“My Mother, make haste!”: Devotion to the Seven Sorrows
The Seven Sorrows of Mary Devotion: A Perennial Practice of Holy Mother Church
For centuries, Holy Mother Church has promoted the devotion to the Sorrows of the Holy Virgin Mary, including it in the Missal and the Breviary and selecting seven of Mary’s Sorrows for our special commemoration.1 These Sorrows are:
- The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
- The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
- The Loss of Jesus for Three Days (Luke 2:41-50)
- The Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17)
- The Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18-30)
- Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40)
- Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)
Apart from praising Mary as “Regina Martyrum” or the “Queen of Martyrs,” Holy Mother Church celebrates two feasts in honor of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, namely one on the Friday right before Good Friday and the other on September 15.
During his captivity under Napoleon in the 19th century, Pope Pius VII composed the Litany of Our Lady of Sorrows (Litaniae Dominae nostrae Dolorum). Furthermore, Pope Pius IX approved the Sorrowful Hail Mary prayer that reads:
Hail Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee: tearful art thou amongst women, and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, grant tears to us crucifiers of thy Son, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
While the Church officially venerates seven of Our Lady’s Sorrows, no one can count the actual number of “the sea of Sorrows which rolls over the secret depths of the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God.”2
“The grief of Mary was so great that, were it divided amongst all men, it would suffice to cause their immediate death,” says Saint Bernardine of Siena.3
Benefits of the Seven Sorrows Devotion
In his writings about Our Lady’s Sorrows, Saint Alphonsus relates that Saint John the Evangelist heard the Holy Virgin Mary asking of Jesus some special graces for those who were devoted to her Sorrows. Our Lord promised the four following graces4:
- Those who invoke the Heavenly Mother through her Sorrows will obtain true sorrow for their sins before death.
- Our Savior will protect them in their tribulations, especially at the hour of death.
- He will impress upon them the memory of His Passion, and will reward them for it in Heaven.
- He will commit such devout servants to the hands of Mary, that she may dispose of them according to her pleasure, and obtain for them all the graces she desires.
Besides the aforesaid graces, devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary reveals the superficiality of worldly pleasures for anyone embedded in the Heart of Mary, keeping our thoughts on Jesus Christ Crucified.
Meditating on Our Lady’s Sorrows, including “the fearfulness of losing Jesus” and “the unbearable anguish of ever so short a separation from Him” can enable us to “rise up from the contemplation of them with a yearning for the conversion of sinners,” as “they were the travail of the Queen of the apostles.”5
Additionally, this devotion transmits to our souls the spirit of the Cross, and fortifies us in our own sufferings with resignation to, and in union with God’s Holy Will.
Saint Gabriel Possenti of the Sorrowful Mother
Many saints have cherished a particular affection to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of Sorrows, or “Mater Dolorosa.” Saint Gabriel Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows is no exception. In fact, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and especially to Her Dolors transformed the hitherto worldly and pleasure-seeking youth into the humble and holy Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Born Francesco Possenti in Assisi, Italy on March 1, 1838, the saint’s early life and youth showed little signs of a religious vocation. For a period of time, the youth was debonair and foppish in his attire and decorum, relishing in worldly pastimes like theater-going and novel-reading that could easily have put his soul in danger of sinning.
With regard to Francesco’s youth, John Baptist, C.P. has these words to say in the Passionist Bulletin dated February 2, 19476:
Francesco’s devotion to the Virgin Mother of God could not be called notable. It was in fact such as might be expected of a boy reared in a devout Italian household. …. On the face of it, then, Francesco was as yet no more than one of many of the Virgin’s clients. He was not altogether lacking in paying his respects to the glorious Madonna but neither was he a singularly ardent devotee.
His recourse to Mary should not be underrated, for it was a providential disposition for greater things to come as time and occasion would soon offer. Moreover, it was a source of grace that stayed him up not only in his boyhood days but also in his collegiate years, years that marked the greatest crisis of his short life and one in which the Mother of God played so dramatic and decisive a part.7
Notably, Francesco had been gravely ill twice, and appeared to be in danger of death. On both of these occasions the youth pledged to God that if his life was spared, he would enter a Religious Order. His pledges were seemingly accepted, for each time he made them he rapidly recovered. After the second of his sicknesses and marvelous recoveries, Francesco approached the Father Provincial of the Jesuits, and asked to be received into the Society. Although the youth’s request was granted, he procrastinated in his vocation.
