OUR
LADY OF SORROWS
OUR
LADY OF SORROWS
FEAST DAY: SEPTEMBER 15TH
Excerpt from the book
The Glories of Mary,
by Saint
Alphonsus de Liguori,
Doctor of the Catholic Church)
PART THE THIRD
THE DOLORS OF MARY
DISCOURSE.*
Mary is the Queen of Martyrs, for her Martyrdom was longer and greater than that of all the Martyrs.
Who can ever have a heart so hard that it will not melt on hearing the most
lamentable event that once occurred in the world ? There was a noble and holy
mother who had an only son. This son was the most amiable that can be
imagined—innocent, virtuous. beautiful, who loved his mother most tenderly; so
much so that he had never caused her the least displeasure, but had ever shown
her all respect, obedience, and affection hence this mother had placed all her
affections on earth in this son. Hear, then, what happened. This son, through
envy, was falsely accused by his enemies; and though the judge knew, and
himself confessed, that he was innocent, yet, that he might not offend his
enemies, he condemned him to the ignominious death that they demanded. This poor
mother had to suffer the grief of seeing that amiable and beloved son unjustly
snatched from her in the flower of his age by a barbarous death;
for, by dint of torments and drained of all his blood, he was made to die on an
infamous gibbet in a public place of execution, and this before her own eyes.
Devout souls, what say you ? Is not this event, and is not this unhappy mother,
worthy of compassion ?
* There are two feasts in honor of the Dolors of the Blessed Virgin, namely, the Friday of Passion week and the fifteenth of the month of September. The two points of this discourse, or those of the sermon that follows, joined to the Reflections on each of the seven dolors, may form a novena of meditations or of spiritual reading.—ED.
2
You already understand of whom I speak. This son, so cruelly executed, was our
loving Redeemer Jesus; and this mother was the Blessed Virgin Mary; who, for the
love she bore us, was willing to see him sacrificed to divine justice by the
barbarity of men. This great torment, then, which Mary endured for us--a torment
that was more than a thousand deaths—deserves both our compassion and our
gratitude. If we can make no other return for so much love, at least let us give
a few moments this day to consider the greatness of the sufferings by which Mary
became the Queen of martyrs; for the sufferings of her great martyrdom exceeded
those of all the martyrs; being, in the first place, the longest in point of
duration; and in the second place, the greatest in point of intensity.
I.
As Jesus is called the King of sorrows and the King of martyrs, because he suffered during his life more than all other martyrs; so also is Mary with reason called the Queen of martyrs, having merited this title by suffering the most cruel martyrdom possible after that of her son. Hence with reason was she called by Richard of St. Laurence, "the Martyr of martyrs;"¹ and of her can the words of Isaias with all truth be said, He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation;² that is to say, that that suffering itself, which exceeded the suffering of all the other martyrs united, was the crown by which she was shown to be the Queen of martyrs.
3
That Mary was a true martyr cannot be doubted, as Denis the Carthusian,¹ Pelbart,² Catharinus, and others prove; for it is an undoubted opinion that suffering sufficient to cause death is martyrdom, even though death does not ensue from it. St. John the Evangelist is revered as a martyr, though he did not die in the caldron of boiling oil, but "came out more vigorous than he went in." 3 St. Thomas says, "that to have the glory of martyrdom, it is sufficient to exercise obedience in its highest degree, that is to say, to be obedient unto death."4 "Mary was a martyr," says St. Bernard, "not by the sword of the executioner, but by bitter sorrow of heart."5 If her body was not wounded by the hand of the executioner, her blessed heart was transfixed by a sword of grief at the Passion of her Son, grief which was sufficient to cause her death not once, but a thousand times. From this we shall see that Mary was not only a real martyr, but that her martyrdom surpassed all others; for it was longer than that of all others, and her whole life may be said to have been a prolonged death.
