September Devotions to Our Lady of Sorrows

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The Promises of Our Lady of Sorrows

Graces And Promises

According to St. Alphonsus de Liguori (The Glories of Mary) it was revealed to Saint Elizabeth that at the request of Our Lady, Our Lord promised four principal graces to those devoted to Her Sorrows:

1. That those who before death invoke the divine Mother in the name of Her Sorrows will obtain true repentance of all their sins;
   
2. That He will protect all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and will protect them especially at the hour of death;
   
3. That He will impress on their minds the remembrance of His Passion;
   
4. That He will place such devout servants in Mother Mary’s hands to do with them as She wishes and to obtain for them all the graces She desires.
   

In addition to these four graces there are also seven promises attached to the practice of daily praying seven Hail Mary’s while meditating on Our Lady’s Tears and Sorrows. These seven promises were revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden:

1. I will grant peace to their families.
   
2. They will be enlightened about the divine Mysteries.
   
3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
   
4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of My divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
   
5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
   
6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death — they will see the face of their Mother.
   
7. I have obtained this grace from My divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to My tears and sorrows will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and My Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.
   

This devout prayer, so acceptable to our most holy Sorrowful Mother, and so useful to Christian souls, was propagated throughout the Christian world by these Servants of Mary and it afterwards received much encouragement from Pope Benedict XIII., who, in order to induce the faithful to adopt it more and more, granted by his Brief Redemptoris, of Sept. 26, 1724 -

i. An indulgence of DAYS for every Pater noster (Our Father), and the same for every Ave Maria (Hail Mary), to every one who, having Confessed and Communicated, or at least made a firm resolution to Confess, should say this Chaplet in the churches of the Order of the Servants of Mary.

ii. The same indulgence of 200 days to be gained by all who shall say it any where on Fridays, during Lent, and on the Feast and Octave of the Seven Dolours of our Blessed Lady, and -

iii. An indulgence of 100 days, on any other day.

Lastly, the same Pope added -

iv. An indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines to any one who says this Chaplet either alone or in company with others.

Afterwards Pope Clement XII., "that the faithful might often recollect and sympathise with the Dolours of Mary,"confirmed by his Cull of Unigeniti, Dec. 12, 1734, the before-named Indulgences, adding also the following:

v. A plenary indulgence and remission of all sins to every one who shall say this Chaplet daily for a month together, and shall then, after Confession and Communion, pray for holy Church,

vi. An indulgence of 100 years, every time it is aid, to all who say this chaplet, being truly penitent and having confessed, or having at least made a firm resolution to confess their sins.

vii. An indulgence of 150 years, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Feast of Obligation of the Holy Church, after Confession and Communion.

viii. A plenary indulgence all who say it four times a week, on any one day in the year when, after Confession and Communion, they shall say the said Chaplet of Seven Dolours.

ix. An indulgence of 200 years* also to those who shall say it devoutly after their Confession.

x. An indulgence of 10 years to those who keep one of these Chaplets about them, and are in the habit of saying it frequently, every time that, after Confession and Communion, they shall hear Mass, be present at a sermon, accompany the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, make peace between enemies, bring sinners to Confession; or whenever, saying at the same time seven Pater noster's (Our Father) and seven Ave Maria's (Hail Mary), they shall do any spiritual or temporal good work in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, or their Patron Saint.

All these Indulgences Mere confirmed by decrees of the S. Congr. of Indulgences issued at the command of Pope Benedict XIV. January 10, 1711 and Clement XIII. March 13, 1763. It is, however, requisite, in order to gain these Indulgences, that these Chaplets should be blessed by the Superiors of the Order of the Servants of Mary, or by other priests of the Order deputed by them; and when blessed, they cannot be sold or lent for the purpose of communicating these Indulgences to others, as in that case they would lose the Indulgences.

*In some summaries of these Indulgences, and more particularly in that reprinted in Rome in 1518, we find 150 days and a few lines after, 200 days; but in the Bull above named publised at the Office of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber in 1135, we find in both places not days but years.

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SEPTEMBER THE MONTH DEDICATED TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Taken from here.

The month of September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. She suffered such anguish when she watched her Son's passion and death (Luke 2:35). When Our Lord, while dying, gives John the Disciple (symbolically the Church) to His mother, so that we may have her aid.

In the words of St. Therese of Lisieux, "She has given us so many proofs that she cares for us like a mother."


Background

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. In Catholic, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers that consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of Simeon "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also...." (Luke 2:35). Common examples of piety under this title are Servite rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and the Seven Joys of Mary and more recently, "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary".

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is liturgically celebrated every 15 of September.


The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows grew in popularity in the 12th century, although under various titles. Some writings would place its roots in the eleventh century, especially among the Benedictine monks. The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the Cistercian monastery of Schönau.

The formal feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1423. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter and had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris B. Mariae V. Its object was the sorrow of Mary during the Crucifixion and Death of Christ. Before the sixteenth century this feast was limited to the dioceses of North Germany, Scandinavia, and Scotland.

According to Fr. William Saunders, "... in 1482, the feast was officially placed in the Roman Missal under the title of Our Lady of Compassion, highlighting the great love our Blessed Mother displayed in suffering with her Son. The word compassion derives from the Latin roots cum and patior which means "to suffer with".

An annual Our Lady of Sorrows procession in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn is a tradition begun in the 1940s by immigrants from Mola di Bari, celebrating their hometown patroness. After 1600 it became popular in France and was set for the Friday before Palm Sunday. By a Decree of 22 April 1727, Pope Benedict XIII extended it to the entire Latin Church, under the title "Septem dolorum B.M.V.". In 1954, it still held the rank of major double (slightly lower than the rank of the September feast) in the General Roman Calendar. Pope John XXIII's 1960 Code of Rubrics reduced it to the level of a commemoration.

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A reminder ...