The booklet just mentioned, “Den Berch van Calvarien,” is only one of a
group of similar devotional works which seem to have had great vogue in
Germany and the Netherlands at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
If I am not mistaken in my conclusions, it is to one particular ideal
pilgrimage of this type, of which more anon, that we are primarily
indebted for the form in which the exercise of the Way of the Cross is
practised at the present day. But before we turn our attention to the
volume in question, it will be well to say a few words regarding some
other similar booklets which must have influenced many pious minds and
have familiarized them with the idea of a spiritual accompanying of our
SAVIOUR on His journey to the summit of Calvary.
The earliest work[82] of this sort of which I have found mention has
unfortunately proved inaccessible. This is the more to be regretted as
its title seems to promise much that would be of interest to our present
inquiry. The book is briefly described in Campbell’s Bibliography of
Dutch Incunabula, and I must content myself here with translating the
title which he has copied. The drift of the little volume is
sufficiently indicated in this summary description:
“_The Journey which our_ LORD JESUS _made from Pilate’s House up to
the Mount of Calvary._
“This is the journey which our LORD JESUS made from Pilate’s house,
loaded with His heavy cross, up to the Mount of Calvary, and it is
arranged in thirteen points which are very devout to read.”[83]
The thirteen points probably correspond to as many stations. As regards
date the little volume is certainly older than 1501, and was probably
printed in 1499.
Another early “Stations” book which deserves special mention is a tiny
brochure of sixteen leaves, with many rough illustrations, of which I
have seen two editions both printed at Antwerp, one of 1536, the other
of 1561. It is possible that this little treatise had been in use for
many years, as it is difficult to trace and has no proper title.[84] The
heading states that it is a collection of meditations on the Passion of
our LORD with the measurements from one to another of the places at
which He suffered for us. The book is also arranged according to days of
the week. The considerations begin with Monday, and for that day is
arranged the journey from the room of the Last Supper to the Garden of
Olives, of which the distance is said to be “xxxc ellen” (3,000 ells,
say 4,000 yards). Then from the place where He left the apostles to
where He left Peter, James and John (34 ells), from thence to the grotto
of the Agony (12 ells), and further to the place of the meeting with
Judas (34 ells). A “Pater” and “Ave” are to be said at each of these
stopping-places. On Tuesday we are conducted to Annas, Caiphas, Pilate
and Herod, all the distances as estimated by the writer being given as
before. The Wednesday is taken up with the journey back to Pilate’s
house where sentence is pronounced; and to this are added two other
Stations, one the place where the cross was laid on our LORD’S shoulders
(11 ells from the place of judgement), and the other, the site of the
Scala Santa (25 ells further on) upon which stairs JESUS, crushed under
the weight of the cross, met with a terrible fall. On the Thursday we
are bidden to contemplate the journey from “the place of the fall” to
the _Ecce Homo_ Arch (23 ells), from the arch to the place of our Lady’s
swoon (100 ells), thence again to the place of meeting with Simon of
Cyrene (72 ells), thence again to the house of St Veronica (282 ells),
and finally to the Judicial Gate (recht poorte) 300 ells further on,
where He again fell prostrate and could not rise. The journey of 230
ells from thence to Calvary is meditated on Friday, and with it the
stripping of the garments and the crucifixion. Finally, the Saturday is
given to devotions at the Sepulchre. Much care has been spent upon the
printing of the 1536 edition of this little book, copies of which exist
both in the Bodleian and at the British Museum. The earlier copies
inform us that the meditations were written by a devout priest named
Heer Bethlem,[85] who had sojourned for a long time at Jerusalem and had
measured all the holy places over again. For some reason or other the
author’s name is omitted in the edition of 1561. There is much earnest
and simple piety conspicuous in the prayers with which the exercises are
diversified.[86]
Another book published in 1521 at Nuremberg is typographically a much
more important work. The printing is good, and the woodcuts, several of
which have been reproduced here,[87] are said by modern authorities to
show distinct traces of the influence of the seven sculptures of Adam
Krafft.[88] There are fifteen, or more strictly sixteen stations, and a
picture corresponding to each. This represents a group or groups of
sculpture raised upon a pillar. The subjects begin much further back
than ours, the first representing our SAVIOUR taking leave of His
blessed Mother at Bethany; the second, the Last Supper; and the third,
Gethsemani. With each Station certain psalms and prayers are printed for
recitation. The purpose of the whole book is clearly indicated in the
verses which form its only title page, and which are reproduced
opposite.
