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

Example Sentences

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

He explained that the main chapel on post has the stations of the cross.

From Washington Times • Jan. 30, 2022

The walk through Baltimore on Good Friday, which Memorial Episcopal Church hosted with the theme “Repenting for Racism,” used the stations of the cross as a literal road map for the process of prayer.

From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 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