The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1908-01-16
ON SACRED SOIL
Some Sights and Scenes in And
About Jerusalem
WAY OF The CROSS
Fl. ART Writes EatertaiHingiy OF
Places Where the SAVER of
Men Lived and Died

The Stations of the Cross, Mount
Olivet and Lepels." is the subject Of
FIR A. Arts letter to The Herald.
which is given herewith. He writes
as follows:
No Christian pilgrim coming to Jer-
usalem will fail to make the Stations
OF the Cross. On the second day of
my staying in the Holy City, at a
little after p. m, the Way of the
Cross began.
For the first station we entered into
Tic Turkish barracks and knelt on the
stone pavement in the large court
yard within. The soldiers showed us
composed of Franciscans and IA small
number of pilgrims The conduct of
all was most devOut. Men of all ma
tinns under the sun meet here in 81
lence, and kneel side by side in the
dust of the street and adore the Re-
deemer, who established the brother
hood of man. An official of the city
government is employed to go ahead
and clear the way. A Muslin is wise
ly chosen; he is glad to act for the
backshish, and the populace show
much respect for the procession.
The devotion is very ancient. lis
origin is due to the localizatiOn of
the PraetOrium at the ruins of the
Tower of Antonio. John of Wurtz-
burg, in 1865, was the first to seek
the way on which Jesus passed from
the Praetorium to Golgotha. He in
dustriously mentions only one station,
that of Simon of Cyrene, whose site
he did not determine.
The Citez de Jerusalem, a tract
dating after the conquest of Jerusa-
lem by Salah-ed-Din in 1887, follows
the Way of the Cross along the east
ern part of the present via Dolorosa;
hut only fixes three points, the Gate
Dolorosa, through which Jesus was lee
out to be crucificd, the Church of
Rest. where Christ rested, and the
prison of Christ In the foul teenth
century the Church of Rest became
changed to the third station, the First
Fall.
In 1880 a company of European pill
arims made the Way of the Cross.
They were led by Fra Ricoldo. They
venerated first the Praetorium, sec
ondly the place where Jesus spoke to
the weeping women of Jerusalem;
third, the place where Jesus met his
mother; the fourth, the place where
Simon took the cross of Jesus; that
was all of the epoch This condition
of the tradition continued for about
200 years.
Toward the end of the 18th. century
We find in the Theatrum Terrae Sane
tae of Adrichomius a list of twelve
stations of our present Way of the
Cross. The 18th. and 18th. stations
did not appear until after the 18th.
century. During the 18th. century we
find sometimes a list of ten stations,
sometimes of eight In this century
a station sometimes appears where
Christ is before HerOd. The particu-
lar PAGES of the stations of the Way
of the Cross were not fixed until the
18th. century.
1t appears, therefore that devotion
of the stations of the cross did not
arise from any local tradition of the
East; but that it was western devO-
ton, ignoring the topography of Jer-
usalem. In 1890 at Nuremberg the
WAY of the Cross consisted of seven
stations; at Louvain in 1905 it con-
sisted of eight stations; at ROuen
of "a stations. 1t was the western