Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

The sixth station of the Cross hangs in St. Michael's Cathedral.

My most beloved Jesus, Thy face was beautiful before, but in this journey it has lost all its beauty, and wounds and blood have disfigured it. Alas! my soul also was once beautiful, when it received Thy grace in Baptism; but I have disfigured it since by my sins. Thou alone, my Redeemer, canst restore it to its former beauty...

                          - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross

The fifth station of the Cross hangs high in St. Michael's Cathedral.

My most sweet Jesus, I will not refuse the cross as the Cyrenian did; I accept it, I embrace it. I accept in particular the death that Thou hast destined for me with all the pains which may accompany it; I unite it to Thy death, I offer it to Thee. Thou has died for love of me, I will die for love of Thee, and to please Thee...Grant that I may love Thee always, and then do with me what Thou wilt. 
  

                       - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Jesus Meets His Mother

The fourth station of the Cross at St. Michael's Cathedral.

My most loving Jesus, by the sorrow Thou didst experience in this meeting, grant me the grace of a truly devoted love for Thy most holy Mother. And thou, my Queen, who wast overwhelmed with sorrow, obtain for me by thy intercession a continual and tender remembrance of the Passion of thy Son...
  

                       - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Via Crucis III

The third of the Stations of the Cross at St. Michael's Cathedral: Jesus falls the first time.

Note the delightful way that the stations echo the gothic-style architecture of the cathedral itself. Each station is a like a little cathedral, topped with a cross, decorated with arches, statuary, quatrefoil, trefoil, etc. 

For more on the Via Crucis at St. Michael's see here and here.

Via Crucis II

Station II: Jésus chargé de sa croix

Bishop Armand François Marie de Charbonnel (b.1802 France) had these handsomely carved Stations of the Cross imported from France and installed in the Cathedral. The inscriptions are thus in His Excellency's mother tongue. The stations are a beautiful testimony to de Charbonnel’s generosity and to his good taste.

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee

R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.


For more on the Via Crucis see here.

Via Crucis I

Nave

Station I: Jesus is Condemned to Death


I suppose you know that in almost every Catholic church around the world you will find 14 numbered and blessed stations such as this one.  They depict particular scenes from the passion of Christ and at St. Michael's Cathedral they are hung high on the walls around the nave.  In a public liturgy or as a private devotion we kneel at each station in its turn and prayerfully contemplate its significance and our own sinfulness. 

Never prayed the Via Crucis?  St. Aphonsus Liguori can walk you through it.