Friday, 18 March – Friday of Sorrows (Viernes de Dolores) Celebrated on the Friday before Palm Sunday, it’s a solemn remembrance of the Seven Sorrows of Blessed Virgin Mary In countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Malta, Nicaragua and the Philippines it is seen as the beginning of the Holy Week The feast concentrates on the emotional pain that the Passion of Christ caused to his mother, Virgin Mary who is venerated under the title Our Lady of Sorrows In some Spanish-speaking countries the day is also referred to as Council Friday, because of the choice of John 11:47-54 as the Gospel passage read in the Tridentine Mass on that day Like all Fridays in Lent, the day is of abstinence from meat In 1727, Pope Benedict XVIII extended this feast commemorating the sorrowful Virgin Mary to the whole of the Latin Church, until in 1960 it was reduced to the level of a commemoration. In 1969, the celebration was removed from the General Roman Calendar as a duplicate of the feast on 15 September Celebration of the feast in Malta, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Columbia, Peru, Guatemala and the Philippines incudes procession, public penance, mournful singing and the mortification of the flesh In Mexico and Nicaragua the faithful make small shrines of the Virgren de Dolor and decorate them with Christmas lights and perform street plays In Guatemala people make oversized flowerbeds on the road where the religious float will pass while being incensed by the crowd In the Philippines candle-lit religious floats carry a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows in procession through the streets, followed by the recitation of the life of Christ In Malta, penitents place multiple chains on their feet and walk varefoot on the public streets hiding their identity via a conical hat In Spain, the faithful shout praises to the float of the Sorrowful Virgin passing by, often accompanied by “Viva!”; the floats are preceded by a military parade and a mucical band In Italy, famous Baroque images made in the area of Naples are used Singing of Stabat Mater and candle-light vigils are other common activities The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the monastery of Schönau The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (Igreja Nossa Senhora das Dores) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is the town’s oldest church, built in 1813 Regarded as the most famous in Spain during Holy Week processions, the Virgin of Hope of Macarena, shown in her sorrowful theme while wearing imperial regalia each Friday before Palm Sunday. In the Philippines, a famed colonial image of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga is another manifestation of the Sorrowful Virgin celebrated by devout Filipino Catholics. In the week before Good Friday, it is a tradition in at least some parts of Mexico to erect altars like the one above to honour Our Lady of Sorrows, whose small statue is at the top. Friday of Sorrows procession by Hispanic Catholic community in Brooklyn, USA The Seven Sorrows of Virgin Mary 1. The Prophecy of Saint Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35) 2. The escape and Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13) 3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:43–45) 4. The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Via Dolorosa. 5. The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary. (John 19:25) 6. The Piercing of the Side of Jesus, and His Descent from the Cross. (Matthew 27:57–59) 7. The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. (John 19:40–42) O God, who in this season give your Church the grace to imitate devoutly the Blessed Virgin Mary in contemplating the Passion of Christ, grant, we pray, through her intercession, that we may cling more firmly each day to your Only Begotten Son and come at last to the fullness of his grace. Stabat mater At the Cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to her Son to the last. Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed. O how sad and sore distressed was that Mother, highly blest, of the sole-begotten One. Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son. Is there one who would not weep, whelmed in miseries so deep, Christ's dear Mother to behold? Can the human heart refrain from partaking in her pain, in that Mother's pain untold? For the sins of His own nation, She saw Jesus wracked with torment, All with scourges rent: She beheld her tender Child, Saw Him hang in desolation, Till His spirit forth He sent. O thou Mother! fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, make my heart with thine accord: Make me feel as thou hast felt; make my soul to glow and melt with the love of Christ my Lord. Holy Mother! pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified: Let me share with thee His pain, who for all my sins was slain, who for me in torments died. Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live: By the Cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep and pray, is all I ask of thee to give. Virgin of all virgins blest!, Listen to my fond request: let me share thy grief divine; Let me, to my latest breath, in my body bear the death of that dying Son of thine. Wounded with His every wound, steep my soul till it hath swooned, in His very Blood away; Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, lest in flames I burn and die, in His awful Judgment Day. Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, be Thy Mother my defense, be Thy Cross my victory; While my body here decays, may my soul Thy goodness praise, Safe in Paradise with Thee. .