Today is Good Friday, the day traditionally set aside in the year to remember the death of Jesus on the cross. Good Friday is one of only two days in the year that Roman Catholics do not have Mass. Instead, on this day, most Catholic Churches say the stations of the Cross (these are normally found an pictures around the inside walls of all Churches). In the 12th century, St Francis of Assisi devised the list and started the tradition of reciting it as a type of devotional service. Structurally, Mel Gibson’s 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, follows the stations. This is the complete list of the 14 stations, as St Francis defined them.
1
First Station
Jesus is condemned to death
2
Second Station
Jesus carries His cross
3
Third Station
Jesus falls the first time
4
Fourth Station
Jesus meets his mother
5
Fifth Station
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross
6
Sixth Station
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7
Seventh Station
Jesus falls the second time
8
Eight Station
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9
Ninth Station
Jesus falls a third time
10
Tenth Station
Jesus’ clothes are taken away
11
Eleventh Station
Jesus is nailed to the cross
12
Twelfth Station
Jesus dies on the cross
13
Thirteenth Station
The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross
14
Fourteenth Station
Jesus is laid in the tomb
slick: You have the “C” right, and I’ll tell you she’s in the top 5, but I won’t tell you where she is, although the choice was hard, as was I when I first saw her.
Thanks, folks, but I know – and knew then – the difference between a Mass and any other Catholic service. I sang the Masses, for one thing – in Latin, for the most part, until the vernacular version came in in the late 60′s. So, no, it was Mass: the whole liturgical service, complete with Offertory, Consecration and (big giveaway here!) Communion being dispensed.
I’m sure you are correct about your sources, jfrater – but they are only the official line, not necessarily what was being done at the local parish level. I was just curious about those sources – and thank you for sharing them. I was in no doubt about what was happening at my church.
As a Methodist, I find these sorts of articles and discussions fascinating.
666 et al: Funniest stuff I’ve heard in years!
materk: as long as you realize that what happened at your church was a liturgical abuse that is fine. Additionally – before the sixties why were you singing (I presume you are a woman (your nickname being latin for mother)) when the Church forbade women from singing in the choir in Church?
Why thank you Method man! Say hello to the ole dirty bastard for me!
Yes, I know what my nickname means, thank you.
If Mass on Good Friday was an abuse, then there is reason No. 6,000-odd why I am going to Hell. Certainly, at the time, no one bothered to notify the Diocese.
As to singing in the choir – again, here is that deadly difference between theory and practice. I sang in the choir from the age of 6 (which was 1959, BTW). I sang my own First Communion Mass in Latin, the following year. I sang in the choir every Sunday and many weekday services until I was 14. Nor was I alone – our choir was primarily female, we took Dioscese awards for our singing, and the local bishop and the Cardinal of Los Angeles heard and applauded us. More liturgical abuse, I guess.
You are taking an amazing amount of offense at this. Are you Catholic, or were you raised as such? Are you, perhaps, a monastic, as your own nickname suggests? Or are you just judgemental, and perhaps unaware that there can be quite a gap between official policy and parish-level activity?
Materkb,
You are clearly doomed. Your only hope is to pray to a saint that “specializes” in your unique sort of sin, and hope that ‘Paddy’ doesn’t have him out getting sloshed on Guinness. Being 6 years old is NO excuse, you will burn anyway! I will see if I can get you a gig roasting people who stole library books, the pay sucks and the heat is unbearable, but it’s a living.
materkb: don’t get me wrong – the abuse was not the people at the Mass – it was the priests for saying Mass when it is forbidden. I didn’t mean to come across as judgmental – and I am well aware of the gap between the official policy and parish level activity – the current Pope is trying to fix that problem – many parishes are ignoring the directions from the vatican and are, as a result, causing great destruction in the Church. No matter what any parish priest or even Bishop says – they are obliged to do what Rome says – there is a famous saying in the Church – Roma est locutus est. – that means “Rome has spoken” – when Rome speaks – all are OBLIGED to follow – if they don’t they are mortally sinning. It doesn’t matter how many Bishops or priests abuse their positions – even if they all did – they would still be wrong if it goes against the eternal teachings of the Church.