[Illustration: _TITLE-PAGE (reduced) OF THE “GEYSTLICH STRASS”
Nuremberg, 1521._]
Die geystlich strass bin ich genant
Im leyden CHRISTI wol bekant.
Wiltu die geng gantz gnaw ausrechen,
So hastu psalmen die magstu sprechen;
Hastu lust zum heyligen lande,
Was da sey, findst auch zuhande.[89]
In close accord with these verses are the following remarks freely
summarized from the preface:
“Our LORD said that the love of many should wax cold, and St Paul, in
his Epistle to Timothy, said that men would be lovers of themselves
rather than lovers of GOD. We see that these sayings are verified, and
especially that of St Paul to the Philippians: ‘All seek their own and
not the things of JESUS CHRIST.’ Thus from the exceeding wickedness of
mankind the love of CHRIST is forgotten, and although the image of
CHRIST is placed in the churches and streets, men have so little
compassion for His sufferings that they scarce pause to say an ‘Ave
Maria’ before the picture, or consider what it means. Such pictures are
called the lay-folk’s books, because men may read therein and lay to
heart the words of our LORD in the Book of Lamentations: ‘O all ye that
pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow.’
“Amongst the common simple people one finds much love for the Passion of
CHRIST. Some men also show their devotion by setting up various
memorials to awaken the piety of others, as for instance the cross, or a
representation of the Last Supper or the Mount of Olives. Some choose
the Seven Falls or the seven bloodsheddings, and some again the carrying
of the cross, with all the episodes which happened until He came to
Calvary, such as the meeting with Mary, the compelling Simon to bear the
cross, the meeting with Veronica, and the like. These are often set up
nowadays with their descriptions, measures and distances, according as
noble pilgrims have brought back the measurements from the Holy Land, or
themselves have set them up. In order, therefore, to keep in remembrance
the sufferings of CHRIST, I have not only considered our LORD while on
His cross, but from the beginning to the end of His Passion, that is,
from Bethany to the crucifixion. And what happened at one time or in one
place I have put together, as, for example, the three incidents on Mount
Sion, i.e., the passover, the washing of feet and the institution of the
Blessed Sacrament. So, again, three events took place on Olivet, where
the LORD went with His three disciples alone, and where He prayed three
times, and where the Jews came and took Him. Then at Mount Calvary,
whither He is brought; in one place the cross is made ready, in another
spot our LORD is left until the cross is ready; afterwards He is led to
the cross, stripped and crucified. All these I have set forth in order,
each in its proper place, and each stage has a picture belonging to it.
But in these four incidents, viz., Sion, the Mount of Olives, Pilate and
the Judgement-place,[90] the same picture contains several episodes.
Also in each stage we ought to contemplate, not only what CHRIST
suffered by the way, but also what happened at each place from which or
to which He is led. And it is particularly to be observed that a passage
of the holy Gospels is always set down along with the picture so as to
explain it, as well as a passage from the prophets or psalms. I have
also added the distances of the holy places, etc. Lastly, as my desire
has been to bring to men’s contemplation the sufferings of CHRIST,
therefore I have adopted this method of portraying them to the eyes, to
the heart and to the lips, by picture, by meditation and by prayer. Rich
and poor, religious and seculars may use this book in private or in
public. The rich may have similar sculptures set up, the poor, in
looking upon them, can say their psalm-prayer or ‘Pater noster,’ or what
they will. Nay, every man can erect these stations in his own house. A
simple cross will serve to mark them. There is no need to reproduce the
exact distances from one to another, or to take as many paces as are
measured here. It is much better to make pilgrimage with one’s heart
than with one’s feet.”
