The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary stood beside her Son in suffering and remained faithful. The Church honors her sorrows because her compassion was united perfectly to the Passion of Christ, from the first prophecy of suffering to the burial of His sacred body.

The older Western commemoration focused especially on Our Lady's suffering during Passion week. The Servite devotion gathered seven sorrows from across her life: Simeon's prophecy, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Child Jesus, the meeting on the road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, the taking down of Christ's body from the Cross, and His burial. The fixed list gave Christians a clear path for meditating on Mary's steadfast love.

Devotion to the Seven Sorrows does not seek sadness for its own sake. It asks the faithful to remain with Mary at the foot of the Cross, to grieve for sin, and to learn the compassion that does not abandon Christ when discipleship becomes painful.