Friday of Sorrows

 Unofficial to some. Official to others.

• Semana Santa or Holy Week among certain pious Catholic countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Malta and Philippines, begins with the celebration of the Viernes de Dolores or Friday of Our Lady of Sorrows (Our Lady of Sorrows' other Marian Titles are Our Lady of Pain, Our Lady of Dolours, Our Lady of Solitude, Our Lady of Patience, Our Lady of Charity (Charity to Jesus), Our Lady of Anguish).
• In some Latin American and Hispanic countries, the day is referred to as Council Friday, which is a day of fasting and abstinence by avoiding meat and dairy products.
• Also the Last Friday of Lent or the Friday before Palm Sunday.
• Also known as Friday of Passion.
• Pious commemoration recounting the sorrows, worrying and sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Saint Mary Magdalene for Jesus Christ.
• Started in Germany.
• In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII extended the commemoration of the sorrowful Virgin Mary to the whole Latin-rite which is a feast that was originally a Friday celebration during the Passion Week (the week before Good Friday).
• In 1954, the feast was still a major double feast which is slightly lower than the official September 15 feast of the General Roman Calendar.
• In 1962, the feast was reduced to a commemoration by Pope John XXIII.
• In 1969, the Pope considered it as a duplicate or the same with the September 15 feast and it was omitted in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and it was canonically effective in 1970.
• During the implementation of liturgical changes by the Second Vatican Council, some Catholic bishops modified their liturgical calendar by removing duplicate feasts to avoid unnecessary double celebration in a year which resulted to the abolishment of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on the last Friday of Lent but was replaced with the liturgical celebration every September 15th.
• In 2002, a second Collect (a general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy) for the Virgin Mary was added to the Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent and was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal resulting to a status of feast similar with the 1962 status that the feast previously held.