The Stations of the Cross (Saint Alphonsus)

This form of the traditional Stations of the Cross takes its meditations from Saint Alphonsus of Ligori.

✠ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Let us pray.

O MERCIFUL Saviour, grant that while we follow Thy blessed footsteps along this Way of Sorrow, our hearts may be so troubled with true contrition that Thou mayest turn our weeping into gladness by giving us remission of all our sins. Amen.

Or:

O Jesus, our adorable Savior, behold us prostrate at Your feet, imploring Your mercy for ourselves and for the souls of all the faithful departed. Vouchsafe to apply us the infinite merits of Your passion upon which we are now about to meditate. Grant that while we trace the path of sighs and tears, our hearts may be so touched with contrition and repentance, that we may be ready to embrace with joy all the crosses and sufferings and humiliations of our life and pilgrimage. Amen.

O MOST sorrowful Mother Mary, who first followed in the way of the cross, may the Most Adorable Trinity, through thy most powerful intercession, receive and accept, in reparation for our sins, and the sins of the whole world, the affections of sorrow and love which we intend, with God’s help, to perform this holy exercise. Amen.

Stanzas of the Stabat Mater may be sung in procession to each station.

At the Cross her station keeping
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Where he hung, the dying Lord.

For her soul of joy bereaved,
Bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
Felt the sharp and piercing sword.

Station I. Jesus is Condemned to Death

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

LEAVING the house of Caiaphas, where He had been blasphemed, and the house of Herod where He had been mocked, Jesus is dragged before Pilate. His back is torn with scourges, His head crowned with thorns; and He, Who on the last day will judge the living and dead, is Himself condemned to a shameful death.
It was for us that You did suffer, O blessed Jesus; it was for our sins You were condemned to die. O grant that we may detest them from the bottoms of our hearts, and by this repentance obtain Your mercy and pardon.

Who, on Christ’s dear mother gazing,
Pierced by anguish so amazing,
Born of woman, would not weep?

Station II. Jesus Receives the Cross

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

A HEAVY cross is laid upon the bruised shoulders of Jesus. He receives it with meekness, nay with a secret joy, for it is the instrument with which He is to redeem the world.
O Jesus, grant us by the virtue of Your cross, to embrace with meekness and cheerful submission the difficulties of our state and to be ever ready to take up our cross and follow You.

Who, on Christ’s dear mother thinking,
Such a cup of sorrow drinking,
Would not share her sorrows deep?

Station III. Jesus Falls the First Time under the Weight of the Cross

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

BOWED down under the weight of the cross, Jesus slowly sets forth on the way to Calvary, amidst the mockeries and insults of the crowd. His agony in the garden has exhausted His body. He is sore with blows and wounds; His strength fails Him. He falls to the ground under the weight of the cross.
It was for us that You did suffer, O blessed Jesus; it was for our sins You were condemned to die. O grant that we may detest them from the bottoms of our hearts, and by this repentance obtain Your mercy and pardon.

For his people’s sins chastised,
She beheld her Son despised,
Sourged, and crowned with thorns entwined.

Station IV. Jesus Meets his Blessed Mother

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

STILL burdened with his cross, and wounded yet more by His fall, Jesus proceeds on His way. He is met by His mother. What a meeting must that have been. What a sword of anguish must have pierced that mother’s bosom. What must have been the compassion of that Son for His Holy Mother.
O Jesus! By Your compassion, which You did feel for Your mother, have compassion on us and give us a share in her intercession. O Mary, most afflicted mother, intercede for us, that through the sufferings of Your Son, we may be delivered from the wrath to come.

Saw him then from judgment taken,
And in death by all forsaken,
Till his spirit he resigned.

Station V. The Cross is Laid upon Simon of Cyrene

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

AS the strength of Jesus fails and He is unable to proceed, the executioners seize and compel Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. The virtue of that cross changed His heart; and from a compulsory task, it became a privilege and a joy.
O Lord Jesus! May it be our privilege to bear Your cross. May we glory in nothing else, by it may the world be crucified unto us and we unto the world; may we never shrink from suffering, but rather rejoice, if we be counted worthy to suffer for Your name’s sake.

Jesus, may her deep devotion
Stir in me the same emotion,
Fount of love, Redeemer kind.

Station VI. St. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

AS Jesus proceeds on the way, covered with the sweat of death, a woman moved with compassion makes her way through the crowd and wipes His face with her veil. As a reward for her piety, the impression of His sacred countenance is miraculously imprinted upon the veil.
O Jesus! May the contemplation of Your suffering move us with compassion, make us to hate our sins, and kindle in our hearts more fervent love for You. May Your image be graven on our minds until we are transformed into Your likeness.

That my heart fresh ardor gaining,
And a purer love attaining,
May with thee acceptance find.

Station VII. Jesus Falls the Second Time

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

THE pain of his wounds and the loss of blood increasing at every step of His way, again His strength fails Him and Jesus falls to the ground a second time. Our pride has caused His fall; it is our insolent haughtiness which crushes Him on the earth.
O Jesus! Falling again under the burden of our sins, and of Your sufferings for our sins, how often have we grieved You by our repeated falls into sin. Oh, may we rather die than ever offend You again.

