Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows is the memorial that contemplates the Blessed Virgin Mary standing in compassion beside the suffering of her Son, sharing in his Passion with a heart pierced by the sword that the aged Simeon had foretold. Fittingly kept on 15 September, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, it turns the eyes of the faithful to the Mother who did not flee from Calvary but remained faithfully at the foot of the Cross, becoming there the Mother of all the redeemed.

Ancient devotion has gathered Mary's griefs into the traditional Seven Sorrows — the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Child in the Temple, the meeting with Jesus on the way to Calvary, the Crucifixion and death of her Son, the receiving of his body taken down from the Cross, and his burial. Long fostered by the Servite Order and by the widespread praying of the Stabat Mater, this remembrance honors Mary's union with Christ's redeeming love and holds her up as consolation and model for all who suffer.