Franciscan devotion

1. Introduction

Version followed: St Bonaventure's Itinerarium mentis in Deum (The Mind's Road to God) in George Boas's English translation; the Stations of the Cross (Way of the Cross, Via Crucis) as described in a Secular Franciscan Order (USA) formation resource (Ream and Ream, rev. 2017), read within the principles of the Holy See's Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (Congregation for Divine Worship, 2001). The life of St Francis of Assisi at La Verna is described as a Secular Franciscan author presents it (Thoman 2024). [source: Boas tr.; SFO-USA "Origins of the Stations of the Cross"; Directory nos. 7, 11–13, 73–74, 79–80; Thoman 2024]

Franciscan devotion is a family of openly taught Catholic prayer practices centred on the humanity and Passion of Christ and on God's presence in creation. Two are covered here. (1) Bonaventure's Itinerarium is a contemplative ascent in six stages, which Bonaventure reads from the vision of the six-winged Seraph in the likeness of the Crucified that the tradition says Francis received on Mount La Verna (Alverna). The mind rises from God's traces in the sensible world, to God's image in the soul, to God above the soul as Being and Good, and finally "passes over" with Christ crucified into rest in God. (2) The Stations of the Cross is a walked or seated meditation on fourteen scenes of Christ's Passion, which the Franciscans popularised and, from 1686, were granted the right to erect. [source: Boas tr., Prologue §§1–3 and chapter headings; SFO-USA resource]

In the tradition's own terms, change is not self-produced. Prayer is "the mother and source of ascent" (Boas tr., ch. 1 §1), progress depends on grace, and the goal is union with God through Christ crucified. Reading without devotion is insufficient: Bonaventure warns against supposing it suffices "to read without unction" (Prologue §4). The Stations are understood as a miniature pilgrimage engaging the senses, heart, mind and body. These are theological claims of the tradition, described here, neither asserted nor dismissed. [source: Boas tr.; SFO-USA resource]

For the psychotherapist this is a religious practice the client brings, not a therapy the therapist delivers. The therapist's work is client-led integration within spiritually integrated psychotherapy (cross-refer Domain VII), attention to trauma, scrupulosity and adverse experiences, and referral to a spiritual director, Franciscan friar or sister, Secular Franciscan formator or parish priest for the practice itself. [synthesis]

2. Framework

No session counts or durations are given in the sources for either practice; none are stated here. Neither practice is a clinical protocol, and the tradition presents the Itinerarium as a lifelong path rather than a course. [source: Boas tr.; SFO-USA resource]

2a. The Itinerarium: preparation and six stages (as the text structures it)

Preparation (Prologue §4). The reader is to bring prayer, devotion, compunction and desire; speculation, reading and study without these are inadequate. Goal: the right disposition. Criterion for moving on (tradition's terms): the reader prays rather than only studies. [source: Boas tr., Prologue §4]
Three directions. Chapter 1 frames the ascent as passing through God's traces outside us, the image within us, and the light above us; each is taken twice, giving six stages that correspond to six powers of the soul: sense, imagination, reason, intellect, intelligence and synteresis (the apex of conscience). [source: Boas tr., ch. 1]
Stages 1–2: God in and through the sensible world (chs 1–2). Creation as ladder and mirror: God is found in creatures by essence, power and presence; delight and judgement in what the senses receive lead the mind towards eternal rules. [source: Boas tr., chs 1–2]
Stage 3: the image in the natural powers (ch. 3). Memory, intellect and will are read as reflecting the Trinity; the arts and sciences are read in the same way. [source: Boas tr., ch. 3]
Stage 4: the image reformed by grace (ch. 4). Faith, hope and charity, and the spiritual senses, restore the image; Christ is mediator, "door" and ladder; Scripture guides the soul. [source: Boas tr., ch. 4]
Stage 5: God as Being (ch. 5) and Stage 6: God as Good, the Trinity (ch. 6). The mind contemplates divine unity under the name Being, then the Trinity under the name Good (the good is self-diffusive), and arrives at wonder at the union of God and humanity in Christ, figured by the two Cherubim facing the mercy seat. [source: Boas tr., chs 5–6]
Completion: passing over (ch. 7). The chapter heading describes repose given to the intellect when the affections pass entirely into God. A published excerpt of the chapter presents Christ as "both the way and the door" and invites the reader to make a "pasch", a passing-over, with Christ through the cross, gazing on the Crucified with faith, hope, charity, gratitude, wonder and joy. [source: Boas tr., table of contents; The Catholic Thing excerpt, 15 July 2024, translation not named] Further detail of chapter 7 [uncertain: not verified].

