- Intro
The following exercises
are on the topics:
 According
to Leonardo saint of Port-Maurice - Saint Antoine of Padua
- Bx Luis of Grenada, o.p. - Bx Eymard,.. s.s. - The gospel
and the Tradition - according to the prayers of the Liturgy
- according to confidences of N.S.J.C. and of the Virgin
Co to saints souls, on the repair - In union with the Sacred
Heart, on the path of life - For the feasts of Jesus' Sacred
Heart, of Marie's Saint Heart - In union with Marie - On
the religious life - Lessons of Christian life - For the
time of the retirement - to get the grace of a good death
- For the children of the schools -
On the vocation, for the pupils of the convents and colleges
- With various reflections - with abridged formulas.
INTRODUCTION
In his/her/its literal sense, the path of the cross is the
road browsed by Notre-Seigneur, the Friday-Saint, when,
loaded of his/her/its cross, it went to Pilate's court to
Mount Calvary.
To "make the path of the cross" consists in redoing
this journey, united in mind to Christ's sufferings. To
replace the absence of the places themselves sanctified
by the leading Man-God to the death, the Church permits
to erect paths of the cross in any decent place. The path
of the cross is composed then of fourteen stations marked
by crosses of wood. Every station corresponds to one the
places where, according to the gospel or the tradition,
Jesus must stop.
To "make the path of the cross" will consist therefore
in the visit of these stations, united in mind to Jesus'
sufferings.
II History:
Considered like meditation of the Passion, the path of the
cross is as old as the church. As pilgrimage to the holy
places, a devout tradition assigns the origin of it to the
Virgin Marie. Since the first centuries, the supporters
believed to possess an imperfect faith so much that they
had not visited Palestine.
As oneself practices it today, the path of the cross has
an origin a little more recent. He/it first makes himself/itself
in Earth Saint as pilgrimage whose itinerary undergoes the
influence of the circumstances. The number of the stations
varies according to the piety of each or the director of
the pilgrimage. To the XIV e century, the Bx Henri Suso
accomplishes every night, in the cloisters, the garden and
the church of the convent, the pilgrimage of prayers supposed
to represent the pilgrimage in the holy places. To determined
places, he/it stops, meditate a scene of the Passion endeavoring
to follow in mind the traces of Jesus and Marie; this exercise
spills quickly same among the supporters. To the XIV e century,
Alvaro, upon his/her/its return of Earth Saint, builds in
his/her/its convent of the small chapels, representing the
scenes of the Passion and visits them assiduously. Here
and there, devout people imitate it and paths of cross almost
everywhere rise same in full air. The number and the topic
of the stations vary however. One possesses all elements
of our present cross path; it is sufficient to unite them
and to order them. This work is first the work of Jean Van
Paeschen, then of one Dutch scientist: Acrichomiuns. In
the beginning of the XVIII e century finally, our fourteen
present stations are accepted and widespread in the Christian
world. The church approves them and enriches the practice
of the path of the cross of numerous indulgences. The biggest
promoter of this devotion is without contradicts holy Leonardo
of Port-Maurice who erected six hundred paths of the cross
very near in twenty years of ministry.
III. EXCELLENCE AND UTILITY:
A devotion, that has the Virgin Saint herself for initiatrice,
doesn't have to prove his/her/its excellence.
Besides, the path of the cross is before a whole exercise
of meditation on the Savior's Passion. However, this meditation
is the most efficient invitation to follow the Christ, to
carry the cross with it,; nothing better that this convenient
saint to bring back the sinners to the virtue, to resuscitate
and to warm the tepid, to perfect just, to force the men
to think on the end of the human life, God's love for us,
the price of a soul and the enormity of the sin. "Someone
wants him to withdraw from vice, to make some progress in
the virtue, and to arrive in a short time to perfection,
that he/it kisses with devotion this holy exercise, and
he/it will feel some soon in his/her/its soul the admirable
effects" In our century more that in all other, the
exercise of the path of the cross appears eminently useful.
While forcing to the meditation and the reflection, he/it
goes directly against one the most serious pains of the
present world; the thoughtlessness and the lightness of
mind.
IV INDULGENCES:
a) An indulgence to win toties quoties, that means every
time that one makes the exercise in whole, was this several
times the same day.
b) Another plenary indulgence if, the day where one makes
the path of the cross in whole, one receives the holy Eucharist.
If one cannot receive communion the very day where one makes
the exercise, one will be able to win this plenary indulgence
under the condition to approach of the saint Counts in the
month that will follow ten whole exercises of the path,
of the cross.
c) A partial indulgence of ten years for every station in
the event, after having begun the exercise, one would not
finish it for a reasonable reason.