Materkb,
Sacrafice a chicken, and then throw three bloodied chicken feathers over your left (it has to be the left) shouldar at the stroke of mid-night while chanting red rum, red rum, red rum. That should ‘cure’ you from your “mortal” sin.
Merry Easter everyone!
Hey, 666:
Oh, I am doomed, I’m sure. And in fact my estimate of only 6,000 reasons for me to burn in hell is probably low. However, the age of reason being officially 7 years ofl age, I believe I sneak in under the radar on the singing in church when I was 6 offense. As for roasting library thieves: that sounds great!
jfrater: let us agree not to take offense at one another. Nor blame the sheep for the behaviour of the shepherds; lots of parishioners simply follow their priests pastorial lead. If they researched everything they saw or heard, they would be Protestants.
Though I think the phrase is “Roma locutus est”. And it only pertains to matters of faith and morals. I remain unconvinced one can, for instance, add failure to recycle to the list of sins, mortal or venial.
Its him! In station #3!
The man behind the fallen Jesus! Its George Carlin! Wow, he’s older than I thought! I’m sure this is going to hurt his chances for a small piece of cloud in heaven!
materkb: no one has added to the list of deadly sins – it was a misinterpretation from the mainsteam media. The fact remains – you must obey the traditions of the Church or you are not Catholic. And frankly, if many parishoners researched what their pastors did – they would be more Catholic – because many pastors are simply doing what they want – THAT is protestantism – rejecting the truths that the Church has always held for their own personal opinions. And it is also important to realise that the Church has always taught that Catholics must follow the Pope in all things unless he breaches that which has always been believed – it is protestant to believe that you must only believe the infallible decrees of the Church.
jfrater: why aren’t the abusive/disrespectful posts on this list being deleted. its ruining this comment board. im not at all religious, quite the contrary actually. i think its struggle to keep up with society is damaging our culture. but those posts are not productive and they have no right to patronize. that kind of sense of entitlement is exactly what i think is wrong with religion, yet none of the religious people are bullying like they are. funny comments are great but if those posts were on a non-religious or an anti-religious list they wouldn’t even be funny because their only purpose is to patronize, everything they’ve said could be said in a respectful way. if they want to bully they can go to a different site. i hate to see this happen to the listverse.
jfrater: not deadly sins, just sins, period. There are more sins than the classic deadly 7; although it could be argued that all sins could be viewed as facets of these 7. In which case, does failure to recycle come under the aegis of sloth or greed? Interesting question.
I must protest again, though; I was taught that while the Pope was God’s steward, he was only to be obeyed without question in matters of faith and morals. You seem to be calling for 1) individual judgement and responsibility (which I applaud) and 2) unquestioning obediance – simultaneously. Can’t have it both ways.
What happened to the advert between station 6 and 7? The one with Jesus propositioning a G-string clad ‘streetwalker’? It has been removed, unfortunatly.
Kazorek,
Many people have enjoyed the satire in some posts and have said as much, if you don’t like them…just skip forward or read another list.
To each his own.
And Happy New Year!
jardojo-
with regards to the guidance of not creating an idol…i think that refers specifically to created any object intended to be used as an idol. as jfrater says, anything can be an idol.
making anything with the expressed purpose of being an idol would violate that guidance.
however, holding anything up as an idol (whether you actually built it or not) can also be interpreted as “creating” and idol.
JFrater….great list, and great discussion…i’m glad you know your stuff. it’s good that you’ve been able to answer questions and explain some of the misconceptions.
materkb: first point: not recycling is not a sin – it never has been and never will be. thus it is not relevant here.
