The Irish standard., 1917-12-22

! formed there to make the first Station
of the Cross in the place where Jesus
was condemned by Plate, and whence
He was led forth carrying His Cross
to Calvary.
Inside the guarded doorway of the
barrack square there is an archway
| leading to a smaller court, where a
| little fountain plays. The ground is
| paved with yellowish flags, and the
walls of the high houses that surround
it are dazzling white. The pilgrim is
not allowed to cross the threshold, but
so much can be seen from the outer
square. In early ages. the Christians
| built a shrine on the place of the
Growing, and the walls that still sur
| round it are the work of Christian
hands. A cupola distinguishes it ex.
ternally from the houses that press
round it; it is used as a Diapers shop;
/ and, as he can not pray there, the
pilgrim does not regret the order
| which forbids him to witness the pa
gan secularization of a place that calls
| LOT SO Qeep VeneratlOn.
The Via Dolorosa.
In the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery is
] included the whole of the Via Dolo-
| rosa, from the time that Jesus, bear
ing the cross, descended the Holy
Stairs from Pilates Court until He
| mounted the last step of Calvary.
For few hundred yards the way is
straight, but rough underfoot, and
| sloping down unevenly until it reaches
| the place of the first fall.
On one side is the convent of Our
| Lady of Zion, and between this and
the Austrian pilgrim hospice is a
| block of Russian buildings. A high
wall edges the other side of the street,
broken only by few shop fronts little
more than stalls, where beans and
| other eatables are set. The church of
the First Fall and of the meeting of
Our Lady and her Son stands at the
corner of street wider and more
sunny than the first and narrow part.
To the right of the doorway of this
church two slabs of stone let into the
wall indicate the third and fourth
Stations.
Turning again to the right and be-
ginning at once to mount another mar
row roadway begins with the chapel
of the meeting with Simon of Cyrene.
A life-siZed representation of the scene
stands in this low little room. There
is space only for the priest and two
or three of his following to enter. A
Russian peasant woman had taken
advantage of the open door and was
standing close against the statue mo-
tionless, her hands upraised This
seemed to be gesture of prayer; but,
drawing nearer, we saw the hands
were strained against the cross that
bowed the Figure down. 1t was as
though with physical force she would
have lifted the load that sin had made;
but then the hands fell with a move
ment of despair, and their owner
turned to join her waiting companions
Only something brilliant sparkled on
the sculptured shoulder of Our Lord
la diamond her love had left behind
"a single tear. l.
Beyond this chapel the street is
broken by low, shallow steps, that help
the passerby to mount the incline
which now becomes much sleeper.
There are dwellinghouses on either
side, and here and there they meet
above the passage and form a dark
ened tunnel. The chapel of st. Yer
onica, small and lying lower than the
level of the street, possess also it's
life-sized figure; and higher again is
the last small chapel-that of the
Second Fall of our Saviour. 1t stands,
at the juncture of four ways, three Of
them being busy commercial thorough
fares, but very narrow. Two are COW
cred with awning; one emerges from
a tunnel; and the fourth has a little
more light than the others, shut in as
it is between the high walls of houses.
The tiny chapel is merely shrine for
the modern realistic picture that sends
one shuddering on ones way.
The place where Jesus met the wom-
en- of Jerusalem is reached through
a maze Of narrow passages like
streets, rough, steep, evil-smelling;
and the third and last fall under the
cross is commemorated on Mopnt
Calvary ITSELF against a part of the
basilica wall. 1t is close to the place
were Jesus was stripped of His gar
ments; but no Latin Catholics are al
| lowed to cross the threshold, and the
procession must go back on it's way,
traversing again the dirty streets be-
side the chapel of the Seventh Station.
Passing thence through a short piece
of modern street along the buttressed
walls of the German church, one en-
ters the court of the Basilica of the
Holy Sepulchre Going through it's
great, iron-girt doors, one has reached
| what is left of Cavalry; and mounting
in the darkness, the summit is quickly
| reached. The cross was carried no
farther-the journey of pain was end
ed Here on. this most hallOWed