Commemoration of the Passion of Christ

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The Commemoration of the Passion of Christ was a Catholic feast to honor and remember Jesus’ sufferings for the salvation of humankind. It was once listed in the Roman Missal and observed in some places up to 1962, usually on the Tuesday after Sexagesima. The feast is newer than the medieval Arma Christi feasts, which focus on the instruments of Jesus’ Passion.

The modern commemoration began with Paul of the Cross (d. 1775). His associate, Bishop Tommaso Struzzieri of Todi, prepared the Office for the feast. Pope Pius VI approved it for the Passionists (Discalced Clerics of the Holy Cross and the Passion) and gave it the rank of a double of the first class with an octave.

Pius VI also approved related offices on other mysteries of Christ’s Passion, such as the Prayer in the Garden and the Crown of Thorns, and later the Holy Lance and Nails and other Friday feasts. These were adopted by many dioceses and orders.

In 1831 Rome adopted all seven Offices of the Mysteries of the Passion, and since then many places keep the feast on the Tuesday after Sexagesima. Leo XIII, in 1884, privileged the Passionists’ octave and allowed only first- and second-class feasts in that octave. A 1883 decree allowed saying a votive office of the Passion on most Fridays not already reserved for a higher feast, with some exceptions.

The Struzzieri Office is rich in devotion, though its hymns are fairly modern.