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Glite Dictionary
🙏 A prayer ceremony 🖼️ Stations in church 😣 A hard ordeal
via crucis

via crucis

9.9
A set of pictures or stations in a church that show Jesus's path to the cross
  • noun
  • /ˈviːə ˈkruːsɪs/
translation icon : vía crucis
  • The old cathedral features a beautifully painted via crucis that illustrates the events leading to the crucifixion.

Examples

  • The old cathedral features a beautifully painted via crucis along its side walls.

  • The church displayed the via crucis beautifully.

  • During Lent, many worshippers walk the via crucis and reflect on each station.

  • Children learned about the meaning of the via crucis in their religious education class.

  • During Lent, many participate in the via crucis ceremonies.

  • During Lent, many worshippers walk the via crucis to reflect on Jesus's suffering before his crucifixion.

  • Children learned about the significance of the via crucis as they studied the events of Jesus's Passion.

Synonyms

Stations of the Cross
vsvia crucis
1 9.9

A series of 14 prayers and pictures remembering Jesus' walk to the cross

focuses on the physical series of images shown in churches
Stations
vsvia crucis
9.9

Fourteen images showing Jesus' path to his death on a cross that people pray and think about

emphasizes the images themselves rather than the devotional prayers

Surface Forms

via crucis singular
viae crucis plural

Morphology

via + crucis

This is a Latin loanphrase originally meaning 'way of the cross' and used figuratively to mean an ordeal; 'via' (route) does not by itself convey 'prolonged suffering' and 'crucis' is a Latin form that a B1 learner is unlikely to know or interpret. The expression is culturally and historically specific (religious idiom) and therefore its figurative meaning cannot be reliably derived from the listed constituents, making it opaque to learners.

Etymology

Via crucis comes from the Latin words via meaning 'way' and crucis meaning 'of the cross'. It originally named the row of images or small 'stations' along a path that show the events of Jesus' last walk, and people stop at each one to pray, so it means the series of pictures or stations you see in a church.