{"id":702309,"date":"2026-04-03T16:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/702309\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:07:15","slug":"devotees-commemorate-49th-annual-via-crucis-in-pilsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/702309\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotees commemorate 49th annual &#8216;Via Crucis&#8217; in Pilsen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds marched alongside a bloodied man carrying a wooden cross down West 18th Street in Pilsen on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>The man, wearing a crown of thorns and white sheet, was dressed as Jesus Christ for the 49th annual \u201cVia Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d a Good Friday tradition that commemorates his passion and life. <\/p>\n<p>The procession retraces the journey of Jesus Christ leading to his crucifixion. It regularly draws hundreds of Catholic devotees who come together to honor and uphold the traditions of their faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis weekend is a time for reflection and a time of renewing promises,\u201d said Ivy Blanco of Stickney.<\/p>\n<p>Blanco said attending the procession is a yearly tradition for her family, but it felt different this year. She said her father, who died last year, was noticeably absent from Friday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is something that he really enjoyed,\u201d said Blanco. \u201cHe worked for the Catholic church for many years in Puerto Rico so it was important for me to continue to attend.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>                            <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-7d0000\" name=\"image-7d0000\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"JO8A7235.jpg\"  width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/9bf015e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1620x1080+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F85%2F92%2F94139fa944d3b5027e6de301df15%2Fjo8a7235.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Devotees participate in \u201cPilsen Via Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d which reenacts the events portrayed in the 14 Stations of the Cross, on Good Friday as part of the commemoration of the Lenten season.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<p>                            <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-3c0000\" name=\"image-3c0000\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"JO8A7224.jpg\"  width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/02a711f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1620x1080+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fa8%2Ffc%2F97c64fd2423881a9aa889303fe77%2Fjo8a7224.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Devotees participate in \u201cPilsen Via Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d which reenacts the events portrayed in the 14 Stations of the Cross, on Good Friday as part of the commemoration of the Lenten season.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<p>                            <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-9d0000\" name=\"image-9d0000\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"JO8A7037 (1).jpg\"  width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a92d02f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1620x1080+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fda%2F3c%2Fc83c5428496890954f808c8088f7%2Fjo8a7037-1.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Devotees participate in \u201cPilsen Via Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d which reenacts the events portrayed in the 14 Stations of the Cross, on Good Friday as part of the commemoration of the Lenten season.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<p>                            <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-1c0000\" name=\"image-1c0000\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"JO8A7208.jpg\"  width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/71005bd\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1620x1080+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2F14%2Fbed74ded44d89c7d31eebe64158a%2Fjo8a7208.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Devotees participate in \u201cPilsen Via Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d which reenacts the events portrayed in the 14 Stations of the Cross, on Good Friday as part of the commemoration of the Lenten season.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n<p>                            <a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-120000\" name=\"image-120000\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"JO8A7026.jpg\"  width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/0f68d28\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1620x1080+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F24%2Fd7%2F703c139e45fbb04454da072e66ac%2Fjo8a7026.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Devotees participate in \u201cPilsen Via Crucis: Living Way of the Cross,\u201d which reenacts the events portrayed in the 14 Stations of the Cross, on Good Friday as part of the commemoration of the Lenten season.<\/p>\n<p>Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds marched alongside a bloodied man carrying a wooden cross down West 18th Street in Pilsen on Friday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":702310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-702309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116341641296315151","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}