Stations of the Cross

A structured devotional practice of meditating on fourteen scenes from Jesus's Passion and death, moving successively from one marked station to the next; observed especially during Lent and on Good Friday in churches, outdoor shrines, and pilgrimage routes. Franciscan friars erected replica outdoor shrines in Europe from the 15th century onward to allow those who could not travel to Jerusalem to participate in the devotion. Pope Innocent XI (1686) granted plenary indulgences to Franciscans and their associates for practicing the stations as equivalent to an actual Jerusalem pilgrimage. Pope Benedict XIII (1726) extended these indulgences to all the faithful. Pope Clement XII (1731) then extended the right to erect stations to all churches (not only Franciscan ones) and definitively fixed the standard number of stations at fourteen.