Our Lady of Sorrows: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers

Feast day: September 15 (Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows)

Patron of: The grieving and all who suffer; the Servite Order.

About Our Lady of Sorrows

The day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Church remembers the Mother who stood beneath it. When Mary and Joseph presented the infant Jesus in the Temple, the old man Simeon told her, "Thy own soul a sword shall pierce." Christian devotion has traditionally counted seven sorrows: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple, meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary, the Crucifixion, receiving His body from the Cross, and His burial.

Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother was promoted especially by the Servants of Mary, the Servites, founded in Florence in the thirteenth century, and it inspired the hymn Stabat Mater. The memorial is kept on September 15. Mary's sorrow was not despair. She stood by the Cross in faith, united to her Son's sacrifice, and she became our Mother there when Jesus said, "Behold thy mother." Everyone who has watched a loved one suffer or has buried someone they love can find in her a companion who understands, and who points beyond grief to the Resurrection.

Prayers to Our Lady of Sorrows on Daily Catholic Prayers

• Prayer After a Miscarriage or the Loss of a Child

• Prayer After the Death of a Loved One

• Prayer for the First Holidays After a Loss

• Seven Last Words: Behold Thy Mother

Learn more: “Feasts of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” in the Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent)

Browse every saint in our Catalog of Saints A–Z.

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