The text does not set timings or a test of readiness for each stage. Spiritual directors in the tradition, not the therapist, guide pacing. [synthesis]

2b. The Stations of the Cross

Form. Fourteen stations, each a scene from the Passion, set around a church or along an outdoor route. The person moves from station to station, says prayers at each and meditates on the scene it represents. [source: SFO-USA resource]
Public form. In communal celebration a stanza of the Stabat Mater is often sung between stations. [source: SFO-USA resource]
Season. The Directory places the Stations among the pious exercises of Lent (nos. 131–135); the detailed guidance in those paragraphs [uncertain: not verified]. Many parishes hold the Stations on Fridays in Lent [uncertain: not verified].
History, in brief. Pilgrims in Jerusalem walked the route to Calvary; European imitations followed; the fourteen-station series was fixed under Clement XII (1731); Innocent XI (1686) granted the Franciscans the right to erect Stations; St Leonard of Port Maurice (1676–1751), a Franciscan, preached the devotion and reportedly erected Stations in 571 places, including the Colosseum. The exact origin is uncertain even in the tradition's own account. [source: SFO-USA resource]

2c. Where the therapist's work sits

Assessment: what the practice means to the client, how they practise it, with whom, and what it does for them.
Integration: with consent, the client's own practice becomes material for therapy (meaning, compassion, grief, guilt, suffering).
Monitoring and adaptation: trauma, scrupulosity, adverse experiences, physical health.
Referral and collaboration for the practice itself.

Movement between these is guided by the client's goals and safety, not by a fixed sequence. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

Pious exercises are optional and subordinate to the liturgy (Directory nos. 11, 73–74). Practical meaning: a client who drops or changes a devotion has not left the faith; do not treat devotional frequency as a measure of religious health. [source: Directory]
The Gospel is the standard for all piety (Directory no. 12). Practical meaning: if a devotion has become harsh or fear-driven, the client's own tradition offers a standard to question it with, which a priest or director can help apply. [source: Directory]
Passion devotion belongs within the Resurrection (Directory no. 80; Thoman 2024: suffering "does not have the final word"). Practical meaning: meditation on suffering that never reaches hope is out of balance in the tradition's own terms; this is a legitimate in-tradition reframe. [source: Directory no. 80; Thoman 2024]
Prayer and grace precede technique (Itinerarium Prologue, ch. 1). Practical meaning: do not turn the six stages into a performance target; the client's relationship with God, as they hold it, is the frame. [source: Boas tr.]
Creation as mirror of God (chs 1–2). Practical meaning: Franciscan clients may find nature, beauty and the senses legitimate places of prayer, a resource for grounding. [source: Boas tr.; application synthesis]
Client-led, consent-based integration in the client's own language. Practical meaning: use the client's terms ("the Passion", "Our Lady of Sorrows", "grace"); never introduce a practice the client has not chosen. [synthesis]
The therapist is not a spiritual director, confessor or religious teacher. Practical meaning: theological questions, discernment of religious experience and matters of sin and absolution go to the client's priest or director. [synthesis]
Religious claims are attributed. Practical meaning: speak of "the stigmata as the Franciscan tradition reports them", "what you experienced as God's presence", neither confirming nor debunking. [synthesis]
Historical austerity is described, never prescribed. Practical meaning: Francis's fasts and penances are part of the tradition's story; the therapist neither recommends nor ridicules them, and routes any health effect to the client's doctor. [synthesis]
Watch for adverse effects in any absorbed or intensive prayer. Practical meaning: anxiety, depression and unusual experiences can arise in contemplative practice, including in people with no prior history (Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica). [source: Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica]
Compunction is not scrupulosity. Practical meaning: sorrow for sin is a value in the tradition; repetitive, fear-driven confession or prayer that conflicts with the person's own values suggests OCD (IOCDF). [source: IOCDF]

