Three Hours' Agony

Front page of the Devocion a las tres horas by P. Alonso Messia SJ.

The Three Hours' Agony (also known as the Tre Ore, The Great Three Hours, or Three Hours' Devotion) is a Christian service held in many Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches on Good Friday from noon till 3 o'clock to commemorate the three hours of Christ's hanging at the cross.^[1]

It includes sermons on the Seven Last Words from the Cross,^[2] and usually occurs between noon and 3PM (the latter being the time Jesus is said to have died on the cross and the time the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion begins),^[1] and sometimes between 6PM and 9PM.^[3]

The Jesuit priest Alphonsus Messia (died 1732) is said to have devised this devotion in Lima, Peru. It was introduced to Rome around 1788 and spread around the world to many Christian denominations.^[1] In 1815, Pope Pius VII decreed a plenary indulgence to those who practise this devotion on Good Friday.^[4]

References[]

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links[]

• Good Friday Tre Ore Worship Service: The Seven Last Words of Jesus from the Cross, given at St. John's Lutheran Church, Missouri
• The three hours' agony of Our Lord Jesus Christ: given at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, New York, Good Friday
• English text: "The devotion of the three hours' agony on Good Friday"
• Spanish text: Devoción a las tres horas de la agonía de Cristo nuestro Redentor..., 1782
• Italian text: Divozione alle tre ore dell'agonia di Gesù Cristo nostro redentore...

This Catholic Church–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t