The Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross)

Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Pieve of Chiampo: liturgical notes

This is connected with the experience of pilgrims to Jerusalem, who followed the same road as Christ in his Passion, the procession of Christians during Good Friday: a route of meditation and spiritual preparation in stations, which correspond to the most significant events of the Mystery of the Passion. The Via Crucis was born in the West around the 15th century, and only later was it fixed into 14 stages, repeating the route followed by Christ from his trial to his death on the Cross. It has often been felt that it is insufficient to do justice to the fullness of this glorious message, and so a 15th station has been added, with the resolution of the drama of human life, in all its frailty, at the moment of the Resurrection.
The Church of the Madonna della Pieve of Chiampo has a sizeable number of bronze statues on the Via Crucis, life-size, and cast in 1989 by F. Zecchin from the work of seven sculptors. The route winds through a botanical garden in a frame of beautiful and symbolical trees, such as the Himalayan cedar, Lebanese cedar, olives and cypresses; masses of rocks and giant stalactites have also been cleverly placed to create an environment which is out of the ordinary, emphasising the central sacred theme. The statues start with an introductory sculpture of St Francis receiving the stigmata; behind him Christ, in the form of a winged seraph, merges in with the figure of the saint, and together they offer themselves as spiritual guides. There follow the fourteen traditional stations, each one hidden from view from the others, to increase their suggestiveness, but all part of the same route which culminates with the Resurrection. The women, dazzled and astonished by the Angel, are the first witnesses of the Easter Mystery. The winged figure who opened the route now ends it and accompanies the visitors to the entrance to the Grotto, a faithful reproduction of the Grotto of Lourdes.

By dott. Michela Fantin (Arts Office of the Diocese of Vicenza)