"The Passion of Jesus," as St. Bernard says, "began with his birth."6 So also did Mary, in all things like unto her Son, endure her martyrdom throughout her life. Amongst other significations of the name of Mary, as Blessed Albert the Great asserts, is that of "bitter sea."7 Hence to her is applicable the text of Jeremias: Great as the sea is thy destruction. 8 For as the sea is all bitter and salt, so also was the life of Mary always full of bitterness at the sight of the Passion of the Redeemer, which was ever present to her mind.
4
"There can be no doubt, that, enlightened by the Holy Ghost in a far higher degree than all the prophets, she, far better than they, understood the predictions recorded by them in the sacred Scriptures concealing the Messias."¹ This is precisely what the angel revealed to St. Bridget, and he also added, "that the Blessed Virgin, even before she became his Mother, knowing how much the Incarnate Word was to suffer for the salvation of men, and compassionating this innocent Saviour, who was to be so cruelly put to death for crimes not his own, even then began her great martyrdom."
2Her grief was immeasurably increased when she became the Mother of this Saviour; so that at the sad sight of the many torments that were to be endured by her poor Son, she indeed suffered a long martyrdom,
³ a martyrdom which lasted her whole life. This was signified with great exactitude to St. Bridget 4 in a vision which she had in Rome, in the church of St. Mary Major, where the Blessed Virgin with St. Simeon, and an angel bearing a very long sword, reddened with blood, appeared to her, denoting thereby the long and bitter grief which transpierced the heart of Mary during her whole life. Whence the above-named Rupert supposes Mary thus speaking : "Redeemed souls, and my beloved children, do not pity me only for the hour in which I beheld my dear Jesus expiring before my eyes; for the sword of sorrow predicted by Simeon pierced my soul during the whole of my life when I was giving suck to my Son, when I was warming him in my arms, I already foresaw the bitter death that awaited him. Consider, then, what long and bitter sorrows I must have endured."55
Wherefore Mary might well say, in the words of David, My life is wasted with
grief, and my years in sighs.¹ My sorrow is continually before me.² "My whole
life was spent in sorrow and in tears; for my sorrow, which was compassion for
my beloved Son, never departed from before my eyes, as I always foresaw the
sufferings and death which he was one day to endure." The divine Mother herself
revealed to St. Bridget, that "even after the death and ascension of her son,
whether she ate, or worked, the remembrance of his Passion was ever deeply
impressed on her mind, and fresh in her tender heart."
3 Hence Tauler says,
"that the most Blessed Virgin spent her whole life in continual sorrow;"
4 for
her heart was always occupied with sadness and with suffering.
6 So that in the words addressed by the angel to St. Bridget: "As the rose grows
tip amongst thorns, so the Mother of God advanced in years in the midst of
suffering; and as the thorns increase with the growth of the rose, so also did
the thorns of her sorrows increase in Mary, the chosen rose of the Lord, as she
advanced in age; and so much the more deeply did they pierce her heart."
¹ II.
Ah, Mary is not only Queen of martyrs because her martyrdom was longer than that
of all others, but also because it was the greatest of all martyrdoms. Who,
however, can measure its greatness? Jeremias seems unable to find any one with
whom he can compare this Mother of sorrows, when he considers her great sufferings at the death of her Son.
To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I
liken thee, 0 daughter of Jerusalem ? .. . for great as the sea is thy
destruction : who shall heal thee?
²
7
Wherefore Cardinal Hugo, in a commentary on
these words, says, "0 Blessed Virgin, as the sea in bitterness exceeds all other
bitterness, so does thy grief exceed all other grief."¹ Hence St. Anselm asserts, that "had not God by a
special miracle preserved the life of Mary in each moment of her life, her grief
was such that it would have caused her death."
But let us consider the reasons for which Mary's martyrdom was greater than that
of all martyrs.
