St. Peter's By-the-Sea Episcopal Church
Gulfport, Mississippi

The Friday before Easter Day, the day in which the Church commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus is a time of fasting and special acts of discipline and self-denial. It is among the most sober of days of the church calendar. On this day, among other readings, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is read from John’s Gospel, the Solemn Collects, which are an ancient form of intercessory prayer (dating from ancient Rome) are said along with devotions before the cross (commonly known as the veneration of the cross)