Behind the Song: Via Dolorosa
The Via Dolorosa is a popular song, made popular by Sandi Patty. The song tells the story of Jesus journey carrying his cross down the Via Dolorosa to the hill of Golgotha, where he would hang on the cross and die.
The song was written by Billy Sprague and Niles Borop. The song was first published in 1983 by Capitol CMG.
In an interview Patty spoke of the songs inspiration to her. “I think the challenge for a songwriter is always to find a new way to say the same story. When ‘Via Dolorosa’ came along my path, I was just blown away because it did just that. It told the story but in a new and fresh and incredibly artistic way.”
In Latin, the words Via Dolorosa means the “way of suffering”.
Patty also stated in a published interview, “Because of the words ‘via dolorosa’ being Latin and Spanish, we chose to do part of the song in Spanish. And that was always one of those little spur-of-the-moment decisions that proved to be a really powerful one as well.”
Yes I know she made the song more popular but what YEAR was it original written ? Because I can remember this song when I was a teenager in the late 60s right ?
I don’t know when the song was written but it was first published in 1983. Probably sometime around then.
Happy that song was written and sung by Patti Sandy in our generation; you just know it is one of God’s anointed songs from Heaven. Another example song would be: “Mary, Did You Know?”; right? Also, written in our generation; and both from America I believe; I know “Mary…” is from America….love, Debra
Yes, Thank you for sharing.