The Seven Sorrows of Mary
In the Catholic Church, September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, one of the many titles
of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The memorial for Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September
15th. This feast day is meant to show how Mary shares in the sorrows and pains of the Passion
and Death of her Son, Jesus, along with other hardships in His and therefore her life. Being a
mother is not easy, being the Mother of God is certainly not easy either. While we know Mary
was blessed and is more blessed than all creatures, that does not mean she was without
hardship. She had to patiently endure the sufferings of Christ at the hands of others from
Jesus’s infancy until His death and burial. This was her cross and she bore it well.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary refers to a set of mysteries, very much like the Rosary. Some of the
mysteries overlap, and others are similar to, or the same as certain Stations of the Cross. It is a
popular devotion on Fridays and Saturdays and during Lent. There is only one set of sorrows,
and they are based on the following events:
1. The Prophecy of Simeon
2. The Flight into Egypt
3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple
4. Meeting Jesus on the Way of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion
6. Jesus’s Body Removed from the Cross
7. Jesus’s Body Placed in the Tomb
The Seven Sorrows is prayed on a special set of beads. The set I have has a large pendant of
Mary, followed by beads that match the beginning of the Rosary. From there, are seven sets of
eight beads. The structure that I have used is the following:
1. 2. 4. 5. 6. Pray an Act of Contrition on the Pendant
Pray the Our Father on the first bead
3. Pray Three Hail Mary’s
On the first large bead, announce the first sorrow and pray an Our Father
Pray one Hail Mary on each of the following seven beads
Say “Mary, allow me to keep thee company and mourn Jesus’s death with thee” after the
Hail Mary’s
7. 8. Repeat for the remaining mysteries
At the end, you could say a Hail Holy Queen or the Confetior (I confess to almighty
God…) from Mass
This devotion can be a way to honor Mary through a different lens.