In the first place, we must remember that the martyrs endured their torments,
which were the effect of fire and other material agencies, in their bodies; Mary
suffered hers in her soul, as St. Simeon foretold: And thy own soul a sword
shall pierce.4 As if the holy old man had said: "0 most sacred Virgin, the
bodies of other martyrs will be torn with iron, but thou wilt be transfixed, and
martyred in thy soul by the Passion of thine own Son." Now, as the soul is more
noble than the, body, so much greater were Mary's sufferings than those of all
the martyrs, as Jesus Christ himself said to St. Catharine of Sienna: " Between
the sufferings of the soul and those of the body there is no comparison." 8
Whence the holy Abbot Arnold of Chartres says, "that whoever had been present
on Mount Calvary, to witness the great sacrifice of the Immaculate Lamb, would
there have beheld two great altars, the one in the body of Jesus, the other in
the heart of Mary; for, on that mount, at the same time
that the Son sacrificed his body by death, Mary sacrificed her soul by
compassion." ¹
Moreover, says St. Antoninus, ² while other martyrs suffered by sacrificing their
own lives, the Blessed Virgin suffered by sacrificing her Son's life—a life that
she loved far more than her own; so that she not only suffered in her soul
all that her Son endured in his body, but moreover the sight of her Son's
torments brought more grief to her heart than if she had endured them all in
her own person. No one can doubt that Mary suffered in her heart all the
outrages that she saw inflicted on her beloved Jesus. Any one can understand
that the sufferings of children are also those of their mothers who witness
them. St. Augustine, considering the anguish endured by the mother of the Machabees in witnessing the tortures of her sons, says, "she, seeing their,
sufferings, suffered in each one; because she loved them all, she endured in her
soul what they endured in their flesh." ³
Thus also did Mary suffer all those
torments, scourges, thorns, nails, and the cross, which tortured the innocent
flesh of Jesus; all entered at the same time into the heart of this Blessed
Virgin, to complete her martyrdom. "He suffered in the flesh, and she in the
heart," writes the Blessed Amadeus. "So much so," says St. Laurence Justinian, "that the heart of Mary became, as it were, a mirror of the Passion of the Son,
in which might be seen, faithfully reflected, the spitting, the blows and
wounds, and all that Jesus suffered."
Therefore time, which usually mitigates the sorrows of the afflicted, did not
relieve Mary; nay, even it increased her sorrows; for, as Jesus, on the one
hand, advanced in age, and always appeared more and more
beautiful and amiable; so also, on the other hand, the time of his death
always drew nearer, and grief always increased in the heart of Mary, at the
thought of having to lose him on earth.
9
St. Bonaventure also remarks that "those wounds which were scattered over the body of our Lord were all united in the single heart of Mary." ¹ Thus was our Blessed Lady, through the compassion of her loving heart for her Son, scourged, crowned with thorns, insulted, and nailed to the cross. Whence the same saint, considering Mary on Mount Calvary, present at the death of her Son, questions her in these words : "0 Lady, tell me where didst thou stand ? Was it only at the foot of the cross ? Ah, much more than this, thou wast on the cross itself, crucified with thy Son." ² Richard of St. Laurence, on the words of the Redeemer, spoken by Isaias the prophet, I have trodden the wine press alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me,³ says, "It is true, 0 Lord, that in the work of human redemption Thou didst suffer alone, and that there was not a man who sufficiently pitied Thee; but there was a woman with Thee, and she was Thine own Mother; she suffered in her heart all that Thou didst endure in Thy body".
4But all this is saying too little of Mary's sorrows since, as I have already observed, she suffered more in witnessing the sufferings of her beloved Jesus than if she had herself endured all the outrages and death of her Son. Erasmus, speaking of parents in general, says, that "they are more cruelly tormented by their children's sufferings than by their own."
5
10
This is not
always true, but in Mary it evidently was so; for it is certain that she loved
her Son and his life beyond all comparison more than herself or a thousand lives
of her own. Therefore, Blessed Amadeus rightly affirms, that "the afflicted
Mother, at the sorrowful sight of the torments of her beloved Jesus, suffered
far more than she would have done had she herself endured his whole Passion."¹
The reason is evident, for, as St. Bernard says, "the soul is more where it
loves than where it lives." ² Our Lord himself had already said the same thing:
where our treasure is, there also is our heart.
