14th Stations]

http://books.google.com/books?id=If...iai5Q1oDgkttfzePbOA&ci=250,963,584,355&edge=0
The Ecce Homo Arch

BTW, I just found another interesting book: The Stations of the Cross: An Account of their History and Devotional Purpose by Herbert Thurston, S.J. I quote:

That no proper exercise of the Stations could have been performed publicly in Jerusalem at the close of the sixteenth century appears very clearly from the extremely interesting book of Zuallardo, published a year or two after that of Adrichomius. He prints at the end of this work a copy of the prayers and hymns used by the pilgrims in visiting the different sites, the which prayers agree closely with those contained in a little treatise widely circulated in the middle ages and printed in Venice in 1491.
Thus we have the hymn proper to the spot “where St James the Less hid himself during the time of the Passion,” the spot “where St Peter wept bitterly” - a site which of late years has given rise to some rather lively controversy between the representatives of different religious orders in Jerusalem - the spot “where the Jews attempted to carry off the holy body of our Blessed Lady after her death,” “where the angels brought the palm to our Blessed Lady,” “the grave of Lazarus,” “the spot were CHRIST stood when Martha said, ‘LORD, if Thou hadst been here,’” etc., “the spot where the Virgin Mother used to rest when she revisited the holy sites,” “the spot before the Golden Gate where CHRIST foretold the last Judgement,” “the place where Isaias was sawn in two,” “the pool of Siloe,” and many others, all of them being places outside the city, upon the Mount of Olives, or in Bethlehem, or at any rate in parts where no great concourse of people was likely to be found. Now, for each of these, even the most unimportant, there is assigned in Zuallardo a special versicle and prayer; but for
the scene of Ecce Homo, of the Scourging, of the mocking before Herod or of the various incidents of the journey to Calvary, though these are all sites of the very deepest devotional interest, no provision of hymns and prayers is made. Noting the absence of any recognition of those sites now so honoured, I was at first inclined to conjecture that the printed edition of 1491 was incomplete, and that some sheets had fallen out, but an examination of Harleian MSS. 2333 and 3810 showed me that the omissions were not peculiar to the printed text. Zuallardo’s fuller account explains the reason:
“In Pilate’s house,” he remarks, “where our REDEEMER was scourged and crowned with thorns and sentenced to death, at the Ecce Homo Arch, and in other spots where it is impossible to enter, an ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ are said as the pilgrims pass along.”
Similarly in the descriptive part of his work Zuallardo remarks of the different sites along the Via Dolorosa, which he is one of the first to call by that name:
“Of all these holy places we had no more consolation than just to see them as we passed on our way, since it is not permitted to make any halt nor to pay veneration to them with uncovered head, nor to make any other demonstration, nor to look at them fixedly, nor to write nor take any notes in public.”

 

[PeterK]

JohnT58,

I have meditated on this station in an imaginative way and written it out. There is a question at the end not intended to solicit a posted response, but to stir reflection. Hope it helps.

A woman begins pressing into the bodies of an agitated street crowd. Her desire is to offer a convicted criminal, a blasphemer, a small act of kindness. He stopped her bleeding with his garment; she will try to stop his with hers. This act will not change his fate in the least. It will not close one bloody gash or lessen, by even an ounce, the wooden weight bearing down on his person. The utter futility of her charity is astonishing. Yet she pushes ahead into the turbulent din of the condemning crowd attached to the procession leading the convict to the place of execution.

Many want a first-hand up-close eyeful of the man who - less than a week ago - entered the city as an acclaimed prophet of God only to receive rejection from the Temple authorities. Where was all his wisdom now? What was he going to pull out of his bag of tricks now? He is a pathetic impostor of holiness and the crushing of such a blasphemous conceit demands public spectacle. The mob intends to press this criminal to his final destination.

The woman presses her way through and reaches her destination. Before her the prisoner seems less a man and more a starved beast of burden tied to an over sized yoke, dragged onward by the rope around his neck. He has fallen and cannot use his arms to stand. They are tied to the heavy beam. He squirms under the beam in search of leverage to lift the cruel weight. The pressing crowd shudders with laughter at the pathetic sight.

