Rennes-le-Chateau - Haute Garonne Stations of the Cross

Looking at the three Stations of the Cross below, at first glance you may think they were the Stations of the Cross from Sauniere's Rennes-le-Chateau Church, but they are not, they are from a church in the Haute-Garonne area of France.

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 1

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 1 - 2 - 3

Below are the equivalent Stations of the Cross from Sauniere's Mary Magdalene Church.

Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross 1 - 2 - 3

Although there are subtle differences between some of the details of the Rennes-le-Chateau and Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross, perhaps evidence they are not from the exact same mold, it is obvious they are both based on the same design.

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 4 - 5 - 6

Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross 4 - 5 - 6

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 7 - 8 - 9

Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross 7 - 8 - 9

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 10 - 11 - 12

Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross 10 - 11 - 12

Haute-Garonne Stations of the Cross 13 - 14

Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross 13 - 14

Ignoring the different colour variations between the two, the differences between some Stations are obvious, like missing figures -Station 13 above is a good example -people facing in different directions, etc.

Others are harder to spot and may be nothing more that the distance between certain details, or slightly different clothing, or figure details. This probably means Abbé Sauniere's Stations of the Cross were chosen from a slightly different version of the same design. Or maybe he changed certain details himself.

Except for the different colours, both sets of frames are identical.

Similar Stations of the Cross 1 - 10 - 14

Thank you to Christian Attard and François Pous for their research and for tracking down these Stations of the Cross, and their kind permission to use some of their excellent Haute-Geronne photographs in this article. Except for the Rennes-le-Chateau Stations of the Cross, all images in this article are the copyright of François Pous.