The history of Via Lucis
The history of Via Lucis dates back to the late 1960s. It was then that the idea of the Way of Light, a reflective experience between Easter and Pentecost, was born to help the faithful understand and experience more deeply the events of the New Testament and the joy of the Resurrection.
Louis Évely, a Belgian Catholic priest, designed the seven stations of the Way of Light, modeled on the Passion of Christ. In 1988, the Salesians' Father Sabino Palumbieri expanded this to the fourteen stations we know today, based on an ancient inscription found on the wall of the catacombs of San Callisto in Rome. The first known Via Lucis, a wood carving by former Salesian disciple Giovanni Dragoni, was blessed on Easter in 1994 in the Basilica of St. John Bosco, Colle Don Bosco. Later, Dragoni also made the metal stations along the old Roman road to the catacombs of San Callisto.
The Via Lucis was officially recognized by the Holy See on the occasion of the Jubilee Holy Year 2000. Subsequently, in 2002, it was proclaimed the "Way of the Resurrection, the Way of Light, Via Lucis" in the announcement of the Directory of Popular Piety and Liturgy.
The Via Lucis in Hungary
In the heart of Europe, from Mariazell in Austria to Csíksomlyó in Transylvania - stretches the Marian Pilgrimage Route (Via Mariæ), which, based on the Marian veneration of the Central European peoples, connects the places of worship and the historical and cultural sites along the route. In Hungary, Péliföldszentkereszt is located amid the Gerecse Mountains, where – at the ancient pilgrimage site of the Salesians of the Order of St. Stephen – the VIA LUCIS sculpture group by Péter Párkányi Raab, a Kossuth Prize-winning sculptor, was inaugurated and blessed on September 14, 2022, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
The sculpture groups depicting the fourteen stations of the Way of Light is the first of its kind in Hungary but is also unique in Europe. The biblical moments carved in stone depict the encounters of the resurrected Christ up to the ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit. The Way of Light shows the events between the Resurrection and the first Pentecost, thereby indicating that Christ's earthly presence does not end at Golgotha.
    
Via Lucis exhibitions
The exhibitions present the sculptures erected in Péliföldszentkereszt, Hungary. In exhibitions in the cities close to the Via Mariæ areas – Vászoly, Székesfehérvár, Budapest, Székelyudvarhely and Nyergesújfalu – sculptor Péter Párkányi Raab emphasized the following during his opening remarks: "In our own lives we all go through our own stations, some easier, some harder. But our human quality is defined by the way we walk our stations and keep to the path."
    
The photos of the Rome exhibition are the same size as the original sculptures and were taken by the artist himself, Péter Párkányi Raab.
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