Old Mission
Founded 1804
Capuchin Franciscan
Santa Inés
Solvang, California
Sacred Heart Sisters
Mission Santa Inés

Good Friday - Viernes Santo

Friday of the Passion of the Lord or Good Friday commerates the day that Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins.  According to the Church's ancient tradition, Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday.  The celebration of the Lord's Passion contains three parts: The Liturgy of the Word, the Adoration of the Cross and Holy Communion with hosts that were consecrated during Mass on Holy Thursday. 

During the Liturgy of the Word, the Gospel is from John 18 and is known as The Passion of the Lord. For the English Masses, everyone participates in the reading that is lead by a Narrator with one person reading the voice of Christ, one person reading other characters or voices and the audience reads the part of the crowd. This interactive reading is a very powerful demonstration of the passion narratives. This enables the attendees to vividly see the love of Christ for each of us despite our sins. Christ's love is one that even death could not vanquish. Christ freely suffered his passion and death because of the sins of all, that all might be saved.

For the Hispanic community, the Passion of the Lord is portrayed in the live performance of Via Crucis or Way of the Cross from John 18. Members of the Hispanic community dress in clothing of the time of Christ and present a live performance beginning with Holy Thursday and ending with Christ's crucifixion on the cross. This is a very powerful and moving performance that is presented entirely outdoors.  The performance begins on the west side of the parish grounds and ends at the cemetary entrance at the front of the mission. The audience travels along with the performers as Jesus is tried, bound and tortured by the Roman soldiers and carries his cross through the streets. He is met by his mother Mary, women of Jerusalem, Simon of Cyrene and others along the way to Golgatha. This performance concludes with the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a very moving and powerful performance. See below for a photo video of this year's performance.