³ If Mary, then, by love, lived
more in her Son than in herself, she must have endured far greater torments in
the sufferings and death of her Son than she would have done, had the most cruel
death in the world been inflicted upon her.
Here we must reflect on another circumstance which rendered the martyrdom of Mary beyond all comparison greater than the torments of all the martyrs: it is,
that in the Passion of Jesus she suffered much, and she suffered, moreover,
without the least alleviation.
The martyrs suffered under the torments inflicted on them by tyrants; but the
love of Jesus rendered their pains sweet and agreeable. A St. Vincent was
tortured on a rack, torn with pincers, burnt with red-hot iron plates; but, as
St. Augustine remarks, "it seemed as if it was one who suffered, and another who
spoke."
4 The saint addressed the tyrant with such energy and contempt for his
torments, that it seemed as if one Vincent suffered and another spoke; so greatly did God strengthen him with the
sweetness of his love in the midst of all he endured.
11
A St. Boniface had his
body torn with iron hooks; sharp-pointed reeds were thrust between his nails and
flesh; melted lead was poured into his mouth; and in the midst of all he could
not tire saying, "I give Thee thanks, 0 Lord Jesus Christ."¹ A St. Mark and a
St. Marcellinus were bound to a stake, their feet pierced with nails; and when
the tyrant addressed them, saying, "Wretches, see to what a state you are
reduced; save yourselves from these torments," they answered: " Of what pains,
of what torments dost thou speak ? We never enjoyed so luxurious a banquet as in
the present moment, in which we joyfully suffer for the love of Jesus Christ."
²
A St. Laurence suffered; but when roasting on the gridiron, "the interior flame
of love," says St. Leo, "was more powerful in consoling his soul than the flame
without in torturing his body."
So that the more the holy martyrs loved Jesus, the less did they feel their
torments and death; and the sight alone of the sufferings of a crucified God was
sufficient to console them. But was our suffering Mother also consoled by love
for her Son, and the sight of his torments?
12 Ah, no; for
this very Son who suffered was the whole cause of them, and the love she bore
him was her only and most cruel executioner; for Mary's whole martyrdom
consisted in beholding and pitying her innocent and beloved Son, who suffered so
much. Hence, the greater was her love for him, the more bitter and inconsolable
was her grief. Great as the sea is thy destruction who shall heal thee?
¹ Ah,
Queen of Heaven, love hath mitigated the sufferings of other martyrs, and healed
their wounds; but who hath ever soothed thy bitter grief ? Who hath ever healed
the too cruel wounds of thy heart ? "Who shall heal thee," since that very Son
who could give thee consolation was, by his sufferings, the only cause of thine,
and the love which thou didst bear him was the whole ingredient of thy
martyrdom. So that, as other martyrs, as Diez remarks, are all represented with
the instruments of their sufferings—a St. Paul with a sword, a St. Andrew with a
cross, a St. Laurence with, a gridiron—Mary is represented with her dead Son in
her arms; for Jesus himself, and he alone, was the instrument of her martyrdom,
by reason of the love she bore him. Richard of St. Victor confirms in a few
words all that I have now said: "In other martyrs, the greatness of their love
soothed the pains of their martyrdom; but in the Blessed Virgin, the greater was
her love, the greater were her sufferings, the more cruel was her martyrdom."
²
It is certain that the more we love a thing, the greater is the pain we feel in
losing it. We are more afflicted at the loss of a brother than at the loss of a
beast of burden; we are more grieved at the loss of a son than at the loss
of a friend. 13 Now,
Cornelius a Lapide says, "that to understand the greatness of Mary's grief at
the death of her Son, we must understand the greatness of the love she bore
him."¹ But who can ever measure that love ? Blessed Amadeus says, that "in the
heart of Mary were united two kinds of love for her Jesus—supernatural love, by
which she loved him as her God, and natural love, by which she loved him as her
Son."² So that these two loves became one; but so immense a love, that William
of Paris even says that the Blessed Virgin "loved him as much as it was possible
for a pure creature to love him."³ Hence Richard of St. Victor affirms that "as
there was no love like her love, so there was no sorrow like her sorrow."