The book does not seem to be particularly rare, though it is not known
that there was more than one edition of it.
A third devotional work of still greater importance is the volume
already alluded to, written by John Pascha,[91] and edited by Peter
Calentyn, at Louvain, in 1563. Its title in French is “La Pérégrination
Spirituelle.” The pilgrimage is to occupy 365 days, and it is made very
realistic by the assigning for each day a definite section of the
journey to the Holy Land, along with a subject for meditation, and
certain general devotions as explained in the introductory chapter. On
the first day, for instance, the pilgrim imagines himself to travel from
Louvain to Tirlemont, and is directed to meditate upon the truth that
God is the final end of all creation; on the second, he travels from
Tirlemont to Tongres, and meditates upon the creation of the angels, and
so on. But when we get to the Holy Land and, on the 188th day, are
visiting the scene of the agony in the garden, we have a new exercise
interpolated with this conspicuous heading:
“Here begins the first prayer of the long journey of the Cross.☩
“And the prayers of this Way of the Cross are fifteen in number, and
they are good to say also outside the time of pilgrimage, for instance,
on Fridays, or on other days, for affairs of great importance.”[92]
The second station is given under the 193rd day at the house of Annas;
the third, under the 196th day, at the spot where CHRIST is kept a
prisoner and mocked. Then, under the 206th day, when the pilgrim has
meditated upon our SAVIOUR’S trial before Pilate, we have another
noteworthy interruption of the text, with the heading: “_Hier beghint
den rechten Cruysganck na den berch van Calvarien_—Here begins the
proper Way of the Cross to Mount Calvary.”
The prayer for the fourth station, which follows, has reference to the
condemnation of CHRIST by Pilate.[93]
Then follow the succeeding stations in order, still mixed up with the
days of the pilgrimage, but frequently supplemented from this time
onwards with measurements in feet or double paces (= five feet) of the
distances from one station to another. The fifth station is the place
where CHRIST receives the cross; it is thirteen paces from the place
where He was sentenced. The sixth station is at the spot where CHRIST
met His Blessed Mother, and where also He fell for the second time; and
here the author is careful to tell us that between this spot and the
place where our LORD received the cross there had already been a first
fall when He had advanced forty paces. The meeting with His Blessed
Mother was 418 feet (in Louvain measurement) from the place of His
sentence. The seventh station, 179 feet further on, is where Simon of
Cyrene took the cross, and JESUS fell a third time. The eighth station,
478 feet from the last, is the scene of the meeting with Veronica, and
also of the fourth fall; and after another 842 feet we reach the foot of
the ascent to Calvary, where CHRIST fell a fifth time, but this is not
counted as a station. The ninth station is 872 feet further on up the
ascent. Here CHRIST turned to the women of Jerusalem, and here also He
fell a sixth time. After another 404-1/2 feet Calvary itself is reached.
Here is the stone engraved with crosses, just outside the church of the
Holy Sepulchre. This marks the place of the seventh and last fall, and
is the tenth of Jan Pascha’s stations. The prayer for the eleventh
station, nine paces further on, is taken up entirely with the theme of
our SAVIOUR’S being stripped of His garments, but no special name is
given to this station. The twelfth station is still six paces further,
and commemorates the nailing to the cross. We are also told that the
total distance from the place where our LORD was sentenced by Pilate to
this spot is 3,306 feet (of Louvain). The thirteenth station
commemorates the death of CHRIST upon the cross, and the fourteenth
station the taking down from the cross. Finally is given a prayer for
the fifteenth station, which is concerned with the burial of CHRIST.
[Illustration: _A PAGE OF THE 1568 EDITION OF PASCHA’S “GHEESTELYCK
PELGRIMAGIE”._ If this woodcut of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre be
compared with that of Breydenbach on p. 28, it will be noticed that this
illustration has been clumsily imitated from Breydenbach, but reversed
in cutting the block. The tower should of course stand on the left hand
side of the entrance porch.]