4. Intervention inventory

Part A (4.1–4.9) describes the practices as the tradition openly teaches them, in paraphrase, so the therapist understands what the client is doing. These are taught and guided by the tradition's own teachers; the therapist does not lead them as a spiritual exercise. Part B (4.10–4.19) is the therapist's own work alongside them.

Part A. The practices as the tradition teaches them

4.1 Preparing the dispositions (Itinerarium, Prologue)

Purpose / when: The tradition's starting point for the ascent. Relevant when a client describes trying to "get somewhere" in prayer by effort or study alone. [source: Boas tr., Prologue §4]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Begin with prayer, asking for grace, since the text treats prayer as the source of ascent. (2) Bring devotion and compunction (sorrow for one's faults) rather than curiosity alone. (3) Bring desire for God. (4) Read and reflect only within this attitude. [source: Boas tr., Prologue §4, ch. 1 §1]
Example language (illustrative): "Bonaventure starts with prayer and desire rather than technique. When you sit down to pray with this text, what are you hoping for?"
Watch for: Compunction tipping into self-condemnation or repetitive confession (see 4.15). Working: the client describes prayer as relational and freer, not as a test they are failing. [synthesis]

4.2 Contemplating God's traces in creation (Itinerarium chs 1–2)

Purpose / when: The first two stages: seeing creatures as "vestiges" of God, a ladder and mirror. A strongly Franciscan emphasis that clients often find accessible. [source: Boas tr., chs 1–2]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Attend to created things through the senses: their being, order, beauty, proportion. (2) Notice delight in them. (3) Notice the judgement by which one recognises them as beautiful or fitting. (4) Let this lead to the God the text sees reflected in them, by essence, power and presence. [source: Boas tr., chs 1–2]
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned the garden is where you feel closest to God. Would it help to spend a moment on what you notice there, in your own way of praying?"
Watch for: Pressure to feel delight when depressed; offer it as an invitation, not a task. Working: the practice supports grounding and positive affect without forcing an experience. Cross-refer Domain II for secular sensory grounding. [synthesis]

4.3 Turning inward: the image in the natural powers (Itinerarium ch. 3)

Purpose / when: The third stage: the mind reflects on its own memory, intellect and will as an image of the Trinity. [source: Boas tr., ch. 3]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Turn from outward things to the mind itself. (2) Consider memory (holding past and present), understanding and love/will. (3) Read these, in the tradition's terms, as reflecting the Trinity, and the arts and sciences likewise. [source: Boas tr., ch. 3]
Example language (illustrative): "In your tradition your own mind is seen as an image of God. How does that sit with how you have been speaking about yourself lately?"
Watch for: Rumination or intellectualising; heavy philosophical reading in a depressed or obsessional client. Working: dignity and self-worth framed in the client's faith terms. [synthesis]

4.4 The image reformed by grace (Itinerarium ch. 4)

Purpose / when: The fourth stage: the soul's image restored by faith, hope and charity, the spiritual senses and Scripture, with Christ as door and ladder. [source: Boas tr., ch. 4]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Acknowledge that the mind cannot enter itself unaided, in the text's view. (2) Turn to Christ as mediator. (3) Exercise faith, hope and charity. (4) Read Scripture in its senses (the text discusses a threefold spiritual meaning). [source: Boas tr., ch. 4]
Example language (illustrative): "You said you feel too broken to pray. In the part of Bonaventure you have been reading, where does grace come in?"
Watch for: A client using "grace" to bypass needed change or treatment; or feeling excluded from grace (possible depression, scrupulosity, moral injury). [synthesis]

