John Paul II – salvifici doloris no. 25: Maria iuxta crucem (1984)

The Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris (February 11, 1984), published on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the World Day of the Sick, is the most profound synthesis of the Magisterium on the Christian meaning of human suffering. No. 25 is devoted entirely to Mary as “witness” and “participant” in the redemptive suffering of Christ.

Latin text, no. 25 (Maria iuxta crucem)

“Inter omnes testes Christi crucis stat Maria, Mater eius. In ipso loco montis Calvariae enititur etiam in modum maxime perfectum cum salvifico Filii sui dolore consociari. Patet enim, quamvis quodammodo arcano sit ipsius mysterio penetretur, Maria proprium sui dolorem unicum experiri, qui non alia subiectivitate cum Christi dolore comparari potest, qui sui Filii erat”

Among all the witnesses of the Cross of Christ stands Mary, His Mother. In that very place, on Mount Calvary, she strives to be associated in the most perfect way with the salvific suffering of her Son. Indeed, it is evident, although her mystery is penetrated in some hidden way, that Mary experiences a unique suffering proper to her, which by no other subjectivity can be compared with the suffering of Christ, which was her Son’s.

English translation, continued

Mary, who suffers in her condition as Mother beside the Cross of her Son, is the witness, silent but particularly eloquent, of the fact that human suffering shares in the redemptive suffering of Christ. Mary shares in it and already anticipates, in a way that is proper to her, the participation of the Church, the bride of Christ, in “the suffering that is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Col 1:24).

At the foot of the Cross, in the hour of the Passion, Mary was not only a “witness”; she was a participant: her spiritual motherhood toward humanity is born in this hour. Mary, receiving John as her son (“Mulier, ecce filius tuus,” Jn 19:26), becomes the spiritual Mother of all redeemed humanity.

The compassio Mariae

No. 25 of Salvifici Doloris is the most theologically dense reference of the recent Magisterium on the compassio Mariae, the co-passion of Mary with Christ. John Paul II carefully distinguishes:

• Christ redeems by His suffering. Only the incarnate Son of God redeems.
• Mary participates in the redemptive suffering. Her participation is singular, perfect, but derived from the suffering of Christ.
• The Church completes “what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Col 1:24). Every Christian can share in this mystery; Mary is the perfect model.

Significance for the pastoral care of suffering

Salvifici Doloris is the reference document for the whole of Catholic pastoral care of suffering, of illness, and of death. In presenting Mary as a participant in the suffering of Christ, the document does not romanticize pain; rather it shows that human suffering, when united to Christ through the mediation of faith, can have a salvific meaning.

The Stabat Mater as subtext

No. 25 of Salvifici Doloris is implicitly a meditation on the Stabat Mater, the medieval poem attributed to Jacopone da Todi and approved by Pius IX as a liturgical sequence in 1876 (see the post on the Stabat Mater). The key words, “iuxta crucem,” “mater,” “dolor,” resound directly in the text of John Paul II.

Further reading

Mariology | Redemptoris Mater | Mulieris Dignitatem | Stabat Mater | Postgraduate Program in Mariology