Second point: If the pope speaks in accord with Tradition – regardless of whether it is with the protection of infallibility, Catholics must obey him – because disobeying is denying sacred Tradition which is is ALSO infallible. There is no individual judgement involved. Tradition is set in concrete and we all have access to those teachings.
Ah, being a Methodist seems so much less of a hassle. Not even the old conservative farts bat an eye when some pierced up goth walks in to service. Just to ME (no one is qualified to judge anyways), but a lot of Catholicism seems to mostly ritualistic to the point of looking like a play on stage. Like I said, I haven’t gone to a Catholic church for 15 years, so I can’t judge (not like you should), but is it true that Sunday sermons last for like 3 hours?
best list, so far.
MethodMan-
to your last question, no, sunday sermons are not 3 hours long generally. in my experience, and hour is more accurate for the entire service.
I don’t agree with the use of the cross. Since it was brought out not only in the christian greek scriptures to not use “idols”, it was also a law to the jews to not make idols, which by everyone elses definition doesn’t really make sense because its not an idol until its venerated. Which still raises the question, how do you “make an idol”.
What does make sense to me is that you wouldn’t make an object that would obviously have some form of religous relevance and then use it in your worship, have it in your place of worship, wear it around your neck, etc.
And even if its true that its not intended to deliberately break a law by using idols in worship, why have one in the church where others may make the mistake of praying to it, venerating it, etc. You may not venerate it, but someone else might.
The law to not make idols had to be put in place for a reason. God must have known that some people would succumb to the temptation of using them. Why have it around if thats the case? You say your not venerating it, what about the 13 year old sitting down the row from you? What about the person thats visiting your church for the first time? Why even have it around if its so important to not use objects in worship?
I’d rather be safe and not use them, so thats my decision.
the cross, in it’s intended use is not an idol.
i’m sure that some people mistakenly treat the cross as an idol. but it’s intended purpose is not to be prayed to.
by definition, that means the cross is not an idol in the form that it is used in the church.
just some stuff:
how have these been incorporated into the believer’s life? Does each station have symbolic meaning or “hidden knowledge”? Or are these to be taken, based off what some have said, as truth. Jesus fell not once but thrice- is this for the father, the son and the holy ghost?
Meeting one’s mother along the route to one’s execution. A wrongfull closure?
the day after the world trade center buildings were hit by planes, Tee shirts were allready being sold on the streets showing a big eagle head floating next to the smoking towers, with a tear in its eye (God Bless The USA) . Momento mori?
Union square, among other places became a mass display of a shared wail, a tangable dispair.
The Time Machine question is, Whould you go back to witness Jesus first hand? His crucifixion?
My thought is that beliefs and soul connections to truth, dont want the real thing, but the amalgamated complexities that have stemmed from the source…which becomes its own real thing.
and speaking of things
i’m not all that good at this comment thing.
jardojo-
i see your point, but the same could be said of the alter, or a pew, or anything else.
the law or rule is a form of education in itself, reminding those who believe, that prayers should be addressed to god, and not to any symbol or object.
the 13 year old sitting down the row from you, if a catholic, should be educated in the catholic faith, meaning that they would understand not to pray to the cross itself.
the first time visitor to the church, if a catholic, should also know not to pray to the cross itself. if they are not a catholic, but intend to become one, they should educate themselves in the catholic faith, at which point they would understand that they should not pray to the cross itself.
or are we to leave the last moments of Jesus’s life alone. That It has nothing to do with us.
isn’t the cross one of the oldest symbols of the cosmos?
its like a machine?
JFRATER:”jardojo: physically? I guess you can make it any way you like – carve it out of wood – pour it out of metal…. If you mean mentally – it is entirely up to the person – some people idolize money – others idolize statues of Buddha, and some idolize a book (the Bible).”
