News Item: : Favourite Calvaries - Part 1 of 3
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Tuesday 22 March 2016 - 17:31:30

One of the great consolations of Catholicism is the mystery of God suffering for and with us. It is such a comfort to be able to look at, and even to embrace, a crucifix during times of darkness and suffering. This being Holy Week, we thought we would share some of the Calvary scenes that have most helped us. They are presented in alphabetical order.

Birmingham Oratory

When we were involved with the formation of catechists through Maryvale a few years ago, we often used to go to Holy Mass at the Birmingham Oratory.

Near to the rear entrance door is this beautiful crucifix; before which we used to pray for guidance. Angie often lit candles there. It's hard to convey, but we used to experience great peace each time we prayed before this particular image. 

When we came back north, we took a photograph to remember the crucifix by. When we loaded it up to the lap-top, we were struck by the fact that Our Lord's garment and Crown of Thorns had a golden appearance. They don't in the original.

The bruising on Our Blessed Lord's knees is particularly touching.

Santuario de Chimayo - New Mexico

Nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo mountains, about 25 miles to the north-east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, stands the famous Santuario de Chimayo. We were blessed to be able to visit this shrine during the summer of 2005.

This historical Catholic shrine is known as the ''Lourdes of America'' because of the many healings which are attributed there to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the oral traditions at the heart of the Chimayo story, recounts that Don Bernardo Abeyta, a member of a local penitential society, was praying and performing penances around the local hills one Good Friday evening.

Don Abeyta is said to have seen a light springing from one of the hills near to the Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) river. When he got to the spot, he realized that the light was coming from the ground and Don Abeyta began to dig with his bare hands. He soon unearthed a large wooden crucifix. Leaving it there, he went to gather some local men to come and make acts of veneration before the holy image. The local Catholic priest, Fr. Sebastian Alvarez was notified and he led a procession to the site.

The priest raised the crucifix and led the joyful procession all the way back to the church. As the people prayed, he inserted the cross into a niche on the High Altar. However, the next morning the crucifix was gone. It was found to be once more on the slope of the hill. After three church processions, disappearances and rediscoveries on the hillside, it was decided that a chapel should be constructed on the site of the finding. This is the site of the Chimayo shrine today.

In a side-room next to the main chapel at Chimayo is found the ''el pocito'' (the little well). This is believed to be the site where the Miraculous Crucifix of Chimayo was originally found. Indeed, this room may actually be the original chapel from 1814.

For many decades, pilgrims have taken the ''tierra bendita'' - blessed earth - from this little well. This pious custom started when people began to claim healings at the site.

Although, unlike Lourdes in France, the Catholic Church has never officially approved any of these miracles, Chimayo is a Catholic place of pilgrimage under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Numerous crutches, walking sticks and wheelchairs have been left behind as signs of healing and thanksgiving.

The focus of the Chimayo chapel is the Tabernacle at the centre of the east-facing High-Altar. This depicts a beautiful golden image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Above this, is the Holy Crucifix of Esquipulas.

The Crucifix at Chimayo is truly a santa cruz - a holy cross! The time that we spent kneeling at the simple hand-carved and painted altar-rails is remembered by us as one of the most peaceful times that we have shared together on this earth.

How beautiful it was to kneel together so close to the flickering red sanctuary-lamp and see the Sacred Heart image there before us; reminding us of the Real Presence of Jesus Truly Present in the Blessed Sacrament. How marvellous it was to then gaze up to the Miraculous Crucifix and be reminded how much Christ loves each and all of us; and how He invites us to repentance and the nourishment and rest of Holy Communion.

Grace seemed so thick in the air at that place, that it seemed to alight on your very eyelashes.

The Holy Cross at Chimayo reminds us that it is not so much what we do, but Who Christ Is; and what He has done and is doing that matters most of all.

In the desert, resting at the foot of the Cross, we again found the waters of life.

Crosby Beach - Merseyside     

Regular readers will probably have guessed that Crosby Beach, where the River Mersey meets the Irish Sea a few miles to the north of the city of Liverpool, is one of our favourite places.

Fair play to the various local Christians who erect three crosses - and various texts from the Sacred Scriptures - there every Good Friday, ''for people to meet Jesus'' through their work. It is quite impressive to stand and pray there, with the wind blowing in your face, during the Easter weekend each year. The presence of those three crosses each year is a particularly powerful witness in these days of secularization.

On Easter Sunday morning, the central cross is draped with a white cloth to depict the burial clothes after the Resurrection. There is something very special about seeing this blowing in the coastal breeze.

We've drawn from the presence of those crosses to tell local observers about the Sacred Easter Triduum too!

Fr. Dean Hartnedy's Shrine - Steubenville, Ohio

Strange as it may sound, Union Cemetery in Steubenville, Ohio, is such a pleasant parkland-type of place that many locals, as well as faculty and students from Franciscan University, often go there for walks in the fresh air. Many students meet up there to talk, think and plan. We even know a married couple who went there for their first date. The man's wife used to laugh: ''He asked me to the cemetery for our first date and I still married him!'' Indeed, they went on to have, and homeschool, several children.

As well as the parkland feel of the place, we were attracted by the presence of blue jays, squirrels and remarkably tame deer among the graves, trees and walkways. (English readers might enjoy ''Googling'' the word ''Blue Jay'' to see just how beautiful they really are). 

During the period that we lived in Steubenville between 2004-2006, we used to walk around Union Cemetery, about twice a week, in the spring, summer and autumn months. It was a good reminder of the brevity of this life; and the bigger picture of things in God's providence. Such thoughts were probably encouraged by the fact that our graveyard meanderings invariably ended with a few minutes of prayer at the foot of Fr. Dean Hartnedy's hilltop shrine. Fr. Hartnedy served in St. Peter's parish and established the mission church of the Holy Name of Our Divine Lord in the late 1800's. He died and was buried in 1912. 

The stone shrine not only included Dean Hartnedy's mortal remains, but was encircled by the graves of numerous other Catholic priests, who had served around Steubenville over the years. Perhaps it was the presence of all those priests, maybe it was the prayers of various unknown students down through the years, perhaps it was just the ambience of the place; but there was a very tangible peace there.

When you are 4,000 miles from home, on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean, it can be very reassuring to look up to Our Lord on a life-size crucifix, like the one atop Dean Hartnedy's stone chapel.

You sort of felt Christ's care and concern for you there; as He looked down on you from up above. And with that perspective, you sensed just a tiny bit of what it might have been like to stand beneath Christ's Cross. That crucifix was powerful; it could call forth love from your heart. We went there with a few of the problems that we encountered in those years spent so far from home, family and close friends. 

That little stone chapel, with its rooftop crucifix was so special to us that, on both of the Good Fridays that we spent in America, we went up there after the 3.00pm liturgies and carefully placed a rose through its metal gated entrance.

After almost 10 years, it still remains in our memories as one of our favourite places on this earth.

The Cross of Christ, and the grace and example that He gives from it, remain essential foundations for the strengthening of any Christian marriage.

God willing, we'll share a few more of our favourite Calvaries in parts 2 and 3!

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