4.5 Contemplating God as Being and as Good (Itinerarium chs 5–6)

Purpose / when: Stages five and six: contemplation of the divine unity under the name Being and of the Trinity under the name Good, ending in wonder at the union of God and humanity in Christ (the image of the Cherubim and the mercy seat). Highly theological; usually undertaken through study and spiritual direction. [source: Boas tr., chs 5–6]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Consider God as pure Being, the first name of God in the text. (2) Consider the Good as self-diffusive and so, in the text, as Trinitarian. (3) Move, as the text puts it, from wonder at what cannot be fully grasped into contemplation. (4) See these joined in Christ. [source: Boas tr., chs 5–6]
Example language (illustrative): "This part of the book sounds like it is for you and your director to work through. In here, I am more interested in what it stirs in you."
Watch for: The therapist being drawn into theology (refer). Working: wonder and meaning rather than strain. [synthesis]

4.6 Passing over with Christ crucified (Itinerarium ch. 7)

Purpose / when: The completion of the ascent, in the text's terms: rest for the intellect as the affections pass into God, through Christ as "the way and the door". [source: Boas tr., table of contents; The Catholic Thing excerpt]
Steps (as publicly described, paraphrased): (1) Turn to the Crucified, figured as the mercy seat. (2) Gaze on him with faith, hope, charity, gratitude, wonder and joy. (3) Make the "pasch" with him, passing over through the cross, as Israel passed through the sea into the desert. (4) Rest, leaving activity of the intellect aside, as the chapter heading puts it. Detailed reading of chapter 7 [uncertain: not verified]. [source: The Catholic Thing excerpt; Boas tr.]
Example language (illustrative): "When you pray in that quieter way, what happens in your body and your mood afterwards?"
Watch for: This is a form of absorbed, non-discursive prayer. Ask about adverse experiences as in 4.14 (anxiety, depersonalisation, loss of sense of self, perceptual change). Working: the client reports peace that carries into daily life and relationships. [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; synthesis]

4.7 Praying the Stations of the Cross alone

Purpose / when: A Passion meditation in fourteen scenes, especially in Lent; the tradition presents it as a miniature pilgrimage of body, senses, heart and mind. [source: SFO-USA resource]
Steps (as taught, paraphrased): (1) Go to the first station in a church or along a route (or use a printed or online set). (2) At each station, recall the scene, say a prayer and meditate on it. (3) Walk on to the next. (4) Complete the fourteen. Specific prayer texts vary by booklet and author. [source: SFO-USA resource]
Example language (illustrative): "Which station do you find yourself staying at longest? What do you think draws you there?"
Watch for: Graphic or violent imagery for trauma survivors (4.13); self-punishing identification with suffering (section 5). Working: compassion, consolation, a sense of not suffering alone. [synthesis]

4.8 Communal Stations with the Stabat Mater

Purpose / when: The parish form, often in Lent; a stanza of the Stabat Mater (the hymn of Mary standing by the cross) is often sung between stations. [source: SFO-USA resource]
Steps (as practised, paraphrased): (1) A leader announces each station. (2) Prayers and meditation are led at the station. (3) The group moves on while a stanza is sung. [source: SFO-USA resource] Exact parish format [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "What is it like for you to do this with your parish rather than alone?"
Watch for: Community as a support for grief and isolation; equally, discomfort in a community where the client experienced abuse or exclusion. [synthesis]

