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This Friday, the celebration of the Passion of Jesus Christ at Sainte Rรฉparate Cathedral at 7 PM will be followed at 8:30 PM by the Stations of the Cross in 14 stations, illustrated by contemporary artists in the streets of the old town.
This procession is part of the religious traditions of the County of Nice. Thus, during the Holy Thursday mass representing the Lord’s Last Supper, it is customary for a political official or a leader of a Penitents’ confraternity to replicate Jesus’ gesture with his disciples by washing the feet. Previously, on Sunday, Palm Sunday will have been celebrated with these palm branches woven by the skill of anonymous artists.
On Friday, Jesus will surrender for our sins on the cross. 14 stations from his arrest to Golgotha where he is crucified, handed over to Roman authority, the only one authorized to apply the death penalty, by the religious authorities. It is these fourteen stages leading to crucifixion, illustrated by artists along the path of Calvary in the alleys of old Nice.
This march towards the death of Jesus is a page of history that we know and yet it challenges us each time about Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s desertion, Pilate’s cowardice, who understood very well but lets it happen and releases a murderer, the fickle people acclaiming Jesus and then crying out and demanding his execution.
It is thus an appointment filled with spirituality to which we are invited this Friday, March 30th at 7 PM for the service of the Passion with the choir of the Cathedral of Nice and a procession in this old town where the churches and penitents’ chapels are witnesses of the Faith of our ancestors today perpetuated by those who dare to confess being Christians in a world disrupted by the consumer society and materialism.
Thierry Jan