In the meantime, Francesco began to think of becoming a Passionist and sought the advice of the holy Father Peter Tedeschini, S.J, who told him to pray for more guidance.8
After the Blessed Virgin Mary stopped a devastating wave of cholera at Spoleto in the year 1856, residents of the city carried her statue in a city-wide procession of thanksgiving that was witnessed by Francesco himself.
As the statue of Our Lady passed him during the Marian procession, Francesco lifted his eyes and through the eyes of the statue, the Holy Virgin Mary gazed at him with a look that was etched in his heart.
Simultaneously, Francesco heard the words deep within him: “Why! thou art not made for the world! What art thou doing in the world? Hasten, become a religious!”9
The procession soon passed on, but Francesco was rooted to the ground in prayer. Thanking the Mother of God for lovingly chastising him, Francesco was determined to become a Passionist. Two weeks later, Francesco was invested in the Passionist habit on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows and took the name of Confrater Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.”10
On the day that he was first clothed as a Passionist, Gabriel sent a letter to his father that reads:
My dear father: The day has come at last. The Almighty had been calling me for a long time, whilst I ungratefully turned a deaf ear to His voice by enjoying the world and displeasing Him; but His infinite mercy sweetly disposed all things, and today, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, our Mother and Protectress, I was clothed in the holy habit, taking the name of Confrater Gabriel, of Our Lady of Sorrows.11
As the Rule of St. Paul of the Cross urges all Passionists to “entertain a pious and ardent devotion towards the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God; let them strive to imitate her sublime virtues and merit her seasonable protection,”12 Gabriel’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly to Her Dolors, only grew as the days of his novitiate went by:
As he recited twice daily her rosary and litany, he found new fervor springing from gratitude and love. The usual Saturday meditations on the Sorrows of Mary struck him with singular poignancy. They were for him the hour of grace to see with astonishing clarity what he had long since known after a fashion but never felt with such profound and penetrating affection. Thus he found it sweet and easy to compassionate Mary, who though absolute in sinlessness because full of grace, yet sustained in her soul tortures transcending all the cruelties and afflictions of the Martyrs. His multiplied acts of love and contrition easily carried their fervor into his reception of the Sacraments, his assistance at Mass, his recitation of the Five Wounds and Seven Dolor Beads, the singing of the Stabat Mater.13
In a letter written to his father at that time, Gabriel likewise declares:
Be assured, dearest father, that I would not exchange one quarter of an hour spent with Blessed Mary, our hope and consolation, for a whole year, or any length of time, spent in the frivolities and diversions of the world.14
As the time of his profession neared, Gabriel initially harbored doubts as to whether he could persevere in his vocation.
But in Mary, Gabriel found a total and adequate solution to the problem. His sure hope would be as ever-present and easy of access as any “Hail Mary” he had recited: “Holy Mary … pray for us … now and at the hour of our death.”…In peace Gabriel placidly awaited the day of his profession. It came, a heavenly joy unfathomed.15
At the end of his life, learning that his death was nigh due to his contraction of tuberculosis, Gabriel submitted himself to the will of God. In his dying moments, after receiving absolution from his Father Director, Gabriel devoutly kissed a picture of the Crucifixion, with the Blessed Virgin standing at the foot of the cross, put the image on his chest and folded his hands across it, saying:
Oh, my Mother, make haste, make haste!16
Evidently, Gabriel’s hallmark Marian devotion, namely his veneration of Our Lady’s Sorrows, propelled him from worldliness into the heights of sanctity in religious life and raised him to the honors of the altar. His life illustrates that a profound love for the Mother of Sorrows is of the very crux of the Passionist charism, for it was the Holy Virgin Mary who appeared to young Paul Francis Daneo, the Passionist founder, and asked him to found the Congregation.
By a decree on April 13, 1932, Pope Pius XI granted the Feast of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows to the Universal Church, instructing that this Feast be included in the Universal Calendar, beginning from 1934.
