Our Lady of Sorrows: The First Dolour — The Prophecy of St. Simeon
There, the aged Simeon took the Child into his arms and spoke the words that gave this Dolour its name.
This is the First Dolour: the Prophecy of St. Simeon. In The Foot of the Cross; or, The Sorrows of Mary, Frederick William Faber devotes an entire chapter to this single scene, and what he uncovers there sets the tone for the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady as a whole. Let's walk through what actually happened, and why Faber treats it as such a pivotal moment.
Setting the Scene: What Happened in the Temple
Faber states that this Dolour occurred on the fortieth day after Christmas — the day of Mary's Purification and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, in keeping with Jewish law. Life, Faber notes almost poetically, had simply gone on as usual all around them: "Every morning there was political news in Rome... The caravans went in and out of the gates of the white Damascus." Meanwhile, quietly and without fanfare, Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the Temple to fulfill the Law (Faber, The Foot of the Cross, Ch. II, "The First Dolour: The Prophecy of St. Simeon").
There, the aged Simeon took the Child into his arms and spoke the words that gave this Dolour its name:
"Behold, this Child is set... for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed." (quoted in Faber, Ch. II)
What the Prophecy Actually Did to Mary
Faber is careful not to treat this simply as a prediction Mary heard and filed away. He describes it as an event that changed her interior life instantly and permanently. As he writes, "over Mary's soul there came an inexplicable change" — "a clear and detailed vision of all her sorrows, especially of the whole Passion... was instantaneously impressed upon her soul." Her heart, he says, "was deluged with a sea of sorrow, which was supernatural both in its kind and its intensity."
And yet, notably, there was no outward drama. Faber emphasizes that "there was no surprise with this portentous change. No starting, no weak tremor, no flutter of spirit." Instead, her peace only deepened, even as this new sorrow settled into her soul.
The Sword That Stayed for Forty-Eight Years
One of Faber's most striking images comes right after this moment. He describes the sword of Simeon's prophecy not as a passing wound, but as something that remained lodged in Mary's heart for the rest of her earthly life — "the sword right through her broken heart, which should remain there for eight-and-forty years, and then, when Jesus should draw it out of the wound, she would bleed to death with love" (Faber, Ch. II).
That single image captures something important about how Faber understands this Dolour: it wasn't a single stab of grief that faded with time. It was a wound that stayed open for the rest of Mary's life.
Why This Sorrow Came at the Height of Joy
One detail Faber draws special attention to is the timing of this first sorrow. It arrived right after Mary had just offered Jesus to God in the Temple — one of the most sublime acts of worship a creature has ever performed. Faber writes that "there never had been such an offering made to Him since creation began," and that in giving Jesus to God, Mary "was giving Him away from herself." Her reward for that offering, Faber notes almost startlingly, "was immediate: it was an unutterable lifelong sorrow."
Faber draws out a broader spiritual principle from this: "earthly sorrows are the roots of heavenly joys," and "a cross is a crown begun." He also explains why Mary needed no gradual preparation for such a sudden, total grief — "God proportioned her cross to her powers of bearing it," so that she could receive "a whole world of sorrow" all at once, "more immovable than the hills which stood around Jerusalem."
How the Prophecy Changed the Way Mary Saw Everything
Perhaps the most striking part of Faber's chapter is his description of how this one moment reshaped Mary's entire experience of ordinary life afterward. From that day forward, he writes, "every action became a suffering, every source of joy a fountain of bitterness." Mary began to see foreshadowings of the Passion in the most everyday details of Jesus' childhood. Here are a few examples Faber points to directly:
A carpenter's tool pressed against a young palm — Faber writes that Mary saw in this "the wound of the nail."
The natural rosy marks on a child's forehead — these seemed to her like a "coronal of rosy spots around where the thorns should be."
The prickly pear hedges around Nazareth — ordinary garden hedges that "always reminded her of the crown of thorns."
The simple passage of time itself — Faber says even time felt like bitterness to her, because she could see "Gethsemane and Calvary coming down the stream towards her."
Faber describes this as "a strange alchemy of life," where "everything about it was commuted into bitterness," and notes that this process was often most intense precisely when things seemed brightest and happiest — when "the sun was shining brightest, and the mother's heart expanded to its genial light and heat."
The Lessons Faber Draws From the First Dolour
Faber doesn't leave this chapter as purely historical reflection — he turns it toward the reader directly. He points out that Simeon's words about Jesus being "a sign which shall be contradicted" and "set for the rise and fall of many" apply to us too, in our own spiritual lives: "Jesus is in us a cause of sorrow, in us He is a sign to be contradicted, in us is He set for the rise and fall of many." He connects this to the ordinary trials of the interior life — pains of love, dryness, hidden crosses — describing them as "lifelong lessons, as its sorrow was" (Faber, Ch. II).
Where the First Dolour Fits Among the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady
The Prophecy of St. Simeon is only the beginning. Faber structures his entire treatise around the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, each building on the theological groundwork this first one establishes:
The Prophecy of St. Simeon — the sword first announced
The Flight into Egypt
The Three Days' Loss of Jesus in the Temple
Meeting Jesus Carrying the Cross
The Crucifixion
The Taking Down from the Cross
The Burial of Jesus
Understanding the First Dolour matters because, according to Faber, it's the moment Mary's entire life became permeated with foreknowledge of the Passion. Every sorrow that follows in this list is, in a sense, an unfolding of what Simeon's words set into motion in that one quiet moment in the Temple.
Why This Story Is Worth Sitting With
There's something deeply human in this scene, even amid its theological depth — a mother receiving devastating news about her child while going about an ordinary religious duty, and carrying that knowledge quietly for the rest of her life without losing her peace. If Faber's reading of the First Dolour has resonated with you, it's worth continuing on to explore how the rest of Mary's Seven Sorrows unfold, along with the broader devotional tradition built around them — including the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows and the Church's feast honoring Our Lady of Sorrows.
FAQ: The First Dolour — The Prophecy of St. Simeon
What is the First Dolour of Our Lady? It's the Prophecy of St. Simeon, which took place during the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, forty days after His birth, when Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul.
What did Simeon actually say to Mary? According to the Gospel account quoted by Faber, Simeon said the Child was "set for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted," adding, "thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed."
How did this prophecy affect Mary? Faber describes it as an instantaneous, supernatural change — a complete vision of the Passion impressed upon her soul all at once, without diminishing her interior peace.
Why did this sorrow come right after such a joyful act of worship? Faber sees this as intentional: Mary's offering of Jesus in the Temple was met with immediate sorrow, illustrating his broader principle that "earthly sorrows are the roots of heavenly joys."
Did Mary carry this sorrow for the rest of her life? Yes — Faber describes the sword of Simeon's prophecy as remaining in her heart for forty-eight years, only to be "drawn out" at the moment of her own death.
How does the First Dolour relate to the other Seven Sorrows of Our Lady? It's the foundation. Faber presents it as the moment Mary's whole life became shadowed by foreknowledge of the Passion, setting the stage for the six sorrows that follow.
Key Sources
Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross; or, The Sorrows of Mary. London: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1858. Chapter II, "The First Dolour: The Prophecy of St. Simeon."
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