The Blessed Virgin Mary is given the titles Our Lady of Sorrows or Mother of Sorrows because of the profound suffering and sadness she experienced because of her love for Jesus, beginning with a troubling prophecy soon after He was born.
At the presentation of the child in the temple, a devout man named Simeon foretold the sorrow that Mary would experience over the course of Jesus’ life, describing it as if she would be pierced by a sword.
In addition to this prophecy of Simeon, Mary’s sorrows include the flight into Egypt to protect Jesus’ life, losing Jesus in the temple for three days, meeting Jesus while He carried his Cross to Calvary, standing at the foot of the Cross, watching Jesus’ body being taken down from the Cross, and Jesus’ body being buried.
Catholics contemplate Mary’s persistent faith in spite of her grief and suffering in hymns, prayers, and other devotions. Under the titles of Our Lady of Sorrows or Mother of Sorrows, Mary serves as patron to Catholic parishes, schools, religious orders, dioceses, and countries throughout the world.
Our Lady of Sorrows is represented by the Blessed Mother with her heart surrounded by a wreath of roses and pierced by swords which represent the seven sorrows.
The Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows on September 15, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, revealing the relationship between Jesus’ passion and the sorrow of his mother.
Mary suffered because she loved:
The heartbreak of a mother:
Loving as mother, the New Eve, and follower of Abraham:
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about Him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Luke 2: 33-35
A prophesy of great foreboding:
The piercing sword represents all of the sorrows:
Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. “This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death”; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion: Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the Cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the Cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: “Woman, behold your son.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 964
Mary is an icon of compassion:
Mary suffered with strength, perseverance, and hope:
A martyr in spirit:
Today, as we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, we contemplate Mary sharing her Son’s compassion for sinners. As Saint Bernard declares, the Mother of Christ entered into the Passion of her Son through her compassion. At the foot of the Cross, the prophecy of Simeon is fulfilled: her mother’s heart is pierced through by the torment inflicted on the Innocent One born of her flesh. Just as Jesus cried, so too Mary certainly cried over the tortured body of her Son. Her self-restraint, however, prevents us from plumbing the depths of her grief; the full extent of her suffering is merely suggested by the traditional symbol of the seven swords. As in the case of her Son Jesus, one might say that she too was led to perfection through this suffering, so as to make her capable of receiving the new spiritual mission that her Son entrusts to her immediately before “giving up his spirit”: That of becoming the mother of Christ in his members. In that hour, through the figure of the beloved disciple, Jesus presents each of his disciples to his Mother when he says to her: Behold your Son.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 15 September 2008
Jesus’ Passion and Mary’s sorrows:
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