4.9 Devotion to the crucified Christ in the pattern of Francis at La Verna

Purpose / when: The background that gives Franciscan devotion its tone. Per the Franciscan tradition, Francis made a retreat of prayer and fasting on La Verna late in life, asked to feel Christ's Passion and love, and received a vision of a six-winged Seraph with a crucified figure; the tradition (Bonaventure's Major Legend 13, as quoted by Thoman) reports that marks of the nails then appeared on his hands and feet. The Franciscan family dates the stigmata to 17 September 1224 and opened its eighth centenary in 2024. These are attributed to the tradition, not asserted or disputed here. [source: Thoman 2024]
Steps: This is a devotional focus, not a method with set steps. Its public expressions include contemplating the crucifix, keeping the feast of the Stigmata, and pilgrimage to La Verna. [source: Thoman 2024; detail of current practices beyond the centenary: uncertain: not verified]
Historical penance (qualitative only): The tradition presents Francis as choosing La Verna for its cold, rugged austerity and as fasting and praying there. Such austerities belong to the historical record and to vowed religious life under superiors; they are not lay instructions, and nothing here recommends them. [source: Thoman 2024; framing synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "What does Francis's love of the crucified Christ mean to you, and how does it show up in how you treat yourself?"
Watch for: Imitation of austerity by a lay client without guidance (health, eating, sleep, self-injury; see 4.16 and section 5). Working: identification with Christ's love brings consolation and generosity rather than self-harm. [synthesis]

Part B. The psychotherapist's work alongside the practice

4.10 Assessing the practice and its meaning

Purpose / when: At intake or when the client mentions Franciscan prayer, the Stations, the Itinerarium or membership of a Franciscan community (friars, sisters, Secular Franciscan Order). Establishes what the practice is for this client before any integration. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask how the client practises (alone, parish, retreat, vowed community), how often and with what guidance. (2) Ask what it gives them and what, if anything, troubles them. (3) Ask who guides them (director, confessor, formator). (4) Ask about any fasting, sleep or other penance and its effect on health, qualitatively. (5) Use the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, including its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions, to structure this [uncertain: not verified]. (6) Record the client's own terms. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned you are a Secular Franciscan. What does that look like week to week, and how is it for you at the moment?"
Watch for: Practice that has become fear-driven, isolating or physically harmful; practice that is a key protective resource. Working: a shared, respectful picture the client recognises. [synthesis]

4.11 Client-led integration in session

Purpose / when: When the client wants their faith to be part of therapy (spiritually integrated psychotherapy; cross-refer Domain VII). [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Obtain explicit consent to bring religious material in, and agree that the client can withdraw it at any time. (2) Let the client choose the material: a station, a stage of the Itinerarium, a crucifix, a prayer. (3) Explore its personal meaning: what it evokes, which life experiences it connects with (loss, injustice, care-giving, shame). (4) Link back to therapy goals. (5) Leave prayer itself to the client and their tradition unless the client asks to begin or end with their own prayer, and the therapist is comfortable with that boundary. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "You chose the station where Jesus meets his mother. What makes that the one you wanted to bring here today?"
Watch for: Therapist steering towards or away from faith; client seeking spiritual direction from the therapist (refer, 4.17). Working: the client links faith and therapeutic goals in their own words. [synthesis]

4.12 Using the six-stage structure as a reflective scaffold

Purpose / when: For clients who already pray with the Itinerarium and want to connect it with therapy. A derived application, not part of the tradition's teaching. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) With the client, map outward / inward / above onto their current life: what in the world around them nourishes them (chs 1–2), how they regard their own mind and worth (chs 3–4), what they hope for (chs 5–7). (2) Note where they feel stuck. (3) Agree whether that stuckness is a therapy matter (mood, trauma, self-criticism) or a spiritual-direction matter, or both. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "In Bonaventure's terms, it sounds as if looking outward at creation is easy for you right now, but looking inward feels heavy. Is that a fair picture?"
Watch for: Turning a sacred text into a therapy worksheet against the client's wishes; therapist acting as theological interpreter. Working: the client finds the map helpful and keeps ownership of it. [synthesis]