Let us now imagine to ourselves the divine Mother standing near her Son expiring
on the cross, and justly applying to herself the words of Jeremias, thus
addressing us: 0 all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow
like to my sorrow. 6 0 you who spend your
lives upon earth, and pity me not, stop a while to look at me, now that I behold
this beloved Son dying before my eyes; and then see if, amongst all those who
are afflicted and tormented, a sorrow is to be found like unto my sorrow.
14
"No, 0 most suffering of all mothers," replies St. Bonaventure,
"no more bitter grief than thine can be found; for no son more dear than thine
can be found."¹ Ah, "there never was a more amiable son in the world than Jesus,"
says Richard of St. Laurence; "nor has there ever been a mother who more
tenderly loved her son than Mary! But since there never has been in the world a
love like unto Mary's love, how can any sorrow be found like unto Mary's
sorrow?" ²
Therefore St. Ildephonsus did not hesitate to assert, "to say that Mary's
sorrows were greater than all the torments of the martyrs united, was to say
too little." ³ And St. Anselm adds, that "the most cruel tortures inflicted on
the holy martyrs were trifling, or as nothing in comparison with the martyrdom
of Mary."4 St. Basil of Seleucia also writes, "that as the sun exceeds all the
other planets in splendor, so did Mary's sufferings exceed those of all the
other martyrs."5 A learned author, Father Pinamonti,6 concludes with a
beautiful sentiment. He says that so great was the sorrow of this tender Mother
in the Passion of Jesus, that she alone could compassionate adequately the
death of a God made man. 15
But here St. Bonaventure, addressing this Blessed Virgin, says, "And why, 0
Lady, didst thou also go to sacrifice thyself on Calvary ? Was not a crucified
God sufficient to redeem us, that thou, his Mother, wouldst also go to be
crucified with him?"¹ Indeed, the death of Jesus was more than enough to save
the world, and an infinity of worlds; but this good Mother, for the love she
bore us, wished also to help the cause of our salvation with the merits of her
sufferings, which she offered for us on Calvary. Therefore, Blessed Albert the
Great says, "that as we are under great obligations to Jesus for his Passion
endured for our love, so also are we under great obligations to Mary for the
martyrdom which she voluntarily suffered for our salvation in the death of her
Son." ² I say voluntarily, since, as St. Agnes revealed to St. Bridget, "our
compassionate and benign Mother was satisfied rather to endure any torment than
that our souls should not be redeemed, and be left in their former state of
perdition."
16
So great a love on the part of Mary deserves our gratitude, and that gratitude
should be shown by at least meditating upon and pitying her in her sorrows. But
she complained to St. Bridget that very few did so, and that the greater part of
the world lived in forgetfulness of them: "I look around at all who are on
earth; to see if by chance there are any who pity me, and meditate upon my
sorrows; and I find that there are very few. Therefore, my daughter, though I
am forgotten by many, at least do thou not forget me; consider my anguish, and
imitate, as far as thou canst, my grief."¹ To understand how pleasing it is to
the Blessed Virgin that we should remember her dolors, we need only know that,
in the year 1239 she appeared to seven devout clients of hers (who were
afterwards founders of the religious Order of the Servants of Mary), with a
black garment in her hand, and desired them, if they wished to please her, often
to meditate on her sorrows : for this purpose, and to remind them of her
sorrows, she expressed her desire that in future they should wear that mourning
dress. ² Jesus Christ himself revealed to the Blessed Veronica da Binasco, that
he is, as it were, more pleased in seeing his Mother compassionated than
himself; for thus he addressed her: "My daughter, tears shed for my Passion
are dear to me; but as I loved my Mother Mary with an immense love; the
meditation of the torments which she endured at my death is even more agreeable
to me." ³
17
Wherefore the graces promised by Jesus to those who are devoted to the dolors of
Mary are very great. Pelbarte ¹ relates that it was revealed to St. Elizabeth, that after the assumption
of the Blessed Virgin into heaven, St. John the Evangelist desired to see her
again. The favor was granted him; his dear Mother appeared to him, and with her
Jesus Christ also appeared; the saint then heard Mary ask her Son to grant some
special grace to all those who are devoted to her dolors. Jesus promised her
four principal ones : 1st, that those who before death invoked the divine Mother
in the name of her sorrows should obtain true repentance of all their sins; 2d, that he would protect
all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and that he would protect them
especially at the hour of death; 3d, that he would impress upon their minds the
remembrance of his Passion, and that they should have their reward for it in
heaven; 4th, that he would commit such devout clients to the hands of Mary, with
the power to dispose of them in whatever manner she might please, and to obtain
for them all the graces that she might desire. In proof of this, let us see, in
the following example, how greatly devotion to the dolors of Mary aids in
obtaining eternal salvation.
