The Devotion of Our Lady of Sorrows

Origins of the Devotion

Devotion to the Mother of Sorrows dates back to the beginning of the Church. The first explicit instance is St. John at the foot of the Cross. This devotion was enshrined in apostolic history through the fourth gospel narrative —“Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother…” (John. 19:25)

Though the devotion has always been part of Catholic piety, it was not until the 13th Century that the devotion of meditating on the sorrows of Our Lady began to flourish and spread. It was at this time that the hymn, Stabat Mater, was most likely composed, either by Jacopone da Todi, a Franciscan friar, or possibly even Pope Innocent III.

More importantly, In Florence, Italy, seven holy men of noble birth left the city seeking solitude on Mount Senario and together formed a community dedicating their lives to prayer and penance. These seven holy men all had a strong devotion to Our Lady. On Good Friday in 1239, as they meditated on Our Lord’s Passion and Our Lady’s immense sufferings, the most holy Mother of God appeared to them. She conveyed her wish for them to form an Order dedicated to practicing and promoting the devotion to her Sorrows. These men became the founders of the religious Order of the Servants of Mary (commonly called the Servites). All seven men are canonized saints. At Our Lady’s request, the seven founders made the object of their Order meditation on the pains suffered by Our Lady during the Passion and Death of Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. They undertook the evangelizing work of promoting this devotion to all Catholics. In particular, they emphasized meditating on the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Chaplet (or Little Rosary) of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady

1. St. Simeon’s Prophecy [Luke 2:27-35]
2. The Flight into Egypt [Matthew 2:13-14]
3. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple [Luke 2:41-50]
4. The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Way to Calvary [Tradition: Fourth Station of the Cross]
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus [John 19]
6. The Piercing of the Side of Jesus, and His Descent from the Cross [John 19:32-37]
7. The Burial of Jesus. [John 19:38-42]

My Mother! share Thy grief with me, and let me bear Thee company to mourn Thy Jesus’ death with Thee.

Why Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and Her Seven Dolors

Because Our Lord Wants It

Jesus Christ Himself revealed to Blessed Veronica of Binasco, that, He is more pleased in seeing His Mother compassionated than Himself. He said to her: "My daughter, tears shed for My Passion are dear to Me; but as I loved My Mother Mary with an immense love, the meditation on the torments which She endured at My death is even more agreeable to Me." Wherefore the graces promised by Jesus to those who are devoted to the dolors of Mary are very great.” (The Glories of Mary, by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, p. 478.)

Because Our Lady also Wants It!

Our Lady lamented to St. Bridget that very few consoled her by meditating on Her Sorrows, and “that the greater part of the world lived in forgetfulness of them ... I look around at all who are on earth, to see if by chance there are any who pity me, and meditate upon my Sorrows; and I find that there are very few. Therefore, my daughter, though I am forgotten by many, at least do you not forget me; consider my anguish, and imitate, as far as you can, my grief." For this purpose the Blessed Virgin Herself appeared in the year 1239 to the founder of the Order of the Servites, or servants of Mary, and asked them to institute a religious order in remembrance of her sorrows.

In the Words of the Church

In 1724, Pope Benedict XIII promulgated and encouraged the practice of the devotion to Our Lady’s Sorrows when he bestowed many indulgences for the recitation of the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows.
Our Lady’s Sorrows are commemorated twice a year on the liturgical calendar, September 15, and the Friday preceding Good Friday. Commemorating the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary twice a year on the Roman Liturgical Calendar demonstrates how important this devotion is to Heaven.

The Saints on the Importance of this Devotion

“That as we are under great obligations to Jesus for His Passion endured for our love, so also are we under great obligations to Mary for the martyrdom which she voluntarily suffered for our salvation in the death of her Son.”

- St. Albert the Great

"While other martyrs suffered by sacrificing their own lives, the Blessed Virgin suffered by sacrificing her Son’s life – a life that she loved far more than her own; so that she not only suffered in her soul all that her Son endured in His body, but moreover the sight of her Son’s torments brought more grief to her heart than if she had endured them all in her own person.”

- St. Antoninus

Holy Mother, pierce me through; In my heart each
wound renew, Of my Saviour crucified.

“The martyrs endured their torments in their bodies; Mary suffered hers in her soul.” - St. Alphonsus de Liguori. Now, as the soul is more noble than the body, so much greater were Mary’s sufferings than those of all the martyrs, as Jesus Christ Himself said to St. Catherine of Siena: "Between the sufferings of the soul and those of the body there is no comparison.”