True repentance, Jesus, win me:
Saviour, print thy sounds within me,
Brand them on my stubborn heart.

As though brought’st, through tribulation,
In thy Passion, my salvation,
Let me bear therein my part.

Station VIII. The Women of Jerusalem Mourn for Our Lord

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

AT the sight of the sufferings of Jesus, some holy women in the crowd were so touched with sympathy, that they openly bewailed and lamented Him. Jesus, knowing the things that were to come to pass said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
O Lord Jesus, we mourn and will mourn both for You and for ourselves, for Your sufferings and for our sins which caused them. Oh, teach us so to mourn that we may be comforted, and escape those dreadful judgments prepared for all who reject You.

Let me mourn, O Lord, beside thee
For the sins which crucified thee,
While my life remains in me.

IX. Jesus Falls the Third Time

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

JESUS has now arrived almost at the summit of Calvary, but before He reached the spot where He was to be crucified His strength again fails Him and He falls a third time, to be again dragged up and goaded onward by the brutal soldiery.
O Lord Jesus, we entreat You by the merits of this Your third and most painful fall, to pardon our frequent relapses and our long continuance in sins, and may the thought of these Your sufferings make us hate our sins more and more.

Take beneath the Cross my station,
And in all thy desolation
So unite myself with thee.

X. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

ARRIVED at last at the place of sacrifice, they prepare to crucify Him. His garments are torn from His bleeding body, and He, the Holy of Holies, stands exposed to the vulgar gaze of the rude and scoffing multitude.
O Lord Jesus, You did endure this shame for our most shameful deeds. Strip us, we beseech You, of all false shame, conceit and pride, and make us to humble ourselves voluntarily in this life, that we may escape everlasting shame in the world to come.

Jesus, great beyond all other,
Turn not from me, heav’nly brother,
Let me too bewail thy pain.

XI. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

A CROSS is laid upon the ground and Jesus is stretched upon His bed of death. At one and same time, He offers His bruised limbs to His Heavenly Father in behalf of sinful men, and to His fierce executioners to be nailed by them to the shameful wood. The blows are struck. The precious blood streams forth.
O Jesus! Nailed to the cross, fasten our hopes there also that they may be united to You until death shall strike us with its fatal blow, and with our last breath we shall have yielded up our souls to You.

Let my soul, thy death declaring,
Thy unsparing passion sharing,
Count thy bruises one by one.

XII. Jesus Dies upon the Cross

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

FOR three hours Jesus has hung upon his pierced hands; His blood runs in streams down His body, and in the midst of excruciating sufferings, He has pardoned His murderers, promised the bliss of paradise to the good thief, and committed His blessed mother and beloved disciple to each other’s care. All is now finished, and meekly bowing His head, He gives up the ghost.
All kneel and pray silently for a space.
O Jesus, we devoutly embrace that honored cross where You did love us even unto death. In that death, we place all our confidence. Henceforth, let us live only for You; and in dying for You, let us die loving You.

At thy holy Cross requite me,
Let thy stripes and scourging smite me;
Let thy blood refresh me there.

XIII. Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross and Placed in the Arms of His Mother

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

THE multitude have left the heights of Calvary and none remains save the beloved disciple and the holy women, who at the foot of the cross are striving to stem the grief of Christ’s inconsolable mother. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take the body of her Divine Son from the cross and deposit it in her arms.
Mary, blessed mother of my God, You bear in your arms your only Son, now dead, Who often rested His head in sleep upon your breast. Pray for us, that as you hold Him lifeless in death, He may bear us up in the hour of our death into His everlasting arms.

O how said and sore distressed
Now was she, that mother blessed
Of the sole-begotten One.

XIV. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

V. We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee.
R. For by thy holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

THE body of her dearly beloved son is taken from His mother and laid by His disciples in the tomb. The tomb is closed and there the lifeless body remains until the glorious resurrection.
We, too, O God, will descend into the grave whenever it pleases You, as it shall please You and where so ever it may please You. Suffer our sinful bodies to return to their parent dust; but do in Your great mercy, receive our im- mortal souls, and when our bodies have risen again, place them likewise in Your Kingdom, that we may love and bless You for ever and ever.

Deep the woe of her affliction
When she saw the crucifixion
Of her ever glorious Son.

Act of Contrition

O GOD, we love thee with our whole hearts and above all things and are heartily sorry that we have offended thee. May we never offend thee any more. O, may we love thee without ceasing, and make it our delight to do in all things thy most holy will.

OUR FATHER.
HAIL MARY.
GLORIA PATRI.

V. Have mercy upon us, O Lord.
R. Have mercy upon us.

Then the following Antiphon and prayer are said:

Antiphon: Christ became obedient unto death for us, even the death of the Cross.

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

✠ May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Pool and Fountain of Redemption, St. Joseph's Oratory, Montréal

The fourteen original pen and ink drawings for the Stations of the Cross were executed by The Rev. Frank M. Butler (1913-92), sometime Rector of Ascension Church, West Park. The translation of Saint Alphonsus’s meditations was executed by the late Father Arthur Henry Stanton (1839-1913), Curate of Saint Alban᾿s, Holborn.