The reenactment is entering its 47th year

At 8:51 p.m. on Friday, March 8, Jesus Christ was crucified in a church basement.

Not literally, of course. It’s a part of Providence of God Church’s Via Crucis, also known as Stations of the Cross. It’s a reenactment on 18th Street of Jesus’s last day on Earth. The reenactment ends with Jesus, played by Tony Diaz, being “nailed” to a cross in Harrison Park. A sign in front of the church reads:  

VIA CRUCIS

9 A.M.

FRIDAY 

Via Crucis is not this Friday. It’s not every Friday, either. The sign was put up years ago and has remained unchanged ever since. No need for change anyways. Everybody knows that Providence of God’s Via Crucis is on Good Friday, as it has been for the past 47 years.

On the Tuesdays and Fridays leading up to Good Friday, volunteers spend their evenings practicing in the church’s basement. Diaz stands on a stage, delivering lines in Spanish and, for the first time in the church’s history, English. 

Photo by Annabelle Rivera.

“One of the more important scenes and one of the more important lines that I’ve felt is in English,” Diaz said. “[Jesus] says, ‘all of my life. I have walked in the light. I have spoken the light. Why do you come and grab me, like a thief in the night?’”

Diaz is not an actor. None of the people there really are. They’re all volunteers, coming to the church after work and school.  

“There’s people that come from pretty far. I was talking with one family, it’s the mom, dad, son and daughter that come,” said Diaz. “The dad works up on the North Side and they live all the way on the South Side. He says he drives after work, he goes home and picks up his family, and then they come back here. So he’s crossing the whole city trying to get here and him, his wife and their family, they’ve been doing this for years.”

In the basement of Providence of God, it’s not hard to see why people feel so passionately about Via Crucis. Everyone plays a role in making the reenactment and despite being a small group, it is a well-oiled machine. Some of the volunteers have been doing this for years, including organizer Nellie Quintana.

“I’ve been here since I was ten,” Quintana said. “A long time ago!”

Diaz has lived on 18th Street his entire life. His family came straight to Pilsen from Mexico and never left. According to Diaz, it’s the closest place to home outside of Mexico. 

“I went to Catholic school, just around the corner from my house,” said Diaz. “We would do our own little version of Stations of the Cross there and the eighth graders got to play the roles in the stations and I always wanted to be Jesus. I didn’t get a chance to be that there.”

Diaz’s journey with Via Crucis at Providence of God began in 2021. After falling in love with photography by taking classes at DePaul, he was asked by his cousin to accompany her to a Via Crucis practice and take pictures. After the practice, he told his cousin that, if they were looking for a Jesus, he would love to do it. In January of this year, he got the call.

Now Diaz is busy memorizing massive amounts of lines and practicing being “nailed” to the cross (no Tony Diazes were harmed in the making of this Via Crucis). He has to act and carry the cross from the church to Harrison Park, a whopping 1.2 miles. 

Photo by Annabelle Rivera.

“My dad’s retired and he lives in Mexico, but he’s coming for it,” said Diaz. “I’m really excited for that. I have other aunts and uncles who are taking the day off from work. Everyone’s making their own little sacrifices to be here and they’re all excited for it.”

Inside the Providence of God basement, Diaz walks in a circle, carrying the cross with him. Other volunteers walk with him, saying their lines and practicing blocking. It’s what they’ll do on 18th Street when the time comes to reenact the story of Jesus’s death. But now, the community that has gathered in the church is smiling and laughing.

Photo by Annabelle Rivera.

“I run the marathon every year and this is my favorite part of the marathon… whenever you see an Instagram post of the Chicago Marathon and they’re like, what’s your favorite neighborhood? You see hundreds and hundreds of people say ‘18th Street, 18th Street,’” said Diaz. “It’s like, I’ve lived here my entire life, and when I run the marathon, I’m in tears as soon as I cross onto 18th Street, and so 1.2 miles, it’s not a lot. It will be more carrying the cross but, I mean, it’s my whole community here and there’s, like, no way I don’t get to where I have to get to. Yeah, I love this community.”

Providence of God’s Via Crucis takes place on March 29 at 9 a.m. on 717 W 18th St. 

Volunteers for the reenactment are still needed.

Header by Annabelle Rivera