Our Lady of Sorrows in the context of "Catholic devotions"

The Friday of Sorrows or Passion Friday is a solemn pious remembrance of the sorrowful Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday before Palm Sunday held in the fifth week of Lent (formerly called "Passion Week"). In the Anglican Ordinariate's Divine Worship: The Missal it is called Saint Mary in Passiontide and sometimes it is traditionally known as Our Lady in Passiontide.

In certain Catholic countries, especially Brazil, Guatemala, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, and Spain, it is the beginning of Holy Week celebrations and often termed Viernes de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows) or a similar local name. It takes place exactly one week before Good Friday, and focuses on the emotional pain the Passion of Jesus Christ caused his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated under the title Our Lady of Sorrows.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary (Latin: Cor Immaculatum Mariae) is a Catholic devotion which refers to the view of the interior life of Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus Christ, and her motherly and compassionate love for all mankind. Traditionally, the Immaculate Heart is depicted pierced with seven swords or wounds, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary and roses, usually red or white, wrapped around the heart.

The Eastern Catholic Churches occasionally utilize the image, devotion, and theology associated with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, this is a cause of some controversy, some seeing it as a form of Liturgical Latinisation. The Catholic view is based on their understanding of certain verses of scripture, particularly the Gospel of Luke.

The Descent from the Cross (Greek: Ἀποκαθήλωσις, Apokathelosis), or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19, John 19:38–42). In Byzantine art the topic became popular in the 9th century, and in the West from the 10th century. The Descent from the Cross is the 13th Station of the Cross, and is also the sixth of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Other figures not mentioned in the Gospels who are often included in depictions of this subject include John the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted supporting a fainting Mary (as in the work below by Rogier van der Weyden), and Mary Magdalene. The Gospels mention an undefined number of women as watching the crucifixion, including The Three Marys, (Mary Salome being mentioned in Mark 15 (Mark 15:40)), and also that the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene saw the burial (Mark 15:47). These and further women and unnamed male helpers are often shown.

The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary (Latin: Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothers), contemplative nuns, a congregation of religious sisters, and lay groups. The order's objectives are the sanctification of its members, the preaching of the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The Servites friars lead a community life in the tradition of the mendicant orders.

The Cathedral of our Lady of Sorrows, also called Cathedral of Mary Mother of Sorrows, (Arabic: كنيسة أم الأحزان, romanized: Umm al-Ahzan Church) is a Chaldean Catholic cathedral located in Baghdad, Iraq, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Consecrated in 1898, it is the seat of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic particular church sui iuris in full communion with the Holy See in Rome, and the rest of the worldwide Catholic Church.