In preparation for Easter, the Cristo Rey community gathered on Friday, March 8 for a prayerful telling of the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crusis, to contemplate and experience the telling of the This meaningful moment for our students was organized by Cristo Rey's campus minister Jaqueline Romo and the campus ministry team.
The Stations of the Cross is a series of images portraying the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his entombment. These images are familiar to Ms. Romo, who devoted her 2019 senior art thesis at Dominican University to reimagining this theme.
Her series, titled The Passion of the Monarcha Migrante, is composed of 15 images that tell the story of the passion interpreted by a Monarch butterfly. The butterfly represents Jesus, while also making reference to the U.S. immigrant population. Each image of Jaqui's unique depiction represents a significant moment in the journey of crossing the U.S.- Mexico border.
Of her work, Jaqueline said, “the Monarch butterfly has been used as a symbol of resilience for immigrants in the U.S. In its innate migration patterns, the Monarch butterfly is free to fly from the northern reaches of the US and Canada, feeding on the native milkweed plants, and flying back south to México to escape the cold winters.”
”I wanted my work to represent the political side of immigration and the people who are living with such vulnerability. My intention was to merge so many aspects of what I, as an undocumented person, have lived through—but in a hopeful way. If the Monarch butterfly didn’t make its difficult journey every year, successive generations would never exist.”
Jaqui's work continues to inspire. She was recently interviewed in “La Hora Cátolica” which was filmed in Cristo Rey's chapel of the Sacred Heart in early March.
You can learn more about Jaqueline and The Passion of the Monarcha Migrante in the following articles:
Grad student creates Stations of the Cross with migration theme - Chicagoland - Chicago Catholic
The Passion of the Monarca Migrante: a Latino Way of the Cross - Maryknoll Magazine
Jaqueline Romo ’19 creates A Migration Journey with woodcut prints | Dominican University