Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 1

a Lenten Special

By tradition, our family performs the Via Crucis on the Holy Week. In the 90s, we preferred doing the rites at the Celestial Gardens in Banawa, but of late we moved to the Tabor Hills in Talamban whose Stations of the Cross trail opened to the public about 2002.


the Church at Tabor Hills



my mom praying before St Rita of Cascia


The popularity of Tabor Hills of the Order of the Discalced Augustinians’ (OAD) can be traced to its proximity to the city and to its pre-eminence as a repository of reliquaries of minute bone fragments of St. Longinus, St. Joseph Arimathea, St. Mary of Salome, St. Mary of Cleophas, St. Mary of James, St. Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist.


genuflecting before a station of the cross


An altar beside the church also contains alleged fragments of the wooden cross of St. Dimas who was crucified beside Christ, the stone from the birth home of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the cross of Jesus Christ, the wood from the table of the Last Supper, the pillar of the scourging of Jesus, the red mantle of the Passion of Jesus, the Holy Shroud, the stone where Jesus suffered His agony, a rock from the Garden of Olives, the sepulcher stone of Jesus and a stone from Calvary.


the crowd at Tabor Hills on early Maundy Thursday morning


In reflection of the Holy Week, here is a photographic Via Crucis of the Tabor Hills, in two parts.


I. Jesus is condemned to death



II. Jesus is given His cross



III. Jesus falls the first time



IV. Jesus meets His Mother



V. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross



VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus


to be concluded tomorrow in Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 2