September 6, 2025

As August was the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, September follows as the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows. This month we are drawn into the spiritual martyrdom that our Blessed Mother experienced during the physical martyrdom of Jesus. “The purpose of the Devotion of the Seven Sorrows is to promote our union with the sufferings of Christ through union with the special suffering that Our Lady endured because she was the Mother of God. By uniting ourselves with both the Passion of Christ and His holy Mother, we enter into Jesus’ Heart and honor Him greatly.

The Seven Sorrows are taken from Scripture events.

The First Sorrow: Simeon announces the suffering destiny of Jesus (Luke 2:34-35

The Second Sorrow: Mary escapes into Egypt with Jesus and Joseph (Matt 2:13-15)

The Third Sorrow: Mary seeks Jesus lost in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-51) 

The Fourth Sorrow: Mary meets Jesus as He carries His Cross to Calvary (cf. Luke 23:26-31) 

The Fifth Sorrow: Mary stands near the Cross of her Son Jesus (John 19:25-27) 

The Sixth Sorrow: Mary receives into her arms the body of Jesus taken down from the Cross (cf. John 19:38) 

The Seventh Sorrow: Mary helps place the body of Jesus in the tomb (cf. John 19:39-42)

This devotion goes back to the Middle Ages but has gained new popularity following the Church-approved Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda in the 1980s. In her apparitions, Our Lady of Kibeho recommended that people pray the Chaplet (or Rosary) of the Seven Sorrows to obtain the favor of repentance.

Father Leszek Czelusniak, MIC, who is in charge of the Marian mission in Rwanda, interviewed Nathalie, one of the visionaries of Kibeho and asked her to summarize the messages of Mary. Here is Nathalie's response:

"The Holy Virgin insisted on the need for prayer. She said that the world is bad. It is necessary to pray, to pray, to pray a lot for this world that is bad, to pray for sinners, to pray for their conversion. She insisted a lot on the need for conversion: Convert to God! Convert to God! Convert to God! While saying that people don't respect God's commands, that people have a hard heart, she also asked us to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary and to recite it every day. She also taught us the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows. She asked us to pray it every Tuesday and Friday. She asked us to obey the Church, to love God in truth, and to love our neighbor in humility and simplicity. She spoke of the need for mortification, a spirit of penitence and sacrifice. She also spoke of the need for suffering, to bear our sufferings every day. She said that no one enters heaven without suffering. She also told us that acts of charity for the poor make us beautiful flowers that God likes.”

As for the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, it reminds us that Mary plays a key role in our Redemption and that she suffered along with her Son Jesus to save us. It is prayed using a special rosary comprised of seven "decades" containing seven beads each.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are special to me for a slightly different reason. My wife’s name Lolita is a of Spanish origin and a variant of Lola, meaning ‘pain’ or ‘sorrows’ in Spanish. It is also the Spanish nickname for Dolores, used for Mary, the mother of Lord Jesus, in association with the sorrows in life. Lolita is a popular religious theme and a Christian devotion under the names of Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Dolours, Mother of Sorrows, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours. 

If you haven’t prayed the Seven Sorrows chaplet, you might want to consider exploring this devotion. You will find it on my “First Five Saturday” blog in the index along the right side under Related Devotions (the URL is in the bulletin or you can email me and I can send you the URL to click on) along with more about it’s connection to the Rosary, it’s history, and meaning.