Let me furthermore point out that precise details are everywhere given
with such confidence and with such minuteness that it is not wonderful
that the book should have produced the impression of having been written
out of abundant and scientific knowledge. A single specimen will
suffice.
“Now you must know,” says Pascha, “that the cross was fifteen feet long
and the arms together eight feet, and the said cross weighed 100 pounds.
From the place where CHRIST was sentenced to the place where the cross
was laid upon His shoulders there were thirteen strides, and from the
same spot where the cross was laid upon Him to the place where He fell
for the first time under the cross there are forty strides. And also
from this same spot where He fell for the first time to the place where
His Mother stood upright in front of Him there are thirty strides and
three feet. The number of persons who accompanied our SAVIOUR was
15,000.”
And here in the French version the translator interpolates a note of his
own.
“It will be well,” he says, “to explain here in order to the
understanding of what has just been said above and also of other
passages which follow, that a stride (_enjambée_) is the space you leave
between one leg and the other [‘l’espace qu’on faict d’une jambe à
l’autre’—he really seems to mean the space between the print of one foot
and the next imprint of the same foot], and it contains two paces, in
other words five feet. For by one pace (_avant pas_) we mean the
distance ordinarily covered in going or walking at an ordinary rate, and
a footstep (_un pas_) is nothing but the sign or mark of a foot. We are
compelled to render it thus and to give you notice in our translation,
on account of what we find in the Dutch original which cannot be
otherwise expressed.”[94]
Now, any reader who will have the patience to study these details in
Pascha’s book, and to compare them with the subjects of the fourteen
stations now universally adopted, will perceive at once that this old
Flemish pilgrimage supplies the key of the whole problem. The order of
Pascha’s Stations is exactly the order of our modern Stations. Though
the number is greater, and the starting-point seems different, Pascha
himself, or his editor, Calentyn, by remarking that “the _proper_ way of
the cross” begins with Pilate’s house, has suggested the very
modification which, in fact, has come to prevail. It has been commonly
asserted, e.g., by Bishop von Keppler and by Doctor N. Paulus, that our
present Stations are to be traced back to the book of Adrichomius,
“Jerusalem sicut CHRISTI tempore floruit,” published in 1584. This, in a
sense, may be true, for Adrichomius enjoyed a very wide popularity, and
was early translated into most European languages, even into English,
Polish and Czech. His delineation of the stations along the _Via
Crucis_, in his map of Jerusalem, has been reproduced on a reduced scale
opposite, and the attentive student will perceive that, while
Adrichomius makes no mention of the last two Stations, the first twelve
are exactly those of our modern Way of the Cross. But Adrichomius, who
cites Pascha amongst his authorities, has undoubtedly borrowed both the
arrangement and all the measurements of the much older Flemish pilgrim.
Dr N. Paulus, in his extremely valuable article in the “Katholik”
(April, 1895), had already suggested this as a possibility, but as no
copy of the “Gheestelyck Pelgrimagie” was accessible to him at Munich,
he was unable to confirm his conjecture.[95]
[Illustration: _REPRODUCTION, MUCH REDUCED, OF PART OF THE MAP OF
JERUSALEM, BY ADRICHOMIUS (1584), SHOWING THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS._
The Stations begin in the upper right hand corner with the condemnation
of Christ. 121 marks the receiving of the cross; 122, first Fall; 123,
Mary; 124. Simon of Cyrene; 44, Veronica; 247, second Fall; 248, Women
of Jerusalem; 249, third Fall; 250, stripping; 251, nailing; 252,
raising on cross. The left is the North side, but, as explained
elsewhere, the details of the map are quite inaccurate.]
