Votive Mass for Mary Mother of Sorrows
Mary as a mother underwent all the cross with her son Jesus. Her presence gave much strength to Jesus when he mostly needed it. We pray for all women to always be present to help those in need. The devotion to the Sorrowful Mother, extremely popular above all in areas around the Mediterranean, developed around the end of the 11th century. Connected with this devotion is the Stabat Mater, attributed to Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306). We find the first liturgical celebrations for the sorrowful Mary, or the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion, “standing” at the foot of the Cross, in the 15th century. Prior to that, in 1233, the Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis (Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly known as the Servites) was founded. They greatly contributed to the spread of the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, so much so that in 1668 they were granted permission to celebrate a votive Mass to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. In 1692, Pope Innocent XII authorized the celebration of a Feast in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows on the third Sunday of September. This proved only to be temporary because later, on 18 August 1714, the feast was transferred to the Friday before Palm Sunday. On 18 September 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the liturgical feast to the entire Latin Church, transferring it to the third Sunday of September. Pope Pius X ( + 1914) fixed the date of the feast on 15 September, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It would no longer be known as the “Seven Sorrows of Mary”, but “Our Lady of Sorrows”.
