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• stations of the cross
  stations of the cross

  plural noun

  a series of 14 representations of successive incidents from the Passion of Christ, each with a wooden cross, or a series of wooden crosses alone, set up in a church, or sometimes outdoors, and visited in sequence, for prayer and meditation.
• Stations of the Cross
  Stations of the Cross

  plural noun

  a series of 14 crosses, often accompanied by 14 pictures or carvings, arranged in order around the walls of a church, to commemorate 14 supposed stages in Christ's journey to Calvary

stations of the cross

American  

Or Stations of the Cross

plural noun

Ecclesiastical.

1. a series of 14 representations of successive incidents from the Passion of Christ, each with a wooden cross, or a series of wooden crosses alone, set up in a church, or sometimes outdoors, and visited in sequence, for prayer and meditation.

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Stations of the Cross British  

plural noun

1. a series of 14 crosses, often accompanied by 14 pictures or carvings, arranged in order around the walls of a church, to commemorate 14 supposed stages in Christ's journey to Calvary

2. a devotion consisting of 14 prayers relating to each of these stages

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Etymology

Origin of stations of the cross

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stations of the cross Stations of the Cross

The cold marble of the stations of the cross.

From Salon ● May 13, 2023

“Leon Russell” solidly hits the first two stations of the cross, but Russell didn’t so much crash as slowly fizzle away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2023

Jeanne Edwards, who described herself as an “impressionistic” painter, got the idea to paint the stations of the cross from a basilica she and her husband had visited in Budapest, Hungary.

From Washington Times ● May 6, 2018

My only complaint is that the film is structured as a kind of stations of the cross for the Jennifer Lawrence character, which necessarily means that she lacks any kind of real agency.

From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2017

He didn’t eat again until after Mass on Sunday, and he used the twelve flights of stairs he climbed by Bri’s side to meditate on the twelve stations of the cross.

From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Mid-morning light filtered through stained glass depicting saints and the Stations of the Cross, casting soft pinks and blues and greens across the church: our local parish, St. James.

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024

But it was the statues of Jesus on the Stations of the Cross that got her thinking.

From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2023

The restrictions forced church authorities to hold the Stations of the Cross procession on the grounds of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, as they did Friday.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 18, 2023

He said the meal at Saint James’ is followed by the Stations of the Cross prayer service, which he said makes for a good blend of the temporal and the spiritual.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 25, 2023

Venial sins were small sins, like saying bad words or not going to the Stations of the Cross during Lent.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

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