Bringing Mary’s Seven Sorrows Into Focus
by Monica Pugh | September 17, 2025
The weather has cooled and soon beautiful images of our Holy Mother and her newborn son lying in a manger will become our focus.
Before I became Catholic, those beautiful images were the only ones I understood about Mary’s role in salvation history.
Mary’s Immaculate Heart, pierced with a sword, was an image I saw for the first time hanging in my in-laws’ home. As a convert, this common image to Catholic parishes and homes became something I desired to understand. “Why is her heart pierced with a sword? Isn’t she just Jesus’ beautiful mother?” I asked myself silently.
Simeon’s prophecy in the gospel of Luke warned Mary her heart would be pierced with a sword as she witnessed her son’s suffering and death. But she suffered six other deeply sorrowful events. These sorrows, sometimes referred to as dolors, are trials of great suffering. They provide windows into her innermost feelings.
She suffered through their flight into Egypt, losing Jesus in the temple, encountering her son on the path to Calvary, witnessing his crucifixion and death, receiving his body into her arms, and assisting at his burial. Through it all, she maintained her perfect yes. She experienced profound love for her son and deep understanding of her role in salvation.
In the 14th century, Mary appeared to St. Bridget of Sweden in a private revelation revealing the Rosary of Seven Sorrows. This rosary announces the sorrows at each Our Father bead and has seven Hail Mary beads instead of the usual ten. This prayer leads us in understanding our own suffering and sorrows. It also evokes honor for her as we experience our own trials and feel pain.
The official Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows date was formally set by Pope Pius X on Sept. 15, 1913. This feast day brings Mary’s seven sorrows into focus for all of September. While this rosary can be prayed at any time, it is often prayed on this day.
When we suffer, sadness fills our hearts. If we are not content with the answers God provides, discouragement can take hold. We might wonder what good it does to pray. This is the battle in prayer we are told to confront in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2728. But Mary is our model for hope. She knew all things would pass away and become new as we read in Revelation 21:5. She knew hope because of her perfect yes.
When the unthinkable happens around us or to us, and our hearts turn to deep sorrow, sometimes fear, it is prayer that gives us hope. We can unite our prayers to Mary’s seven sorrows. She knows our pain and her sorrows instruct us how to endure suffering and to grow spiritually. She graciously lived in pain as a mother on earth and felt all the emotions and feelings like we do today.
She is not just Jesus’ beautiful mother. She is my heavenly mother. She is your heavenly mother. She is the ark of the new covenant bringing us salvation. She is the Queen of Heaven who intercedes for us because of the sword that pierced her heart.