Perhaps the most interesting result of a comparison between the books of
Pascha and Adrichomius is the light which we are enabled to throw upon
the origin of that most puzzling feature in the Stations, the triple
fall of our SAVIOUR beneath His cross. It arises clearly from a curious
blending of the old stational system of seven falls (as depicted by Adam
Krafft at Nuremberg, and by his imitators) with certain traditional
sites pointed out to pilgrims in Jerusalem. Four of these falls are
supposed by Pascha to have synchronized with other episodes, i.e., the
meetings of CHRIST with His Mother, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica and the
women of Jerusalem. In these four cases the mention of a fall is
suppressed, but it survives in the remaining three, which have nothing
otherwise to distinguish them.[96] The first fall, which precedes the
meeting with Mary, and the fifth fall, which follows that with Veronica,
are not counted by Pascha as stations. Adrichomius, however, seeing that
he begins only with the condemnation at Pilate’s house, finds room for
them as separate stations in his system. The seventh and last fall at
the summit of Calvary was commemorated by a stone marked with crosses,
and is mentioned by almost every pilgrim in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, though they speak of no other falls. This stone is the first
item, lap(is), in Wey’s _memoria technica_ (reverse order), and
Breydenbach in his pilgrimage (1486) gives an excellent illustration,
reproduced on page 28, of the pilgrims kissing it.
Allusion has been made above to an English abridgement of Pascha’s book,
which, under the title of “The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Hierusalem,”[97]
was printed abroad about the year 1630. Jan Pascha’s name is not
mentioned, but there can be no question that it is his work, which has
been partly translated, partly adapted by “R. H.,” a writer whom it is
not easy to identify. Two copies of this little volume are in the
Bodleian Library. Even in its condensed form the allegorical setting of
the original has been retained, as for instance where we are told on the
43rd day, as the pilgrim is supposed to be setting sail for Venice,
“pray for a good wind and say _Veni Creator Spiritus_.” The English
version has been slightly adapted to suit the circumstances of its new
readers, and thus it ends on the 365th day not at Louvain but with “thy
lodgings in London or from where thou departedest.” It is particularly
interesting that in “the Way of the Cross” the curious amalgamation of
the old Seven Falls with the new system of stations has been retained by
the translator. Hence we have such headings as, “The 111th day, to the
place where JESUS turned to the women that bewailed Him. Here was the
sixth falling.”
[Illustration: _A PAGE OF THE FRENCH TRANSLATION (1566) OF PASCHA’S
“GHEESTELYCK PELGRIMAGIE”._ Note the indication of distance and the
indulgence, and also how “le troisieme tombement ou cheute” (i.e., the
Third Fall of the old system of Seven Falls) is identified with the
coming of Simon of Cyrene. See p. 88.]
On the whole it seems true to say that the selection of the Stations
owes much more to the pious ingenuity of devotional writers in Europe
than to the actual practice of Jerusalem itself. At Jerusalem the merit
of this exercise seems to have consisted rather in the good-will of
wishing to trace our LORD’S footsteps and in the fatigue and and
unpleasantness encountered on the way, than in any set devotions at
assigned halting-places. Aranda tells us how Mary fell to the ground on
meeting her Son. The stone she fell on was subsequently built into the
wall. The Christian pilgrims used to try to kiss it, but the Turks,
regarding it as idolatry, would not allow it, and constantly profaned
the stone.[98]
That no proper exercise of the Stations could have been performed
publicly in Jerusalem at the close of the sixteenth century appears very
clearly from the extremely interesting book of Zuallardo,[99] published
a year or two after that of Adrichomius. He prints at the end of this
work a copy of the prayers and hymns used by the pilgrims in visiting
the different sites, the which prayers agree closely with those
contained in a little treatise widely circulated in the middle ages and
printed in Venice in 1491.[100]
Thus we have the hymn proper to the spot “where St James the Less hid
himself during the time of the Passion,” the spot “where St Peter wept
bitterly”—a site which of late years has given rise to some rather
lively controversy between the representatives of different religious
orders in Jerusalem[101]—the spot “where the Jews attempted to carry off
