The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our lady of Sorrows on September 15, the day after the feast of the Holy cross to show the close connection between Jesus’s passion and Mary’s sorrow. This advocation has its roots in the gospel. Our Lady of sorrows teaches us that our sufferings, united to Christ through her sorrowful heart, can become bearable. Devotion to our Lady of Sorrows became a standard devotion in the Church around the 14th century. It was revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s seven sorrows would bring great signal graces. Why do we pray the sorrows Rosary? We pray this Rosary to learn to suffer with love, as Mary, the mother of Jesus did. The 7 sorrows Rosary leads us to understand our suffering, sins, and sorrows. Doing so helps us to live a life of joy in the lord, so that we can serve others.
Over the centuries several devotions, and even orders, arose around meditation on Mary’s Sorrows in particular. The Servites developed the three most common devotions to Our Lady’s sorrow, namely the Rosary of the seven sorrows, the Black Scapular of the seven Dolours of Mary and the Novena of Our Sorrowful Mother. The Rosary consists of chaplet of seven septets of beads (upon which is said an Ave), separated by one bead(on which is prayed a Pater Noster). The Black Scapular is a symbol of the confraternity of our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite order.

– Eslinda Fernandes