Faces of the Passion

The Virgin Mary

I belong to a church located in the city, where our parish makeup is more diverse from other Catholic parishes in Knoxville.  Our Hispanic community at Holy Ghost is a vibrant one, and one of their traditions is to re-enact the Stations of the Cross every Good Friday, following Jesus' route to His Crucifixion.

I went earlier than normal to do some portraits of those appearing in the re-enactment.  My Spanish is limited but I was able to convey what I wanted them to do for my camera.  Fortunately, there is an alley behind the old church next door, Holy Resurrection, that provides some good stone texture to fit the mood.

And yes, the mood is dark.  The story is, after all, one of death, as well as triumph over it.  In the Bible Belt where Catholicism is a minority denomination, many do not understand our devotion to the Passion.  But the fact remains - there is no Resurrection without it.

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ

And many thanks to the Hispanic community for humoring me in this project.  I will be printing these for them.  We had to do this quickly but they remained gracious throughout.

Satan

Roman centurion

Simon of Cyrene

St. John the Apostle

St. Veronica

Herod

St. Mary Magdalene

Caiaphas

Here are the remaining images.  Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.

If you want to see my images from the re-enactment, I invite you to visit Holy Ghost's Facebook page and view the album here.

Previous
Previous

The payoff is in the giving

Next
Next

ETC Cover Story: "Sharing the bread of Life"