J-I know that you were giving an example, but please don’t make assumptions about other religions such as Buddhism-the likeness of the Buddha (which btw is NOT the little fat man, he is the “lucky buddha”, just a good luck charm–why Buddha is tacked on there, I don’t know) ANYWAY–the likeness of Buddha in statues, etc. are respected not worshipped. Like memorials–much like memorials fro war heros etc.–It’s actually not at all Buddhist to “worship” ANYONE…including the first earthly Buddha, Sidhartha Gautama. So no, Buddhist don’t worship Buddha statues.
All this talk about some schizophrenic Middle Eastern ex-carpenter zombie from two thousand years ago makes me want chocolate.
The church does have mass on good friday. i went today. the stations are done today as well, and you can go to those instead of mass as it is a holy day of obligation.
You are right, Stations of the cross is competely optional. However, Mass is said on Holy Saturday. It is called the Easter Vigil. It is also the longest Mass of the year because that’s when we bring in all new converts. Don’t believe everything on Wikipedia.
who cares?
dont worry, he’ll be back…jesus always comes back
666: why do you insist on not call Jesus by name?
Um… cool?
I visit this site very much and read the list and comments all of the time and always learn something new from everyone who contribute. Now, I finally decide to contribute a little something of my own
I think jfrater is right about no mass on Friday/Saturday. Here in Michigan the catholic churches i go to anyway don’t have mass on Good Friday instead people walk in say a little prayer and then leave. (all the statues pictures are covered in a black cloth). But all of the other Fridays during lent they have mass and also during that mass they go to every station of the cross and say a prayer. I’m speaking for the catholic churches i have been to not for all but they should be the same i assume?
Think of a Crucifix this way: If you see a Catholic that is holding the Crucifix from their necklace in their hand, they are using it as a cellphone to God.
Philmont237: the Easter vigil is the Mass of Easter Sunday – not Holy Saturday. The fact that it occurs late at night on Saturday does not mean it is a Holy Saturday Mass. If you attend it, you do not need to go to Mass on Sunday during the day as your obligation has been fulfilled. And believe me – I was only using Wikipedia as a reference for people here to see it written down – I already knew it to be a fact
jardojo: Firstly, why would anyone walk in to a church, see a crucifix or cross, and suddenly decide to worship it? They would have to be told to do surely – and they are NOT told it in the Greek or Roman Catholic Churches.
As for your constant returning to the scriptural admonition against idols – that must be understood in the context of the bible as a whole surely because I am certain you don’t think the Bible contradicts itself. What then, are we to make of this:
“In the most holy place he made two carved cherubim and overlaid them with gold” (2 Chron. 3, 10)
“In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high” (1 Kgs. 6, 23)
I think these comments clearly indicate that the Jews (and then later the Catholics) understood the difference between an idol as condemned, and an object to enhance worship (such as the carved angels mentioned above).
I haven’t been to church in many years. I remember we only had 12 Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. I don’t remember anything being covered up in the church on Good Friday.
Drogo: everything is covered from about 2 weeks before Good Friday right up to the Easter Sunday Mass (said late on Saturday night) when everything is unveiled in a big ceremony.
materkb: I forgot to mention, I am not a monk – my nickname is taken from my first name “Jamie” and my surname: “Frater” – it is a Scottish surname with some origin many years ago in Latin obviously
If you click the “About” link at the top of the page you will see that 
There must be small differences of customs due to regions. Materkb says her church did Mass on Good Friday. My church didn’t cover statues and images. I have a vague memory of going to a Mass, in a different town, where they did something that wasn’t familiar to me.
I just talked to my mom. The church of her hometown, where I was baptized, covers stuff with purple cloth, but not the church where I went to grade school. They are 4 miles from each other.
jrafter-
Yes, that was in the tabernacle. I know that the ark of the covenant had cherubs on them, I’m guessing that is what that scripture is citing. The tabernacle and then later the temple built by Solomon was very elaborately decorated. The thing is that the tabernacle was a physical representation of what was to come, namely the kingdom of God. When Jesus came to earth and died, was ressurected, there was no longer a need for that representation (of course, there are people that would debate that).
jayfray: i posed a question earlier that didn’t get answered. i don’t remember stations #6 and 8 from being in a catholic church as a child. i don’t find them in scripture. do you know where st. francis got them from?
