Page:The Way of the Holy Cross Martin.djvu/15

 Lord upon the soil which His divine feet had trod." Still, numberless as were the pilgrims who undertook annually the painful and oftentimes dangerous expedition to the Holy Land, there were nevertheless many thousands who sighed devoutly for the privileges which their circumstances did not allow them to enjoy. Deprived, however, of the chance of ever seeing the holy places, they wished to behold, at least, the representation of them; and thus, without quitting their country, to honour their Lord's Passion, by commemorating its mysteries in the same way as they would have done on the very soil where those mysteries were accomplished. The order of St. Francis, to which St. Louis had given the Holy Sepulchre in charge, and the members of which conducted the Stations of the pilgrims on their arrival in Jerusalem, encouraged this pious feeling in every way. They erected Calvaries in various places, surrounded them with Stations, or pictures representing the chief circumstances of our Lord's last painful