Thousands participate in Good Friday tradition of 'praying the steps'

A tradition dating back to the 1850s is underway on Good Friday in Mount Adams. “Praying the Steps” up to Holy Cross - Immaculate Parish began at midnight on Good Friday. The tradition brings worshipers of all faiths to the base of the steps leading up to Holy Cross - Immaculata. In the late 1850s, Archbishop Purcell asked people to climb the hillside, praying that enough money would be raised to build Immaculata Church. Decades ago, it was just a dirt path until wooden steps were built and then the current concrete ones that came in 1911.