EXAMPLE.
In the revelations of St. Bridget ² we read that there was a rich man, as noble
by birth as he was vile and sinful in his habits. He had given himself, by an
express compact, as a slave to the devil; and for sixty successive years had
served him, leading such a life as may.. be imagined, and never approached the
sacraments. Now this prince was dying; and Jesus Christ, to show him mercy,
commanded St. Bridget to tell her confessor to go and visit him and exhort him
to confess his sins. The confessor went, and the sick man said that he did not
require confession, as he had often approached the sacrament of
penance. The priest went a second time; but this poor slave of hell persevered
in his obstinate determination not
to confess. Jesus again told the saint to desire the confessor to return. He did
so; and on the third occasion told the sick man the revelation made to the
saint, and that he had returned so many times because our Lord, who wished to
show him mercy, had so ordered. On hearing this the dying man was touched, and
began to weep: "But how," he exclaimed, "can I be saved; I, who for sixty years
have served the devil as his slave, and have my soul burdened with innumerable
sins?" "My son," answered the Father, encouraging him, "doubt not; if you
repent of them, on the part of God I promise you pardon." Then, gaining
confidence, he said to the confessor, "Father, I looked upon myself, as lost,
and already despaired of salvation; but now I feel a sorrow for my sins, which
gives me confidence; and since God has not yet abandoned me, I will make my
confession." In fact, he made his confession four times on that day, with the
greatest marks of sorrow, and on the following morning received holy Communion. On the sixth day, contrite and resigned, he died. After his death, Jesus
Christ again spoke to St. Bridget, and told her that that sinner was saved; that
he was then in purgatory, and that he owed his salvation to the intercession of
the Blessed Virgin his Mother; for the deceased, although he had led so wicked a
life, had nevertheless always preserved devotion to the dolors, and whenever he
thought of them pitied her.
18
Prayer.
O my afflicted Mother! Queen of martyrs and of sorrows, thou didst so bitterly
weep over thy Son, who died for my salvation; but what will thy tears avail me
if I am lost? By the merits, then, of thy sorrows, obtain for me true contrition
for my sins, and a real amendment of life, together with constant and
tender compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and thy dolors. And if Jesus and
thou, being so innocent, have suffered so much for love of me, obtain that at
least I, who am deserving of hell, may suffer something for your love. "O
Lady," will I say with St. Bonaventure, " if I have offended thee, in justice
wound my heart; if I have served thee, I now ask wounds for my reward. It is
shameful to me to see my Lord Jesus wounded, and thee wounded with him, and
myself without a wound."¹ In fine, 0 my Mother, by the grief that thou didst
experience in seeing thy Son bow down his head and expire on the cross in the
midst of so many torments, I beseech thee to obtain me a good death. Ah, cease
not, 0 advocate of sinners, to assist my afflicted soul in the midst of the
combat in which it will have to engage on its great passage from time to
eternity. And as it is probable that I may then have lost my speech and strength
to invoke thy name and that of Jesus, who are all my hope, I do so now I invoke
thy Son and thee to succor me in that last moment; and I say, Jesus and Mary, to
you I commend my soul: Amen.
***********
**Footnotes **