the holy body of our Blessed Lady after her death,” “where the angels
brought the palm to our Blessed Lady,” “the grave of Lazarus,” “the spot
were CHRIST stood when Martha said, ‘LORD, if Thou hadst been here,’”
etc., “the spot where the Virgin Mother used to rest when she revisited
the holy sites,” “the spot before the Golden Gate where CHRIST foretold
the last Judgement,” “the place where Isaias was sawn in two,” “the pool
of Siloe,” and many others, all of them being places outside the city,
upon the Mount of Olives, or in Bethlehem, or at any rate in parts where
no great concourse of people was likely to be found. Now, for each of
these, even the most unimportant, there is assigned in Zuallardo a
special versicle and prayer; but for the scene of _Ecce Homo_, of the
Scourging, of the mocking before Herod or of the various incidents of
the journey to Calvary, though these are all sites of the very deepest
devotional interest, no provision of hymns and prayers is made. Noting
the absence of any recognition of those sites now so honoured, I was at
first inclined to conjecture that the printed edition of 1491 was
incomplete, and that some sheets had fallen out, but an examination of
Harleian MSS. 2333 and 3810 showed me that the omissions were not
peculiar to the printed text. Zuallardo’s fuller account explains the
reason:
“In Pilate’s house,” he remarks, “where our REDEEMER was scourged and
crowned with thorns and sentenced to death, at the _Ecce Homo_ Arch, and
in other spots where it is impossible to enter, an ‘Our Father’ and
‘Hail Mary’ are said as the pilgrims pass along.”[102]
Similarly in the descriptive part of his work Zuallardo remarks of the
different sites along the _Via Dolorosa_, which he is one of the first
to call by that name:
“Of all these holy places we had no more consolation than just to see
them as we passed on our way, since it is not permitted to make any halt
nor to pay veneration to them with uncovered head, nor to make any other
demonstration, nor to look at them fixedly, nor to write nor take any
notes in public.”
As long as this state of things prevailed it is obvious that the pious
exercises of the Way of the Cross could be performed far more devoutly
beside the artificial Stations of Nuremberg, or Louvain, or Rhodes, than
in Jerusalem itself. If any one individual can lay claim to the honour
of formulating our present devotion, that distinction seems to belong
more justly to the pious Flemish Carmelite, Jan Pascha, than to any
other person.
None the less, even Pascha seems to be dependent for his measurements
upon the data supplied him by Peter Sterckx (Petrus Potens) and carved
in stone at the base of the seven Stations which, as mentioned above,
were erected in Louvain in the first years of the sixteenth century. How
far it was Sterckx and how far it was Pascha who elaborated the whole
series of incidents repeated by Calentyn and Adrichomius, it is
impossible to determine. The one thing which may be affirmed with
certainty is that our present series of Stations of the Cross comes to
us, not from Jerusalem, but from Louvain.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature in this rather remarkable history
is the way in which those who possessed an intimate knowledge of the
Holy Land and of the practice of the pilgrims allowed the inventions of
the Louvain Religious to spread uncontradicted. No doubt they felt that
such imaginary pilgrimages could only promote devotion to the Passion of
our LORD and serve the cause of piety. It was no business of theirs to
contradict what had been asserted by pious men who lived before their
time. The facts did not accord with the tradition of Jerusalem in their
own day, but they might conceivably be true and, at any rate, they had
no positive evidence to the contrary. Aranda, Bonifacius (represented by
Zuallardo), Quaresmius, Surius, Caccia and a host of others were
intimately acquainted with Jerusalem. Several of them had been for many
years the official custodians of the holy places. They were not
contemporaries, but they cover nearly the whole period from 1520 to
1680. They agree closely with each other, but are all ignorant of—and
for some points in absolute contradiction with—the statements of Pascha
and Adrichomius. None the less, the fictions of Adrichomius, who it
appears never visited the Holy Land, but compiled his map from
pre-existing accounts, have won the day simply by reason of the wide
diffusion of the volume which he published; and now, even in the Holy
City itself, the attempt has been made to bring local traditions into
accord with the practice of our modern Stations. But on this point it
will be necessary to speak more fully in the next chapter.