4.13 Trauma-sensitive adaptation of Passion meditation

Purpose / when: The Stations and crucifix devotion centre on scenes of violence, humiliation, condemnation and death. For survivors of violence, torture, sexual abuse (including clergy abuse) or bereavement by violent death, these can evoke traumatic memories. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask whether any images or scenes are hard for them. (2) Normalise choice: the Directory treats pious exercises as optional (no. 11), and the tradition sets the Passion within the Resurrection (no. 80); the client may stop at a station, skip one, keep eyes open, pray seated or choose a less graphic set of images. (3) Build grounding options the client chooses (feet on floor, looking around the church, holding a cross or rosary if comforting). (4) Agree a stop signal and a way out of a communal service. (5) Encourage the client to discuss alternatives with their priest or director. (6) Treleaven's trauma-sensitive mindfulness (2018) is a published secular reference point for these principles [uncertain: not verified]; cross-refer Domain IV (trauma-sensitive yoga) and Domain II. [source: Directory nos. 11, 80; remainder synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "You do not have to stay with any scene that floods you. Some people go to the Resurrection straight after the hard stations. Would that fit with how you pray?"
Watch for: Flashbacks, dissociation, shutdown during or after; religious trauma linked to the church setting. Working: the client can pray with choice and come back to the present. [synthesis]

4.14 Screening for and responding to adverse contemplative experiences

Purpose / when: Contemplative prayer, especially the quiet, absorbed prayer of Itinerarium ch. 7 or intensive retreats, can bring difficult experiences. Research on (mainly Buddhist) meditators documents challenges across perceptual, affective, conative, cognitive, sense-of-self, social and somatic domains (Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE). A systematic review of 83 studies found adverse events in 8.3% of participants overall, most often anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies, including in people with no prior mental health history (Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica). Evidence specific to Franciscan prayer [uncertain: not verified]. [source: Cheetah House VCE page; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica]
Steps: (1) Before an intensive or silent retreat, ask about psychosis, bipolar disorder, recent trauma, dissociation, sleep and eating, and current crisis; agree a plan. (2) Ask routinely: "Has anything in prayer been unsettling?" (3) If difficulties arise, reduce intensity: shorter, more active or vocal prayer, the walked Stations rather than silent absorption, time outdoors, ordinary routines, sleep. (4) Use grounding. (5) With consent, coordinate with the retreat director or spiritual director. (6) Refer to Cheetah House resources for meditators in difficulty where helpful. (7) Assess for psychiatric conditions without pathologising religious experience; DSM-5-TR includes a code for a religious or spiritual problem (Z65.8) for distress that is not itself a mental disorder. [source: Cheetah House; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; steps synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Some people find that very quiet prayer stirs up things they did not expect. Has anything like that happened for you?"
Watch for: Insomnia, agitation, depersonalisation, fear, perceptual changes, voices, grandiosity, loss of function. A "dark night" in the tradition's sense (dryness, loss of consolation) with intact functioning differs from depression with anhedonia, hopelessness and biological symptoms, and from psychosis or mania; both can coexist. Working: symptoms settle with reduced intensity and the client resumes practice at a pace their director supports. [synthesis]

4.15 Recognising and treating scrupulosity

Purpose / when: Compunction, confession, examination of conscience and meditation on sin and the Passion can become the focus of OCD with religious content. [source: IOCDF]
Steps: (1) Distinguish: the IOCDF describes OCD as ego-dystonic and fear-driven, whereas healthy practice flows from values. (2) Look for excessive or repeated prayer or confession that consumes time and impairs life. (3) Offer ERP, which the IOCDF names as first-line treatment, with exposures agreed in advance and response prevention of rituals such as repeated prayers or confessions. (4) Frame uncertainty acceptance in the client's own terms; the IOCDF notes faith itself includes uncertainty. (5) With consent, consult the client's priest or confessor so that exposure targets do not violate the client's actual beliefs; the IOCDF recommends collaboration between faith leaders, clinicians and people with OCD. (6) Medication questions go to the prescriber. [source: IOCDF "Living with OCD & Religious Traditions"]
Example language (illustrative): "It sounds as if the extra confessions bring relief for a few hours and then the doubt returns stronger. Would you be willing to look at that pattern with me, and perhaps with your confessor too?"
Watch for: ERP that feels to the client like sin; clergy who unknowingly reinforce reassurance; therapist mistaking sincere devotion for OCD. Working: less time on rituals, less distress, and practice that feels like the client's own again. [source: IOCDF; synthesis]

