The passion of Christ plays a significant role in Catholic services and devotions, especially the popular Way of the Cross, or Way of Sorrows, which is observed during Lent before the Easter celebration. The symbolic representation of these events at various locations in visual form is venerated in the Catholic Faith. The paper examines and interprets the meanings of the Stations of the Cross representations in the study area to establish the significance of art in the service of the Roman Catholic Church. The article employs a qualitative research approach. Art-historical analysis, which is formal, was used to analyse the data, while iconological and hermeneutic interpretations of the works were given, engaging Kant’s Theory of metaphor. It was found out that the fourteen Stations of the Cross are commissioned by the church for meditation and devotion during Lent and all Fridays of the year to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who was killed on Friday. Findings also show that the Stations of the Cross are generally symbolic of the Catholic Faith, representing the passion, suffering and crucifixion of Christ on the Cross, which is the symbol of shame and humiliation. The article concludes that Stations of the Cross are venerated and holy objects consecrated to evoke worship and the divine presence of God during the devotion of The Way of the Cross.
Keywords: Art, Church, Metaphor, Roman Catholic, Stations of the Cross, passion of Christ