For the present, before passing further, it may be interesting to give
some illustration of the manner in which the Stations must often have
been made in early times even without the aid of sculptures or pillars.
The document from which I am about to quote seems to have been copied by
a certain Sister Barbara de Langhe, in a convent in Antwerp in the year
1664. It was probably transcribed from an original of much earlier date
and it is obvious that the idea of travelling the exact distance
traversed by our Blessed LORD must have been very prominently before the
mind of the framer. The distinction made between “the long way of the
cross”[103] and “the way of the cross proper,” or “the short way,” as it
is here called, is also particularly interesting in the light of the
similar distinction which we have just noticed in Pascha. Hardly less
noteworthy for our present purpose is the retention of the system of
Seven Falls at so late a date as 1664. Not to be tedious I omit the
prayers and quote only the directions or rubrics which accompany them.
The document begins thus:[104]
“Item. For those who wish to make the long way of the cross (_den
grooten Kruyswech_).
“They must begin in the Church, which shall represent the place where
CHRIST took His last supper with His Apostles; then they must go round
the garden six times and the seventh time must kneel at the last door
outside the cloister by the school, and there is the Garden of Olives.
The first prayer, ‘O LORD JESUS CHRIST,’ etc.
“Go now as far as the churchyard door to the Poor Clares’ wall, there
JESUS CHRIST is kissed by Judas. The second prayer, ‘O LORD,’ etc.
“Now make the round of the garden six times, and the seventh time kneel
down at the third door into the cloister (_pant_), and this will be the
house of Annas. The third prayer.”
Omitting for brevity’s sake, the journey to Caiphas, Pilate and Herod,
we take the next entry.
“Go now three times round [the garden], and in the fourth round you must
kneel at the first door of the cloister, and this may count as Pilate’s
house [_dat is tot Pilatus_, i.e., that is as far as Pilate].
“Here we begin the short way of the cross. The seventh prayer.
“Go now as far as the last door in the cloister, and this is the first
fall with the cross. The eighth prayer.
“Next go on as far as the churchyard door to the wall of the Poor Clares
and this is the second fall. The ninth prayer.”
No other incidents are specified except the Seven Falls, which are duly
measured out in order, but the corresponding prayers would probably show
that, as in Pascha’s book, four of these falls were identified with the
incidents of Mary, Simon, the Women and Veronica. Finally we have:
“Now go on to the last window of the workroom; this is the seventh fall.
The fourteenth prayer.
“Go on now to the last door in the cloister, and there CHRIST is
crucified. The fifteenth prayer.
“Then go on as far as the churchyard, and there say _Miserere_ and _De
profundis_ for the dear souls [_Sielkens_, a diminutive of endearment or
compassion], and then go to the door by the pump; there CHRIST is
buried, being laid in the sepulchre. The sixteenth prayer.
“Go now to the church, and offer your prayers Then it is finished.”
Footnote 82:
The facts now stated in Appendix A go to show that the little book of
Herr Bethlem was written earlier than this, though it may not have
been printed so soon.
Footnote 83:
“Die ganck die ons here JESUS ghinck wt Pilatus huse tot opten berch
van Calvarien.” Printed by Henrick Lettersnider at Antwerp. It
contains only six leaves. See Campbell, “Annales de la Typographie,”
nn. 771-772.
Footnote 84:
A manuscript copy of what is to all intents and purposes the same book
is to be found among the Additional Manuscripts of the British Museum,
no. 24937. See further in Appendix A, where the conjecture here made
concerning the antiquity of the book will be found fully justified.
Footnote 85:
His real name was perhaps Bartholomew. See Appendix A.
