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Stations of the Cross is a tradition at St. Patrick church in Hubbard
HUBBARD
Good Friday in the Valley
Gallery
Congregants of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church snaked through the aisles of the sanctuary on Good Friday, following in a solemn procession behind a statue depicting the body of Jesus just after his death on the cross.
The ritual – meant to symbolize the movement of Jesus’s body from the site of the crucifixion to his tomb – served as the conclusion to St. Patrick’s Good Friday Stations of the Cross observance.
In the Catholic tradition, the stations of the cross ritual follows the journey of Jesus from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his crucifixion and resurrection. The stations – 14 in total – depict various stages of the journey, including each of Jesus’s three falls, his meeting with Mary and his death on the cross.
GALLERY: GOOD FRIDAY IN THE VALLEY
The Rev. Michael Swierz of the church said stations of the cross – which date back to at least the 15th century – serves as a proxy pilgrimage for those who are unable to make the journey to Jerusalem to walk the path themselves.
During the procession, Father Swierz and an entourage of deacons and altar attendants approached stained glass depictions of each of the stations – which lined the perimeter of the church’s sanctuary – and led the congregation in call-and-response readings that explained the scene.
The stained-glass mosaics illustrating the scenes serve the same purpose that altars and statues marking pilgrimage paths in Jerusalem serve to this day.
St. Patrick’s has observed the stations of the cross for the entirety of its 148-year operation.
Diane Manion and her daughter Casey, 21, both of Hubbard, attended the Good Friday service, which is a long family tradition.
“We’ve come for the stations of the cross just like my mother did and my mother’s mother did,” Manion said. “There’ve been four generations of us coming to St. Pat’s.”
The women missed attending the past several years due to travel obligations during the spring, but on their first Good Friday back together in Hubbard, they made sure to attend the service.
Casey Manion said the stations of the cross not only strengthen her faith, but also serve as a trigger for nostalgia.
“We’ve come to this as long as I can remember, and yeah, coming back after a few years really took me back to my childhood,” Casey Manion said.
Father Swierz said, apart from the ritual’s value as a tradition, it acts as a time for congregants to pray for those who are suffering, both in their lives and throughout the world, and also as a time to seek forgiveness for any suffering they’ve caused others.
The congregants spend Good Friday focusing on righting themselves before the focus of services pivot over the weekend to Jesus and his resurrection for the duration of the Easter holiday weekend, Father Swierz said.