4.16 Historical penance, austerity and physical health

Purpose / when: Clients may admire or imitate Francis's fasting, simplicity or penance, or belong to a community with a penitential rule. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask what penance means to them and how they practise it, without asking for or giving amounts or targets. (2) Ask who authorises it (superior, director, rule). (3) Ask about effects on eating, sleep, weight, exercise, injuries and medical conditions. (4) Route all physical health questions to their doctor, and invite them to raise the practice with their director or superior. (5) Screen for eating disorders and self-harm where indicated. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Fasting clearly matters to you. Has your doctor or your director talked with you about how it fits with your health right now?"
Watch for: Restrictive eating framed as penance, self-injury framed as mortification, sleep loss, refusal of medical care. Working: the client keeps the meaning of penance while health risks are managed by the right people. [synthesis]

4.17 Referral and collaboration with the tradition

Purpose / when: When the client wants guidance in the practice itself, discernment of religious experiences, help with sin, guilt or vocation, or a community. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Identify the right person: parish priest or confessor; a spiritual director; a Franciscan friar, sister or a Secular Franciscan formator (the Secular Franciscan Order publishes formation resources). (2) Obtain written consent before any contact. (3) Agree what is shared (usually minimal). (4) Clarify roles: therapy for mental health, direction for prayer. [source: SFO-USA; remainder synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "That sounds like a question for someone who can guide your prayer. Is there a friar or director you trust? I am glad to talk with them if you want me to."
Watch for: Conflicting advice; a director or superior using spiritual authority coercively (section 5). Working: consistent, complementary support. [synthesis]

4.18 Role boundaries and the therapist's own faith

Purpose / when: Throughout, especially when therapist and client share or do not share the faith. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Do not act as confessor, spiritual director or teacher. (2) Avoid dual relationships (for example, meeting the client in the therapist's own parish or Franciscan fraternity) or address them openly. (3) Self-disclose faith only if it serves the client, briefly. (4) Seek consultation or training in religious and spiritual competencies; published competency sets exist (Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified]. (5) Follow your profession's ethics code on competence and respect for religion. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "My own beliefs are less important here than understanding what yours mean to you."
Watch for: Over-identification, proselytising, or quiet scepticism leaking into interventions. Working: the client feels their faith is respected regardless of the therapist's. [synthesis]

4.19 Secular and clinical adaptations

Purpose / when: For clients who want related skills outside a religious frame. Published secular adaptations of the Itinerarium or the Stations: none found in the sources consulted. [synthesis]
Steps: Offer the established secular approaches that overlap in function: nature-based and sensory grounding and mindfulness (Domain II, MBSR/MBCT), compassion-focused work for self-criticism (Domain II, CFT/MSC), and trauma-sensitive bodily practices (Domain IV). Do not present these as Franciscan practice. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "If you would like a version without the religious language, there are mindfulness and compassion practices we could try."
Watch for: Secularising a client's faith against their wishes. Working: the client chooses the frame. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The sources describe the practices and some clinical risks; almost all of the guidance below is synthesis and is marked so. [synthesis unless otherwise tagged]