V Conditions:
To win the indulgences of the path of the cross to fill
the four following conditions in addition to the desire
at least general to win the indulgences is necessary:
a) to Be in state of grace. The confession and the communion
are not required.
b) to Meditate on the passion. This meditation can be very
short and according to the faculty of each; he/it is sufficient
that she/it is general, that is to say that he/it is not
required a special meditation for every station.
c) to move to every station, even though the exercise makes
itself in public, this local movement is necessary unless
it causes the mess.
d) to Visit the fourteen stations without considerable moral
interruption. To stop the exercise to hear the holy Mass,
to make the communion or to confess doesn't constitute a
considerable moral interruption. One doesn't have whereas
to continue where one was returned before the interruption.
VI. METHOD:
Immediately notice that no particular attitude is prescribed.
One can make the path of the cross while being held on the
knees, standing or even seated before every station so long
as one observes what is prescribed for the visits of the
statons.
Let's distinguish three kinds of paths of the cross.
a) The path of the cross deprives. Nothing is simple as
the method to follow to make the path of the cross privément.
It is sufficient to visit without considerable interruption,
each of the fourteen stations, while meditating on the Savior's
Passion. It is necessary to go from a station to the other,
in as much the less as the narrowness of the local and the
place and the big number of those permit it that make this
same exercise.
b) The path of the cross public: It is the one that is made
by several people like public sacred function; in this case,
it is necessary that the supporters browse the stations
of the manner indicated above. But if this movement of a
station to the other during the public exercise of the path
of the cross can cause the mess, it is necessary, according
to the very opinion of Consecrated it Community of the Indulgences,
to follow the method proposed by Leonardo saint of Port-Maurice:
" That every supporter stays to her place and that
the only priest, with two servers or cantors, goes from
a station to the other, and that to each of them he recites
the particular prayers of use, to which answer all the aid".
One advises the supporters however to kneel and to rise
every time with the priest.
c) The path of the cross in common: it is the one that is
made together by several people by fashion of private function.
Here the displacement of a station to the other is required
again; but, as in the previous case, if this displacement
must cause the mess, only one person browses the stations
to recite the prayers of use there, and the other behave
of the manner indicated for the path of the cross public.
VII Crucifix with indulgences of the path of the cross:
As a lot of supporters, for multiple valid reasons, cannot
go every day to a place where is a path of the cross, the
holy Church, in his/her/its maternal solicitude, gives to
these Christian the means to win the indulgences of the
path of the cross to the following conditions:
a) a crucifix indulgencié is necessarily necessary
to this effect by a priest who has the power of it. So that
a crucifix can be used it is necessary that it is of strong
matter (brass, copper, however, money, iron, ivory…).
The matter of the cross is without importance, because the
only Christ is provided with the indulgences. However, in
the countries of mission where, according to a special permission,
these indulgences can be attached, to a cross, this one
should also be of strong matter. The Christ of this crucifix
must have a human shape, to be fixed to the cross or nailed
in relief in metal and measure at least, an inch and half.
Otherwise, indeed, it will be difficult that he/it has a
human shape.
b) It is necessary to hold in hands the crucifix indulgencié.
If several people are together, one only is obliged to hold
the crucifix. With a sufficient reason, it will be sufficient
to carry it on oneself, suspended to the neck, placed in
the pocket or fixed to his/her/its garment.
c) to Recite contrite heart, while thinking religiously
about the Christ's Passion, twenty Lord Prayer, I greet
you, Marie, Glory to the Father, either fourteen for the
stations, five in honor of the five Wounds of Notre-Seigneur,
to the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff. This recitation
must be morally continuous and must only permit a short
interruption.
d) For the sick people, in the impossibility to recite these
prayers and to hold the crucifix indulgencié, it
is sufficient to kiss or to watch, with a contrite heart,
this crucifix, and to recite a short prayer jaculatoire
in memory of the passion or the Savior's Death.
e) If the state of extreme tires or the danger of death
prevents to recite this prayer jaculatoire, the only kiss
or look of contrition is sufficient.
Note: The fact to lend this crucifix doesn't make him lose
his/her/its indulgences. Those to that he/it has been lent
in benefit also. One can therefore use it by the patients
and make win them these precious indulgences of the path
of the cross.
VIII. ASSOCIATION OF THE PATH OF THE PERPETUAL CROSS:
A) NOTION:
Association of people committing to make the Path of the
Cross once the week, or once the month
.
B) Goal:
This association has, as general end, to make more frequent
the practice of the Path of the Cross,; to recall us the
Savior's Passion more often; to apply of it to us to ourselves
and to the other the merits in a larger measure. As particular
ends, to repair the made outrages, every day, to God and
to Christ, to ask especially for the conversion of the sinners,
to relieve the souls of the Purgatory, those that were part
of the ASSOCIATION, to ask for our Mother's triumph the
Saint Church.
