The Stations of the Cross
By: Fr. Victor Hoagland
(Best viewed in Full Screen Mode ^ )
The Stations in the Garden of Saints John and
Paul Monastery, Rome, Italy. Years ago, as a student at this monastery,
I learned that the monastery garden, on the hill just above the Coliseum, was
once the garden of Nero,
the cruel emperor who put Christians to death after the great fire of 64 AD had
destroyed most of the city.
His famous Golden House was adjacent to the garden. Nero blamed the Christians,
then a small
community in the city, for setting the fire. He had some of them crucified
(Peter, the apostle was among them),
some beheaded (Paul) and some burned to death. The historian Tacitus says that
some were killed in Nero's gardens.
Was it here, I wondered?
If it were, isn't this a good place to follow the Stations of
the Cross which recall Christ's journey to Calvary?
The Christians caught in Nero's persecution followed Jesus in their death.
We all do, in some way
Return to Main Page CLICK HERE