Stuck client ("my prayer has gone dry"). Distinguish spiritual dryness from depression: ask about sleep, appetite, energy, hopelessness, functioning and suicidal thoughts. If depression is present, treat it and say plainly that treatment is compatible with faith; if functioning is intact, the question belongs with the spiritual director. Both can be true at once. Language (illustrative): "Some of what you describe sounds like the dryness your tradition talks about, and some sounds like depression. Can we look at both?" [synthesis]
Resistance to bringing faith into therapy. Respect it; integration is optional and client-led. Note where the client has been hurt by religious authority or by a previous therapist dismissive of faith. [synthesis]
Overwhelm during Passion meditation. Stop, ground, return to the present; use the choices in 4.13; remind the client the tradition sets the Passion within the Resurrection (Directory no. 80). Afterwards, assess for trauma and plan with the client. [source: Directory no. 80; remainder synthesis]
Non-adherence to therapy tasks that clash with devotion. Schedule around Lent, Holy Week, Good Friday Stations, feast days and retreats; adjust exposure tasks with the client's confessor (4.15). Never set prayer as homework. [synthesis]
Rupture over religion. If the client feels judged, or the therapist voiced an opinion on doctrine, name it, apologise for the misstep and return to the client's meaning. Language (illustrative): "I think I spoke as if I knew what your faith should mean. That is not my place. Can you tell me how it landed?" [synthesis]
Self-punishing identification with suffering. Some clients use the Passion to justify staying in abuse, refusing care, harsh self-denial or self-injury ("offering it up"). Assess risk directly and follow current standard risk-assessment practice; involve medical care for injuries; with consent, invite a priest or director to speak to the tradition's own limits; use the Directory's Gospel standard (no. 12) and Resurrection balance (no. 80) as in-tradition reframes. Domestic abuse requires safety planning regardless of religious framing. [source: Directory nos. 12, 80; remainder synthesis]
Reported stigmata, visions or locutions. Treat the experience respectfully and attribute it to the client ("what you experienced as..."). Assess for medical causes of any wounds, for self-injury, and for psychosis, mania or dissociation, without presuming any of them. The Church's own discernment of such claims belongs to the client's priest or the diocese, not the therapist. [synthesis]
Imitation of historical austerities. Fasting, cold, sleep loss or bodily penance drawn from Francis's life: assess qualitatively, never advise on amounts, route health matters to the doctor, screen for eating disorders and self-harm, and invite the client to consult their director or superior. [synthesis]
Clients in religious life (friars, sisters, novices). Clarify confidentiality and who is paying or referring; superiors are not entitled to session content without consent. Watch for power dynamics in formation. Where the client reports coercion or abuse by a superior or confessor, follow safeguarding procedures and the client's choice about reporting, and give information about church and civil routes. [synthesis]
Religious trauma and leaving the practice. A client distancing from Catholic or Franciscan life may grieve the loss of community and ritual; support the decision whichever way it goes, without steering. [synthesis]
Children and adolescents. School or parish Stations may include vivid Passion imagery; where a child is distressed, involve parents or carers and the school or parish in adapting participation. Any harsh penance or corporal discipline imposed on a minor is a safeguarding matter under local procedures. [synthesis]
Therapist discomfort. Strong reactions to Passion imagery or Catholic practice (positive or negative) are matters for supervision. [synthesis]

Sources

Web sources:

Works cited:

Bonaventure. Itinerarium mentis in Deum. English tr. George Boas, The Mind's Road to God.
Bonaventure. Legenda maior (Major Legend of St Francis), ch. 13, as quoted in Thoman 2024.
Lindahl JR, et al. 2017. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE 12(5): e0176239. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176239.
Treleaven DA. 2018. Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. [uncertain: not verified]
Vieten C, et al. 2013. Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists. [uncertain: not verified]
American Psychiatric Association. DSM-5-TR (2022), Cultural Formulation Interview. [uncertain: not verified]
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem'), https://www.unboundmedicine.com/icd/view/ICD-10-CM/945432/all/Z65_8___Other_specified_problems_related_to_psychosocial_circumstances

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