Our Lady of Sorrows - Liturgical Feast

Liturgical Feast

The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the monastery of Schönau. Especially in Mediterranean countries, parishioners traditionally carry statues of Our Lady of Sorrows in processions on the days leading to Good Friday. Malta - Our Lady of Sorrows. In Malta and Gozo there are also Two Servites of Mary – Third Order in two parishes . In Malta there is the Third Order of the Servites of Mary at the Parish of Stella Maris Sliema. The other Third Order of the Servites of Mary is at the Parish of San Lawrenz in San Lawrenz, Gozo.

The Third Order of the Servites of Mary at the Parish of Stella Maris Parish in Sliema was previously known as the Pia Unjone di Maria Desolata. In 1872 this was blessed by Pope (Blessed) Pius IX and by the Bishop of Malta Mgr Carmelo Scicluna in1878.

On the 8 September 1892 the Pia Unione was alleviated to a Third Order by a Decree of the Prior General of the Order of the Servites of Mary and with another Decree by Bishop of Malta Mgr Pietro Pace on the 27 October 1896. (Source: Tas-Sliema – Il-Knisja u l-Parrocca ta’ Stella Maris. Source: (Sliema –The Church and the Parish of Stella Maris) Maurice Busietta - 1978

No feast in her honour was included in St Pius V's 1570 Tridentine Calendar. Vatican approval for the celebration of a feast in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows was first granted to the Servite order in 1667.

By inserting the feast into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date.

Another feast, originating in the seventeenth century, was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727. It was originally celebrated on Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of major double (slightly lower than the rank of the September 15 feast) in the General Roman Calendar. In 1962, the feast was reduced to a commemoration. By 1969 the Vatican had come to consider it a duplication of the September 15 feast, and the Passion Week feast was omitted in that year's revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.

Each celebration was called a feast of "The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary." The September 15 feast that now combines and continues both of them is known as the Feast of "Our Lady of Sorrows" (Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis). The sequence known as Stabat Mater may be sung at mass on that day.