The woman shudders with pity. Now she does something absolutely vulgar and base. In this very public setting, in the middle of the day, in the very middle of an official Roman procession with official witnesses present from both Herod’s court and the Jerusalem Temple - she removes her veil and exposes her head and hair! This solicits a few gasps and quizzical moans. She swiftly moves in close, kneels down, twists around the beam and presses her veil onto the bloody face of the suffering prisoner. He jerks away impulsively expecting abuse. She begins to wipe a bleeding gash on his cheek. A guard glances back. She is gentle. The convict senses the touch of compassion even amid this sea of hatred. He stills himself. “You! Get away from him!” She applies more cloth to the face. He breathes with difficulty. “I said get away from him! Now!” The thorns scratch her hand. Someone kicks the beam. He moans. Her bottom lip is quivering. The street dirt sticks to his bloody face. She wipes with swifter smaller movements around the eyes. The eyes are looking at her. In the corner of one eye she notices blood diluting in a tear. “Oh Adoni,” trembles out over her quivering lips. “Adoni…” Tears stream from the cracks of her weeping face.

A whip cracks. The mob is outraged. They expected a good slap or some spitting at point blank range. “Unclean!” “Unclean!” “One of his sinner girls!” “Enough!” A guard intrudes and throws her aside. “Ahead!” The rope jerks tight. The prisoner obeys lurching forward. The crowd yells in approval. The woman screams, “No!” and crawls after the prisoner. “Adoni!” The crowd reacts against her. “No!” They pull, spit, yell, grab, slap, push, and finally shove her down to the ground on the periphery of the procession. Clutching her veil against her chest, she crawls over against a wall, collapses with her face in the corner, and weeps.

Soon, some associates arrive and huddle around the woman. They aggressively console her all the while shooting frightened glances over their shoulders. Finally, they lift her and move away from the crowd.

Where is found the ‘true image’ of Christ? In the cloth or in a grateful compassionate woman who risks personal danger to ease the suffering of another?

PeterK

 

[GaryTaylor]

Jesus carried the Cross a distance equal to 200 yards. A Cross which is estimated to weigh 100lbs, Would it not be safe in the assumption that he stumbled three times? Especially since in this time and age the New Testament, specifically Luke is considered to be very accurate as a historian. Archaeological discoveries are showiing over and over again, that Luke is very accute in what he is saying. This has been the general consensus of both liberal and conservative scholars. He writes as an educated man, he’s erudite, he’s eloquent, his Greek approachs classical quality. He is a historian of the first rank. Have we any good reason to discard Lukes account of the Life of Jesus Christ?

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”.

After all that Jesus Christ just has been through his concern is yet still with others. And he continues yet still…

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”. A Thief with more faith in Christ that some of his own apostles. “Jesus, remember me when you come in your Kingdom” the thief on his right spoke. Again found only on the Gospel of Luke. Christ second words are as his first…about forgiveness, this time directed to a sinner? Who with his last breath accepted Jesus as his savior. And his first words found only in Luke. and the FIRST WORDS… to those very soldiers who mocked him, scourged him, tortured him. and tore his scalp with thorns, then nailed him to a Cross… But also to his companions who deserted him and Peter who denied him three times. To the crowd who days before praised him and now chose him over Barabbas to be crucified.

And last but not least…TO US, who “daily” forget him in our lifes At the height of the physical suffering of Jesus Christ. He asks his Father to forgive them. to forgive us, because we are ignorant!

When Jesus is pierced on his side Blood and WATER had came out of him. WATER. Jesus refers to LIVING WATER as the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-39. This piercing prefigures the Sacrements, of Eucharist[blood], and Baptism[water] as well as the begining of the Church. When the Centurion witnessed what had taken place, he praised God, and said “Certainly this man is innocent” Luke 23:47

Luke shows us that Prayer is the means which God has guided his people through history. And Jesus tells us that the Messiah must suffer. And he then commisions the Apostles to preach the Word to all Nations. His promise is the Holy Spirit

God Bless, GT