Calvary (sanctuary)

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Sacro Monte di Varallo, Tabacchetti and Giovanni d'Enrico, Christ on the Road to Calvary, 1599-1600, sculpted main figures and a fresco behind Sacro Monte di Varallo Fig3.JPG
Sacro Monte di Varallo, Tabacchetti and Giovanni d'Enrico, Christ on the Road to Calvary, 1599-1600, sculpted main figures and a fresco behind
Devotions at Zemaiciu Kalvarija in Lithuania, 2006 Zemaiciu Kalvarijos baznycia misios, 2006.jpg
Devotions at Žemaičių Kalvarija in Lithuania, 2006
Chapels at the Sacro Monte di Oropa Sacro Monte di Oropa. Cappelle.JPG
Chapels at the Sacro Monte di Oropa
The Conception of Mary at the Sacro Monte di Oropa Sacro Monte di Oropa. Fig.1.JPG
The Conception of Mary at the Sacro Monte di Oropa
Chapels in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 040.jpg
Chapels in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Mystery play at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, 2011 Misterium Meki.jpg
Mystery play at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, 2011

A calvary, also called calvary hill, Sacred Mount, or Sacred Mountain, is a type of Christian sacred place, built on the slopes of a hill, composed by a set of chapels, usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims' way. It is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and takes its name after Calvary, the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.

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Sacro Monte di Domodossola Domodossola Sacro Monte.jpg
Sacro Monte di Domodossola
Calvary hill in Maria Lanzendorf (1700) Maria-Lanzendorf - Kalvarienberg.JPG
Calvary hill in Maria Lanzendorf (1700)

These function as greatly expanded versions of the Stations of the Cross that are usual in Catholic churches, allowing the devout to follow the progress of the stages of the Passion of Christ along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Each chapel contains a large image of the scene from the Passion it commemorates, sometimes in sculpture, that may be up to life-size. This kind of shrine was especially popular in the Baroque period when the Holy Land was under Ottoman Turkish rule and it was dangerous and highly difficult to make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Calvaries were especially popular with the Franciscan and Jesuit orders, and are most common in Italy, the Catholic regions of Germany, and Habsburg-ruled Central Europe. They were usually placed in parks near a church or a monastery, typically on a hill which the visitor gradually ascends. Italian ones are usually called a sacro monte ("holy mountain" or "hill"); there are a group of nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy that are especially notable; their dates of foundation vary between 1486 and 1712. Devotions would be most popular in Passion Week, before Easter, when large processions around the stations would be held, and mystery plays might also be acted. If a calvary was established in an inhabited place, it might result in a location of a new village or town. Several villages and towns are named after such a complex.[ citation needed ]

Terminology

The Mount of Calvary was the site outside the gates of Jerusalem where the crucifixion of Christ took place. The scene was replicated around the world in numerous "calvary hills" after the Counter-Reformation and they are used by Roman Catholics in particular as part of their worship and veneration of God.

The term is derived from St Jerome's Ecclesiastical Latin translation in the Vulgate of the Aramaic name for original hill, Golgotha , where it is termed calvariae locus "the place of the skull". [1] [2] Martin Luther translated Golgatha as "skull place" (Scheddelstet). This translation is debated; at the very least it is not clear whether it referred to the shape of the hill, its use as a place of execution or burial or refers to something else. [3]

"Calvary hill" today refers to a roughly life-size depiction of the scenes of the Passion of Christ, with sculptures of additional figures. These scenes are set up on the slopes of a hill. The traditional fourteen stations of the cross are usually laid out on the way up to the top of the pilgrimage hill and there is often a small, remote church or chapel located between a few dozen to several hundred metres away.

Calvary hills must not be confused with calvaries, which are a specific type of wayside monumental crucifix, a tradition mostly found in Brittany especially in the Finistère, built in parish closes between 1450 and the 17th century.

Calvaries in the world

Austria

Burgenland

Carinthia

Lower Austria

Upper Austria

Salzburg

Styria

Tyrol

  • Calvary Hill Chapel, Arzl, in the Innsbruck quarter of Arzl
  • in Kufstein
  • Calvary Hill, Thaur

Vienna

Belarus

Belgium

Bolivia

Canada

Croatia

Czech Republic

Chapels at the calvary in Jiretin pod Jedlovou, Czech Republic Jiretin pJ Calvary Pik.JPG
Chapels at the calvary in Jiřetín pod Jedlovou, Czech Republic

Ethiopia

England

Mount St Bernard Abbey, Leicestershire.

Germany

(in alphabetical order by place)

Greece

Hungary

Italy

Lithuania

A 17th century Verkiai Calvary in Vilnius, Lithuania, c. 1840s Khrutsky Vilnius Calvary.jpg
A 17th century Verkiai Calvary in Vilnius, Lithuania, c. 1840s

Poland

Chapels at the calvary in Gora Swietej Anny, Poland Gora sw. Anny, kaplica Sw. Schodow i Ratusz Pilata, xxkazik.jpg
Chapels at the calvary in Góra Świętej Anny, Poland
Chapels at the Pakosc Calvary, Poland Kalwaria Pakoska9.jpg
Chapels at the Pakość Calvary, Poland

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

United States

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacro Monte di Orta</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacro Monte di Ghiffa</span>

The Sacred Mountain of Ghiffa is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Ghiffa, Piedmont, northern Italy, overlooking the Lake Maggiore. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in UNESCO World Heritage list.

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The Sacro Monte del Santuario di San Giovanni Battista d'Andorno is the Sacro Monte built around a sanctuary in the Cervo Valley above the village of Campiglia Cervo, at an altitude of 1020 meters. It is the only sanctuary devoted to Saint John in Italy and probably in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacro Monte di Arona</span>

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References

  1. "translation of calvariae by Whitaker's Words". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  2. Bibliotheca Augustana: Hieronimi Vulgata, Evangelium Secondum Lucam, 23:33
  3. "Mount Calvary" article in the Catholic Encyclopedia (English)
  4. Kalvarienberg neben Kartause Aggsbach, Wachau / Österreich
  5. Kalvarienberg in Leoben, Steiermark/Österreich
  6. The stations of the cross on the calvary hill in Moresnet / Belgien
  7. Kalvarienberg Archived 2018-10-08 at the Wayback Machine auf panoramio.com
  8. "Sights". Doľany, Pezinok District . Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  9. William Bell Mitchell (1915), History of Stearns County; Volume I, H.R. Cooper & Co. Chicago. Page 600.
  10. Patricia Kelly White (2004), St. Mary's: Mother Church of St. Cloud. 150 Years, Published by the Parish of St. Mary's Cathedral, St. Cloud, Minnesota. Page 24.
  11. Way of the Cross

Literature

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French: