Pray the Stations of the Cross with the Students of Thomas Aquinas College!

The brief video below features the Franciscan Way of the Cross, as read by Thomas Aquinas College students, accompanied by Chrysostomos, a student choral group. It includes beautiful photography of the College’s Via Dolorosa on the California campus’ lower drive —14 scenes that vividly depict Our Lord’s Passion and death.

Also known as the “Short Way of the Cross,” these Franciscan reflections date back to the 16th century. Franciscan Friars have often used them, over the centuries, while preaching missions. The hymn, “Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended” (Johann Heermann, 1630), is available on Chrysostomos’ 2013 album, Triumph Over the Grave: Hymns for Lent and Easter.

The Stations, installed in 2014, are a gift of College Governor Robert Barbera. Each one contains a statuary tableau — e.g., Our Lord with Simon of Cyrene, or Our Lord meeting His mother — housed in a shelter of Mediterranean columns supporting Spanish-tile roofs. Their course, which begins by the original Ferndale Ranch gate at the entrance to campus, runs alongside the College’s three spring-fed ponds and slopes uphill, like the road to Calvary. The Stations alternate across the drive, with the odd numbers on the west side and even numbers to the east, mirroring the sequence of the Via Crucis in Jerusalem.

Please keep the intentions of the College in your Lenten prayers, and if you would like your intentions to be remembered on campus, please submit them via the online form.