The liturgy celebrates Our Lady of Sorrows twice a year: on September 15, immediately after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and, until the reform of Pius XII, on a second feast in March, near Holy Week. This duality is often overlooked: the devotion to the Sorrows of Mary did not arise from a single impulse but from two distinct theological traditions, emerging in different historical contexts. The first dates back to the 13th century and the foundation of the Servite Order in Florence. The second is rooted in the poetic and liturgical world of the Stabat Mater and the scholastic meditation on Mary’s compassion on the Cross.
The Seven Scenes of Mary’s Co-participation in the Redemptive Path: From Simeon’s Prophecy (Lk 2:34-35) to the Deposition in the Tomb
Catholic piety has identified seven scenes in Mary’s life where her soul was pierced by suffering. Each one is a mystery of co-participation in the Son’s redemptive path:
Simeon’s Prophecy (Lk 2:34-35). In the Jerusalem Temple, the elder takes the Child in his arms and prophesies to Mary: «A sword shall pierce through your own soul». The pain begins as a word before fulfilling itself as reality.
Flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13-15). Joseph is warned in a dream: Herod wants to kill the Child. The Holy Family sets out at night for an exile whose end they do not know, like every exile who trusts more in God than in return.
Loss of Jesus in Jerusalem (Lk 2:41-50). During the Passover pilgrimage, Jesus stays in the Temple without telling his parents. Mary spends three days searching for the Son, in a anguish that prefigures the three days in the tomb.
Encounter on the Way to Calvary. Tradition contemplates Mary’s encounter with Jesus carrying the Cross. The Gospel does not describe it, but Christian piety has always recognized it as one of the most poignant moments of Christ’s Passion.
Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Jo 19:25-27). Mary stands by the Cross. Jesus entrusts his beloved disciple to her as a son. It is the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy and the birth of Mary’s spiritual motherhood for all the faithful.
Descend from the Cross. Mary receives in her arms the dead body of Jesus. This moment, immortalized in art by Michelangelo’s Pietà, summarizes all maternal pain in a silent act of adoration.
Burial of Jesus (Jo 19:38-42). Mary accompanies the Son’s body to the tomb. She remains alone with faith, in silence on Holy Saturday, waiting for what no creature has yet seen.
From Medieval Devotion to the Five Swords (11th Century) to the Institution of Servites and the Liturgical Feast in the Tridentine Calendar
Devotion to the Virgin of Sorrows developed from the end of the 11th century, with a first mention of celebrations of her five sorrows, symbolized by five swords, preceding the later instituted liturgical feast. In the 12th century, also due to apparitions of the Virgin, this cult grew and the *Stabat Mater* was composed, attributed to Jacopone da Todi. Initially, devotion to the Virgin of Sorrows was closely linked to Holy Week. Therefore, especially in Mediterranean countries, images of Our Lady of Sorrows are carried in procession during the days of Holy Week.The Servites, the Order of Servants of Mary founded in Florence in 1233 by seven noblemen from Tuscany, were the principal promoters of this devotion. On August 18, 1714, the Sacred Congregation of Rites granted the Order that the “Solemn Commemoration of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” be celebrated throughout the Order on the Friday of Passion Week. On April 22, 1727, Pope Benedict XIII extended the feast of the Seven Sorrows to the whole Latin Church. With the liturgical reform of Pius X, the feast was fixed on September 15, a date already celebrated in the Ambrosian Rite. The 1969 calendar maintained this date, designating the day as “Our Lady of Sorrows.”The devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary inspired one of the richest artistic traditions in the Western Church. In iconography, Mary is depicted with her heart pierced by seven swords, in reference to the prophecy of Simeon. In Iberian Easter Week sculptures, the “Dolorosa” appears with crystal tears, mourning clothes, and her hands in prayer. In Reggio Calabria, Jesus and Mary are represented by two large statues carried on the shoulders along two different routes. When they meet at a bend in the street, a chorus of laments and prayers rises to evoke Mary’s sorrow upon meeting Jesus on the Way to Calvary. In El Salvador, on Holy Friday, men and women in mourning procession the image of Our Lady of Sorrows to adore the Crucified Jesus.In devotional sculpture, Francisco Salzillo depicted Our Lady of Sorrows on her knees, with her arms outstretched and her heart pierced by seven swords. In the crypt of the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Divino Amor in Rome, the sculptural group shows Our Lady of Sorrows kneeling to dry the blood of Jesus, descended from the Cross, while she looks at the pilgrim and invites him to join her in this pious ministry. In the musical realm, composers such as Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Haydn, Schubert, and Dvořák composed versions of the *Stabat Mater*, the medieval sequence that meditates verse by verse on Mary’s sorrows at the foot of the Cross.The theological meaning of the Seven Sorrows: Mary Corredentrix, the *Stabat Mater*, and the feast of September 15Our Lady of Sorrows is not merely a devotional title. It expresses a central theological conviction: Mary actively participated in the redeeming mystery of the Son, not as an agent of salvation, but as the creature who was most completely united to Christ’s offering. Her sorrow was not passive, but active, because it sprang from love. That is why tradition calls her Coredemptrix, a title that does not equate her with Christ, but emphasizes the uniqueness of her co-participation in the mystery of the Cross.The feast of September 15, placed immediately after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), has a clear contemplative logic: after contemplating the mystery of the Cross, the Church contemplates the Mother who stood by it. The two feasts form a single meditation on the heart of the Christian mystery.
Graduate Studies in Mariology
Do you want to deepen your formation in Mariology? Get to know the Graduate Program in Mariology from Locus Mariologicus – an academic formation that combines theological rigor, spiritual life, and the living tradition of the Church.
📖 Do you want to study this seriously? Get to know the Master’s Degree in Mariology from Locus – rigorous academic formation for theologians, priests, religious, and laity.
The records of Bamonte provide on this second fiat a testimony of exceptional accuracy. During an exorcism session on Holy Friday 2006, the demon, constrained…
In Mary’s face, we contemplate Christ’s face. A mariological meditation on the relationship between Mother and Son in Christian faith. Deepen this reflection.
The pain of Mary reveals her as co-redemptrix: conscious, free, and united to the sacrifice of the Son. Deepen the theology of the *Stabat Mater* and its salvific meaning.
Learn from Mary the art of the Trinitarian mystical prayer, according to John Paul II, and discover how Christian holiness is lived simply in daily life.
Responses