Pope Leo XIII, a great ally of the Passionist Congregation, had this to say of Saint Gabriel: “Because of his filial love for Mary at the foot of the Cross, Gabriel deserves to take his place by the side of Saint John the Beloved Disciple, to whom Christ in His dying hour commended His Mother.”17
Likewise, Cardinal Parocchi, after learning about Saint Gabriel’s life story, proclaimed him as “the equal of all the saints most devoted to the august Virgin Mother of God.”18
In his supplicatory letter to Pope Leo XIII, Cardinal Parocchi proclaims:
Mary was the very soul of Gabriel’s life, the source and model of the sanctity to which he attained; so that it may be truly said that in his devotion to the great Mother of God he has scarcely been equalled by any, even of the greatest saints.19
Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and a Holy Death
As can be seen by the life of Saint Gabriel above, devotion to the Sorrows of Mary has a strong connection with great interior holiness and unworldliness, as it “communicates to our souls the spirit of the Cross.”20
The holy death of Saint Gabriel also teaches us that devotion to our Blessed Mother’s Sorrows is one of the best preparations of a holy death, as “it concerns Our Lady’s ministry to Our Lord at the hour of His blessed death.” After all, as Fr. Faber declares, “what should life be but a preparation for death?”21
Our Lady of Compassion and the Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X
Fast forward to the 20th century, His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to preserve the Catholic priesthood and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass amid the confusion that ensued following the Second Vatican Council.
In 1974, the archbishop also founded, with his sister Mother Marie Gabriel, the Congregation of Sisters of the Society of Saint Pius X to assist and pray for the priesthood.
The soul of the SSPX Sisters’ apostolate can be found at the foot of the altar, with daily assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being the source of the Sisters’ strength in their total gift of self. With Our Lady of Compassion at the foot of Jesus’ cross as their key patron, the SSPX sisters participate in an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament daily to pray for priests and the Church’s hierarchy. The Sisters also unite themselves to the Divine Victim for the salvation of souls, particularly those of priests.22
By living out their religious vocation, the SSPX Sisters look to Our Lady of Compassion’s humble and hidden life serving Saint John the Evangelist and the other Apostles (who were the first priests) as a model to serve Jesus Christ in His priests.23
Concluding Thoughts
He who is growing in devotion to the Mother of God is growing in all good things. His time cannot be better spent; his eternity cannot be more infallibly secured. But devotion is, on the whole, more a growth of love than of reverence, though never detached from reverence. And there is nothing about Our Lady which stimulates our love more effectually than Her dolors.24
Undoubtedly, anyone who during his lifetime has a tender devotion for this afflicted Mother and who strives to avoid sin at all costs, may consider this devotion to Our Lady’s Sorrows as a most assured sign of predestination.
Mother of God, He broke thy heart
That it might wider be,
That in the vastness of its love
There might be room for me.
—Fr. Faber
My Mother, make haste!
Endnotes
1 Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother: Including Prayers and Promises of The Seven Sorrows of Mary. TAN Books, 2002.
2 Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross: Or, The Sorrows of Mary, 16. United States: TAN Books, 1978.
3 St. Alphonsus de Liguori, The Glories of Mary, 469. United States: TAN Books, 1977.
4 Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother, 2002.
5 Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross, 67.
6 John Baptist, C.P. “The Passionist Bulletin, February 2, 1947.” Passionist Historical Archives. Accessed January 1, 2024. https://passionistarchives.org/publication/the-passionist-bulletin-february-2-1947/.
7 Ibid.
8 Lummer, Reginald. Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Passionist: A Youthful Hero of Sanctity. New York: St. Michael’s Passionist Monastery, 1920.
9 Ibid.
10 John Baptist, C.P. “The Passionist Bulletin, February 2, 1947.”
11 Ibid.
12 Lummer, Reginald. Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
13 John Baptist, C.P. “The Passionist Bulletin, February 2, 1947.”
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Lummer, Reginald. Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
17 “Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, C.P.” Passionist Nuns. Accessed January 1, 2024. https://www.passionistnuns.org/passionist-calendar/2024/2/27/memorial-of-st-gabriel-of-our-lady-of-sorrows-cp.
18 John Baptist, C.P. “The Passionist Bulletin, February 2, 1947.”
19 Lummer, Reginald. Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
20 Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross, 396.
21 Ibid., 398.
22 “SSPX Sisters - Founded to Assist and Pray for the Priesthood.” District of the USA, July 28, 2023. https://sspx.org/en/sspx-sisters-founded-assist-and-pray-priesthood.
23 SSPXAsia.com: The Sisters of Saint Pius X. Accessed January 5, 2024. https://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Society_of_Saint_Pius_X/Vocations/Womens-Communities/Chap-18-The-Sisters-of-the-SSPX.htm.
24 Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross, 68.
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