Today, September 15, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as Our Lady of Sorrows, Mater Dolorosa, or Our Lady of Sorrows. This liturgical celebration invites the faithful to remember the suffering Mary experienced during Jesus’ earthly life, especially during his Passion and death.

History and establishment of the festival

• Devotion to Mary under the title of Sorrows dates back to the 11th century, gradually developing in Mediterranean countries.

• The Servants of Mary  (“Servites”) played an important role in establishing special celebrations in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows.

• In 1814, Pope Pius VII introduced this liturgical feast into the entire Roman calendar, extending it universally throughout the Church.

• Later, Pope Pius X definitively set its date at September 15, the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14).

Theological and devotional meaning

• The celebration emphasizes Mary’s union with her Son in the mystery of pain, suffering, and redemption. Mary “was intimately and faithfully associated with his saving passion.”

• One of the most significant Gospel passages for this feast is the moment when Jesus, on the cross, entrusts Mary to the beloved disciple: “Behold, your mother”; and to the disciple: “Behold, your mother.” This episode symbolizes how Mary is also the mother of all believers.

• Traditionally, the “seven sorrows” of Mary are commemorated, moments in which she experienced profound suffering: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight to Egypt, the loss of Jesus in the Temple, Mary’s encounter with Jesus on the way to Calvary, the crucifixion, the deposition from the cross, and the burial.

Liturgy and celebration

• In the liturgical calendar, this feast is an obligatory memorial in many places, and an occasion for special Masses, prayers, and meditations centered on Mary’s sorrow.

• Its proximity to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross reinforces the symbolic link between the cross of Christ and Mary’s maternal suffering.

Practical reflection for the faithful

• Spiritually accompanying Mary’s pain can serve to console those who suffer: the memory of those sorrows helps us better understand our own trials.

• This feast invites us to unite our personal sufferings with those of Christ, as part of the saving mystery, trusting in divine providence, even in the midst of pain.

• It is also an opportunity to thank Mary for her faithfulness and her example of faith, patience and maternal love.

The commemoration of Our Lady of Sorrows is much more than a rite or an ancient memory: it is a call to give meaning and hope to human suffering. Mary, at the foot of the cross, not only shared Jesus’ physical and emotional suffering; she became a symbol of filial, maternal, and sacrificial love. Celebrating this mystery today reaffirms that, even in the deepest shadows, the light of faith, compassion, and the promise of resurrection shines.

Learning from the Virgin

Today’s Mass reminds us of a scene we’ve seen in many images: Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior, hanging on the Cross, giving his life for us. And beside him, standing, is his Mother. It is the most heartbreaking scene in history, the most atrocious injustice… and at the same time, our salvation, our only hope. Looking at that scene again and again does us so much good. We understand more each time. We draw more strength and more peace from it each time.

The pious Mother stood beside the cross, weeping while her Son hung; his soul, sad and tearful, pierced and painful, was held by a fierce knife.

Oh, how sad and how afflicted the blessed Mother looked, filled with so many torments!

When I sadly contemplated and painfully looked at the pain of my beloved Son.

And what man would not weep if he contemplated the Mother of Christ in such pain? And who would not be saddened, compassionate Mother, if he saw you subject to such pain?

For the sins of the world, the sweet Mother saw Jesus in such deep torment.

He saw the beloved Son die, who abandoned his spirit to his Father.

Oh sweet fountain of love, make me feel your pain so that I may cry with you.

And that, for my beloved Christ, my heart burns more alive in him than with me.

And, so that I may be encouraged to love him, he imprints on my heart the wounds that he had within him.

And of your Son, Lady, share with me now what he suffered for me.

Make me weep with you and truly grieve for his pains while I live; for I long to accompany him on the cross, where I see him, your compassionate heart.

Virgin of holy virgins! Let me weep now with such longing that the tears may be sweet to me; so that her passion and death may be in my soul, so that I may always see her pain.

Make me fall in love with his cross, and may I live and dwell in it, as a sign of my faith and love; so that it may inflame and kindle me, and with you I may defend myself on the day of judgment.

May the death of Christ protect me when my life and soul are in such a difficult state; for when my body is at peace, my soul may go to its eternal glory. Amen.

Very rarely does a Mass offer us a sequence like this: so profound, so directly to the heart. Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, this song helps us learn from her; and with her, to understand suffering, pain; and by understanding it, to be able to overcome it, to give it meaning: to be able to unite ourselves to Christ’s pain on the Cross, and participate with Him in the greatest adventure we could imagine: the salvation of the world, the victory over evil, pain, and death. We are all invited to participate as co-protagonists in the greatest epic. And Our Lady teaches us how to do it.