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diff --git a/src/blog/our-lady-of-sorrows/index.md b/src/blog/our-lady-of-sorrows/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6f5920 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/blog/our-lady-of-sorrows/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +--- +title: Our Lady of Sorrows +date: September 14, 2024 +description: Stabant juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus. +--- + +This Sunday the Church celebrates Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast was originally +authorized in 1692 by Pope Innocent XII to honor the sorrow that the Blessed Virgin +Mary suffered so perfectly throughout her earthly life with Our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary began to flourish in the 13th century, thanks +to the seven founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary. Our Lady's Seven Sorrows +are: + +1. St. Simeon's prophecy: "thy own soul a sword shall pierce" +2. The flight into Egypt +3. The loss of the child Jesus in the temple +4. The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross +5. Our Lord's crucifixion +6. Our Lord's descent from the cross +7. Our Lord's burial + +The Mass for this feast is one of only five in the traditional Roman Missal which +retain the honor of a sequence: the Stabat Mater. The English version of this hymn, +"At the Cross Her Station Keeping," is traditionally sung at Stations of the Cross +during Lent. + +The feast was originally celebrated on the third Sunday in September, but Pope Saint +Pius X moved it to a fixed date of September 15th. A sad result of this decision +(given the lack of traditional Masses in our time) is that most Catholics are +unlikely to ever hear the sublime chants for this feast in a Sung Mass. + +The Alleluia for this Mass is perhaps the most heavy-hearted you'll find in the Liber +Usualis: + +> Alleluia, Alleluia. +> Stabat sancta Maria, caeli Regina, et mundi Domina, +> juxta crucem Domini nostri Jesu Christi dolorosa. +> Alleluia. + +In English: + +> Holy Mary, queen of heaven and mistress of the world, stood, filled with sorrow, +> by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +{.center} + +Long, descending scales are a unique motif of this particular chant, which I have +highlighted below. This melodic pattern occurs quite rarely in the Church's liturgy. +The descending notes call to mind the tears which fell from the eyes of our Blessed +Mother at the foot of the cross. + +And yet, even as we look upon her Son, hanging upon a cross and pierced with a lance: +Alleluia, Alleluia. How much Holy Mother Church teaches us, even through Her +melodies! + +<iframe class="ytembed" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9dD7kMDtDEg" title="Alleluia: Stabat sancta Maria" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> |