Articles / Special

Image : Mary surrounded by the Seven Sorrows (Adriaen Isenbrandt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is observed on September 15. It commemorates the profound union of heart that existed between the Mother of the Redeemer and the Savior, through which she experienced many interior sorrows as a consequence of His Mission, but particularly during His Passion and Death. The devotion is rooted in Scriptural accounts of her life and emphasizes her role as a compassionate mother who understands and consoles human suffering.

The devotion to the Sorrowful Mother, extremely popular above all in areas around the Mediterranean, developed around the end of the 11th century. We find the first liturgical celebrations for the sorrowful Mary, or the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion, “standing” at the foot of the Cross, in the 15th century. Prior to that, in 1233, the Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis (Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly known as the Servites) was founded. They greatly contributed to the spread of the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, so much so that in 1668 they were granted permission to celebrate a votive Mass to the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

In 1692, Pope Innocent XII authorized the celebration of a Feast in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows on the third Sunday of September. This proved only to be temporary because later, on 18 August 1714, the feast was transferred to the Friday before Palm Sunday. On 18 September 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the liturgical feast to the entire Latin Church, transferring it to the third Sunday of September. Pope Pius X ( + 1914) fixed the date of the feast on 15 September, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It would no longer be known as the “Seven Sorrows of Mary”, but “Our Lady of Sorrows”.

- Article by Catholic Time Staff