Way of the Cross

STATIONS OF THE CROSS NEAR TRIM CASTLE

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My understanding is that when Trim Castle Hotel was constructed it was necessary to replace a wall partly owned by the church so as compensation the builders undertook to provide the ’stations of the cross’ shown in my photographs.

Up until I first saw this “way of the cross” I thought that there were fourteen stations but when I returned home I discovered that I had photographed fifteen. After some research I discovered that Pope John Paul II encouraged Catholics to add a fifteenth Station, the Resurrection of Christ, which is now included in many Catholic churches. Pope John Paul II encouraged Catholics to add a fifteenth Station, the Resurrection of Christ, which is now included in many Catholic churches. Some parishes that have a 15th Station remove it on Good Friday.

Father Andy Farrell working from Young Women’s Hall and launched the Navan Credit Union to the public on March 18th 1963 with seed capital of £36-00, most of which was due for the rent of the hall. They celebrated the growth of St. Mary’s Credit Union five times since that night of optimism and hope on its 21st anniversary, on its 25th, on the retirement of Michael Woods as General Manager, on the opening of the new premises – a function graced by the presence of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese and the 45th anniversary in 2008.

Fr, Andy Farrell was parish priest in Trim from 1994 to 2008 and celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood in 2007. After being ordained in 1957, Fr Farrell spent five years in the USA, was then appointed a chaplain to Navan Hospital and also spent a year teaching in St Finian’s College. Fr Farrell returned to Navan where he was based for 25 years, and was subsequently appointed parish priest in Kingscourt, his last parish before moving to Trim. He died at the age of 87 on the 16th October 2018.

The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, which is a traditional processional route symbolising the path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary. The objective of the stations is to help the Christian faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. It has become one of the most popular devotions and the stations can be found in many Western Christian churches, including those in the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist traditions.

Commonly, a series of 14 images will be arranged in numbered order along a path, along which worshippers—individually or in a procession—move in order, stopping at each station to say prayers and engage in reflections associated with that station. These devotions are most common during Lent, especially on Good Friday, and reflect a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during his passion.

The style, form, and placement of the stations vary widely. The typical stations are small plaques with reliefs or paintings placed around a church nave. Modern minimalist stations can be simple crosses with a numeral in the centre.[7][11] Occasionally the faithful might say the stations of the cross without there being any image, such as when the pope leads the stations of the cross around the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday.

To provide a version of this devotion more closely aligned with the biblical accounts, Pope John Paul II introduced a new form of devotion, called the Scriptural Way of the Cross, on Good Friday 1991. He celebrated that form many times but not exclusively at the Colosseum in Italy, using the following sequence (as published by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops)

Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane;
Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested;
Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin;
Jesus is denied by Peter 3 times;
Jesus is judged by Pilate;
Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns;
Jesus takes up his cross;
Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross;
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem;
Jesus is crucified;
Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief;
Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other;
Jesus dies on the cross; and
Jesus is laid in the tomb.

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