Footnote 86:
“_Dit is een devote_ meditacie op die passie ons liefs heeren ende van
plaetse tot plaetsen die _mate geset daer onse lieve heere voor ons
gheleden heeft met die figueren, ende_ met schone oratien daer op
dienende. Ende so dicke alsmen dit devotelick leest _so verdienentmen
alle die aflaten so volcomelic als oftmen alle die heilige plaetsen_
binnen Jerusalem lichamelick versochte. Ende een devote priester die
_langhe tyt te Jerusalem heeft ghewoont, die heeft dit_ ghemeten ende
beschreven.” By mi Willem Voorsterman, Antwerp, 1538. The title page
is printed in short lines red and black in alternate pairs. I have
underlined the red. There is a fine eagle for printer’s device on the
back of the last leaf.
Footnote 87:
See illustrations facing pp. 68, 112.
Footnote 88:
Daun, “Adam Krafft und die Künstler seiner Zeit,” p. 72.
Footnote 89:
“I am called the ghostly way [i.e., the way of the soul], well known
in the Passion of CHRIST.... Wouldst thou exactly perform this
pilgrimage, thou hast psalms set down for thee to say; hast thou a
desire to visit the Holy Land, all that is there thou mayst find here
at hand.”
Footnote 90:
The triple group of the Judgement of our LORD will be found reproduced
further on at p. 112.
Footnote 91:
Jan Pascha is the form of the name which appears on the title page.
But in the “Biographie Nationale de Belgique” he is called Jan van
Paesschen. He was Prior of the Carmelites at Mechlin and renowned as a
preacher. It is not true, as has sometimes been stated, that he was
appointed Inquisitor by Charles V.
Footnote 92:
“Hier beghint dat eerste ghebet vanden langhen Cruysganck.☩
“Ende deser cruys ghebeden zynder alles tot vyfthien, die welcke goet
ghelesen zijn ooc buyten tijts op sommighe vrij-dagen, oft op andere
daghen voor groote saken” (P. Calentijn and Jan Pascha, “Een devote
Maniere on gheestelyck Pelgrimagie te trecken,” Louvain, 1568, p. 93,
2).
Footnote 93:
The terms used in the French translation, which appeared in 1566, are
noteworthy: “S’ensuyt la premiere oraison du chemin ou voyage de la
Croix, et ce pour la premiere Station.”
Footnote 94:
Pascha, “Pérégrination Spirituelle,” Louvain, 1566, fol. 143, recto
and verso.
Footnote 95:
Jan Pascha died about 1532. It is doubtful how far his editor, Peter
Calentyn, may have modified his work in preparing it for the press in
1563.
Footnote 96:
The same thing seems already to have happened in the Louvain Stations
erected by Peter Sterckx in 1505.
Footnote 97:
“The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Hierusalem, contayning three hundred
sixtie five dayes Jorney, wherein the devoute Person may meditate on
sondrie points of his Redemption.” 16mo, without date or place.
Footnote 98:
“Y con despecho muchas vezes la hallamos untada, y no de balsamo, asi
acaece en todas las que basamos que estan en el campo o en la ciudad
sin estar cubiertas, conviene a saber, sin edificio cerrado” (Aranda,
fol. xxxiii, r^o).
Footnote 99:
“Il devotissimo Viaggio di Gerusalemme,” Rome, 1587.
Footnote 100:
“Peregrinaciones Terræ Sanctæ.” See Röhricht, “Bibliotheca,” p. 100; a
copy of the Venice edition, “Infrascripte sunt peregrinaciones,” is in
the British Museum. Röhricht considers that this collection must date
from the end of the fourteenth century.
Footnote 101:
See Coppens, “The Palace of Caiphas,” 1904.
Footnote 102:
Zuallardo, p. 381.
Footnote 103:
This is what is called in Quaresmius the _Via Captivitatis_ as
distinguished from the _Via Crucis_.
Footnote 104:
I am indebted to M. l’Abbé Van de Velde, Aumônier to the nuns of the
English Convent at Bruges, for kindly bringing this document to my
notice. The original belongs to Mgr Rembry, Vicar General of Bruges.