Imagens da Via Crucis: cenários de ritualização, sacralização e devoção, no norte e centro de Portugal

Abstract

Passionist religiosity was gradually established from the 12th and 13th centuries onwards, encouraged by the Franciscan ideals of imitation, meditation, and devotion to Christ, with St. Francis becoming the very image of sorrowful humanity as he received the stigmata of Christ. The medieval cult of the Passion, reiterated in the Council of Trent, continued into the Modern Age, and is preserved today in manifestations of spirituality and popular devotion, experienced through artistic images of the Passion of Christ, as well as the veneration of relics of Vera Cruz, the shroud, among others. The liturgy and devotion have used and still use these images in religious solemnities, of which the Holy Week ceremonies stand out, as well as in theatrical performances in which the image serves as a vehicle mediating between two worlds, the earthly and the celestial, following the itineraries of the Stations of the Cross which, from the 15th century onwards, allow us to relive the final stages of Christ’s earthly life in the Holy Land.