Traditionally – small “t” – every month of the year is associated with a devotion.
January The Holy Name of Jesus
February The Holy Family
March St. Joseph
April The Holy Eucharist/the Holy Spirit
May The Blessed Virgin Mary
June The Sacred Heart of Jesus
July The Precious Blood of Jesus
August The Immaculate Heart of Mary
September The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother
October The Holy Rosary
November The Holy Souls in Purgatory
December The Immaculate Conception
It’s a feature of Catholic devotional life that I highlight in the Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts and Celebrations.
(You may notice the date for St. Rose of Lima – that’s her feastday in Peru, which is the point of the entry)
The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary dates from the twelfth century, when it made its appearance in monastic circles under the influence of St. Anselm and St. Bernard. The Cistercians and then the Servites undertook to propagate it. It became widespread in the fourteenth and especially the fifteenth centuries, particularly in the Rhineland and Flanders, where Confraternities of the Sorrowful Mother sprang up. It was in this context that the first liturgical formularies in her honor were composed. A provincial council of Mainz in 1423 made use of these in establishing a “Feast of the Sorrows of Mary” in reparation for Hussite profanations of her images.
In 1494 the feast appeared in Bruges, where the Precious Blood of Christ was venerated; later on it made its way into France. It did not, however, become widespread in France before Benedict XIII included it in the Roman Calendar in 1727 and assigned it to the Friday before Palm Sunday.
Some Churches had previously celebrated this feast during the Easter season. Others, however, celebrated the Joys of the Blessed Virgin during the Easter season, as is still done today at Braga. In some places it was entitled “Recollection of the Feasts and Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Outdated? Unsuited to the 21st century?
What – do you not sorrow?
Do you not mourn?
Do you not struggle to reconcile the paradoxes of loss, joy, regret and hope?
Do you not wonder…why? How? What can I do?
No, not outdated. At all.
Take a look at the image above. Erected in the town plaza of Las Vegas, New Mexico (visited by me last year) in 2012, in honor of Nuestra Senora de los Delores, dedicated to the local parish of that name and Mothers against Drunk Driving. Obviously, not outdated.