More Catholicism, because it’s Good Friday…
Inside of the church there are many symbols and decorations that all carry deep and historic value. Many churches have the Stations of the Cross that line the surrounding wall of the church. The Stations, or Via Crucis depict the final hours, or what Catholics call the Passion of Jesus Christ. During the 15th and 16th centuries the Franciscans began to build a series of outdoor shrines in Europe to duplicate their counterparts in the Holy Land. The number of stations varied between eleven and thirty. In 1686, in answer to their petition, Pope Innocent XI granted to the Franciscans the right to erect stations within their churches. The celebration of the Stations of the Cross is especially common on the Fridays of Lent, especially Good Friday. The devotion may be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses, pictures alone do not suffice, and someone with the authority to erect stations must bless them.
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