RE: post #155
Axelrod,
No reason. Maybe to add some comic relief to the very serious, dry, and beat-the-hell-out-of-the-horse-issue of:
1) wether praying to two intersected pieces of wood or some metal is considered “idolotry”! or 2) wether if one of the sectarian differences in one of the local cults is breaking canon law—thus sinning mortally and condemned to a fire pit located in downtown Detroit.
One must admit, my story (post #47) of St. Patrick pounding pints of Guinness while keeping an eye on his March Madness brackets, while ignoring the ‘aplications’ from the condemned is no more absurd than covering inanimate statues with cloth because it was done that way a long time ago by some megalomaniac dictator pope!
Lob me another one Axl, please!
Absurd is what absurd does!
P.s. I read that Popey Benedict didn’t eat his spinanch and refused to carry some cross to some ceremony or other, thus breaking church law. Does this mean he is condemned? Or does Popey get to play Texas Holdem’ with wild cards while everyone else must play straight? Well blow me down!
DiscHuker: they are from Tradition – they are things known about the Passion that are not written in the Bible. They are not meant to be excluded if you are using the proper original set of stations. There are other stations that have been used in modern times that exclude non-Biblical aspects (which I don’t like) but they are not used very often and I think they still have 14 stations (or even 16).
Drogo: Mass is forbidden on Good Friday – full stop. If her parish did it they were in breach of Church law and the pastor of the parish needs to bring himself in line. Regional customs are approved occasionally but they don’t breach Church law
jfrater: Have you recieved my new CILF list? and if you have, will it go up.
Does anyone else notice the resemblence of the gentleman in plate #3. This gentleman is about to give jesus a well-deserved wallop on the cranium with what appears to be an ancient ‘billy-club’. Seeing that ‘J’ is all knowing, he must know it’s coming—which must make it sting all the more.
But, I digress. Back to the elder gentleman wielding the club, why is George Carlin so angry with jesus? Did jesus steal his wife and do unspeakable things to her in the name of the cult? Someone please shed some light on this mortal sinner!
666: No, Jesus had a threesome with his wife and sister, that’s why he was so *****ed. Turns out being a cult leader has its perks.
Csimoons: I have yes – thanks
I am not sure when it will go up but it will.
jfrater: Thanks, but use the newest one, it has the dates right, Thanks though
oh, and who is “Csimoons” I don’t know him
Thank you C,
I knew that jesus must have done something to that fine gentleman to make him so irate.
What about PAX? That seems like an obvious “station of the cross”.
Wakka wakka.
I have also seen quite a few on this board try to define what idolatry means. I don’t think its up to man to determine that; it was God that made the law, its up to him. Take murder for example; some men feel that abortion is murder, others don’t. Some men feel that war constitutes murder, others don’t. I don’t care what a man’s definition of idolatry is, its up to God to decide that. Again, why risk adverse judgment?
If someone tells me that they’re not using objects of worship in that way then in their mind they’re right, at least it doesn’t hurt their conscience. But I do know that the common denominator of what constitutes an idol is an object or symbol that is used in worship.
The only thing that would change my mind on the matter would be if I read a passage in the bible where the first-century christians used the cross in their worship, wore it around their neck, used it in any way, etc. I would be very interested in reading that passage if anyone could direct me there.
“and (big giveaway here!) Communion being dispensed”
You’re wrong, materkb, that’s not a “big giveaway” at all. Communion may be, and is in this case, distributed outside of the Mass.
On Maundy Thursday the sanctuary is stripped and all consecrated Hosts are removed to a place outside of the church. These consecrated Hosts are distributed during the services on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Mass is NOT celebrated on these days.