C) Seats:
The main seat of the Association is the church of the Franciscans,
of the macaw-Coeli, in Rome. Of right, secondary seats of
the association exist in all churches or oratorical public
that are annexed to convents, residences or subject houses,
in some manner that it is, to the jurisdiction of the general
of the Franciscans.
D) Advantages:
1 - involvement to the prayers and to the good œuvres
of all partners.
2 - insurance to be relieved in the Purgatory by the prayers
and the Paths of Cross of the partners.
3 - in addition to the attached indulgences, by the Sovereigns
Pontife to the exercise of the Path of the Cross, a plenary
indulgence is conceded to the following days; the day of
the admission; at death's door; September 15, feast of Notre-Dame
of the Seven Pains,; October 4, feast of François
saint of Foundation,; November 26, feast of Leonardo saint
of Port-Maurice, the big propagator of the Path of the Cross.
E) Obligations:
1 - to commit to make the Path of the Cross every week or
each month, to one day chosen by l partner or by the one
that admits.
2 - to make, if one can, the Path of the Cross, to the following
days: The Friday-Saint; the Invention of the Cross, May
3; to the Exaltation of the Saint Cross, September 14; the
first Friday of March, feast of the Mysteries of the Path
of the Cross,; Sunday of the Passion and the first Sunday
of November. This compilation of "Path of the Cross",
that only asked for a work of compilation, popularization
and adaptation, would like to help the souls to meditate
on the Passion and the Death of our divine Redeeming.
Can Our Lord Christ, the Savior of the souls, to have it
for pleasant and to bless the diffusion of it.
If this first set of "Twenty Exercises" receives
a favorable welcome, shortly, God helping, it will be followed
of one second set. Montreal. Lent 1945
Information of the author
Same manner to proceed.
V. We adore you…
R. because you purchased…. (to every station)
Lord Prayer - I greet you, Marie - Glory to the Father…
- Have mercy of us - That the souls…
To the demand of the R. P. Serge Mr. Lefebvre, o.f.m. Commissioner
Provincial of the Third Franciscan Order, we agree to publish
this third set of twenty-five exercises of the Path of the
Cross.
As in the first two sets, we are first anxious to give a
brief preview on the gain of the indulgences and on the
manner to make the path of the cross.
Gain of the indulgences:
Pope Magpie XII by a decree of October 20, 1931, abrogated
all indulgences of the path of the cross, conceded before
him, and replaced them by the following:
a) A plenary indulgence every time that one makes the exercise
in whole, was this several times the same day.
b) Another plenary indulgence while receiving communion
the very day where one makes the path of the cross, or in
the delay of one month after having made this exercise 10
times.
c) A partial indulgence of 10 years for every station to
the case or, after having begun the exercise, one would
not finish it for a reasonable reason.
d) These indulgences are applicable to oneself, or to the
souls of the purgatory; it is in general the meditation
on the Passion of Our Lord Christ, or according to the picture
of each of the 14 stations.
For the public exercise of the path of the cross, for the
path of the cross in common, some prayers are of use;
Here are those that we suggest.
a) Before the exercise: One can recite, to high voice with
the supporters, the act of contrition.
b) Before every station
C) V: we adore you…
D) R: Because….
e) After every station:
f) 1. Our father.
g) 2. Ave Marie.
hs) Glory to God.
i) 4.Ayez mercy of us, Lord,
j) 5.Ayez mercy of us
k) 6.Que the souls….
l) 7.Amen.
Prayer after the exercise
a) Prayer:
Oh my good Jesus, while finishing this holy exercise, I
would like to expose arrangements of my soul once again.
When you will grant me a little happiness, a little consolation
in your service, I will accept it with humility and recognition,
oh my God.
If you send me a few print, some parcel of your cross, with
resignation I will submit to your holy will.
If you allow the temptation to attack me, me imporerai your
grace for in to be victorious. So, alas! I succumb, I will
stand up so quickly that your mercy will have forgiven me
this temporary disloyalty soon.
There is my firm résolution,ô my good Jesus.
Bless it! This blessing will give me strength to be you
faithful jsuque last au of my days. Ainisi is him!
b) Station of the T.S.Sacrement
After the exercise of the Path of the Cross, one can recite
the Station of the T.S.Sacrement is:
5 Lord Prayer, I greet you, Marie, Glory to the Father,
in honor of the 5 Plaienses of Notre-Seigneur,;
1 Lord Prayer, I greet you, Marie, Glore to the Father,
to the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff.
c) Reverence of the crucifix or a relic of the true Cross;
Finally, at the time of a more solemn circumstance, as the
Friday-Saint or the Feast of the Saint's exaltation - Cross,
one can have the crucifix or a relic of the true Cross venerated.
We are anxious to thank all those that, by their encouragements,
their advice, by their work, collaborated to the publication
of these three sets of 25 exercises of the Path of the Cross.
Can the Savior of the world to have for pleasant this second
set and to bless the diffusion of it. P.B.o.f.m.
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