Our Lady of Sorrows: The Nature and Theology Behind Her Seven Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows is one of the oldest and most tender titles given to Mary, and it points to something Catholics have meditated on for centuries.
If you've ever seen a statue or image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with seven swords piercing her heart, you've already met Our Lady of Sorrows. It's one of the oldest and most tender titles given to Mary, and it points to something Catholics have meditated on for centuries: that Mary's life was, in a very real sense, a martyrdom — even though she never shed a drop of blood.
This piece takes a close look at that theology, drawing on Frederick William Faber's classic 19th-century treatise, The Foot of the Cross; or, The Sorrows of Mary. Faber's book is entirely devoted to unpacking what he calls "the martyrdom of Mary," and it remains one of the most thorough theological explorations of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady ever written. By the end, you'll understand not just what the Seven Sorrows are, but why Catholic tradition holds them in such reverence — and hopefully you'll feel drawn to explore the devotion for yourself.
Who Is Our Lady of Sorrows?
"Our Lady of Sorrows" is a title for Mary that focuses on her sharing in the suffering of her Son, Jesus Christ. Faber opens his treatise by calling this Mary's "martyrdom" — not a martyrdom of the body, since she was never physically killed for her faith, but a martyrdom of the heart, lived out over the whole course of her life.
Faber argues that trying to fully describe these sorrows is almost impossible. He compares it to standing at the edge of the ocean: you see "a waste of waters with a white horizon on every side," but that surface view tells you nothing of the teeming life and hidden gardens beneath. In the same way, he says, the outward story of Mary's sorrows is only the visible edge of something far deeper (Faber, The Foot of the Cross, Ch. I, "The Immensity of Our Lady's Dolours").
The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady: A Quick Overview
Before going deeper into the theology, it helps to know exactly which events make up the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Faber structures his entire book around these seven moments, devoting a full chapter to each one:
The Prophecy of St. Simeon — When Simeon tells Mary in the Temple that "a sword" will pierce her own soul.
The Flight into Egypt — Mary and Joseph fleeing with the infant Jesus to escape King Herod.
The Three Days' Loss of Jesus in the Temple — The anguish of searching for the missing twelve-year-old Jesus.
Meeting Jesus Carrying the Cross — Mary encountering her Son on the road to Calvary.
The Crucifixion — Standing at the foot of the Cross as Jesus dies.
The Taking Down from the Cross — Receiving her Son's body into her arms (the Pietà).
The Burial of Jesus — Watching Jesus laid in the tomb.
Faber treats these as a single, unfolding story — not seven separate, disconnected griefs, but "her martyrdom as a whole" (Faber, Ch. I). Each dolour builds theological weight from the ones before it, which is part of why devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows treats them as a connected whole rather than a random list.
The Theology Behind Our Lady of Sorrows
Faber devotes his entire opening chapter, "The Martyrdom of Mary," to laying out the theological groundwork before he even reaches the first sorrow. Here's a breakdown of the key ideas he covers.
1. The Immensity of Her Dolours
Faber's starting point is that Mary's sorrows are, quite literally, beyond full human description. He doesn't mean this as poetic exaggeration — he means that any attempt to catalogue her suffering will only ever capture the "outside show" of it, never its full depth (Faber, Ch. I, "The Immensity of Our Lady's Dolours").
2. Why Did God Permit Our Lady's Dolours?
This is one of the most striking questions Faber tackles directly: why would God allow the woman He loved "so unspeakably" to suffer so much? He's careful to frame the question reverently — not as doubt or accusation, but as an inquiry made "in order that we may gain fresh knowledge to mint into fresh love" (Faber, Ch. I, "Why God Permitted Our Lady's Dolours"). For Faber, asking why isn't irreverent; it's actually part of loving someone more deeply.
3. The Fountains of Her Sorrow
Faber makes a subtle but important distinction here. He's not just asking what caused Mary's sorrows in a simple, external sense — he's asking about the "fountains," or the particular sources of feeling in her heart that gave her sorrows their unique intensity. He illustrates this with an example any parent can understand: losing an only son is painful in itself, but the particular circumstances — how the loss happens, what was lost with him — shape the specific character of the grief (Faber, Ch. I, "The Fountains of Our Lady's Dolours").
4. The Characteristics of Her Dolours
According to Faber, one of the defining features of Mary's sorrows is that they were lifelong, or very nearly so. He notes that before the Incarnation, Mary may not have had a clear, detailed foreknowledge of exactly what she would suffer — but once she conceived Jesus and came to understand the mystery of the Incarnation so intimately, it's reasonable to believe the whole shape of His Passion, "with all the Thirty-Three Years" leading up to it, lay before her in outline (Faber, Ch. I, "The Characteristics of Our Lady's Dolours"). In other words, Mary didn't just suffer in the moment at each sorrowful event — she carried an awareness of what was coming for most of her life.
5. How Could Our Lady of Sorrows Rejoice Amid Her Grief?
This might be the most theologically rich (and comforting) idea in the whole book. Faber insists that Mary's sorrow and her joy were not two separate, unconnected experiences — "as if her joy and sorrow were two oceans in her soul, which had no mutual inlets." Instead, he writes that "her joys were sorrows, and her sorrows joys," each one shaping the other depending on how you looked at it. Even in the darkness of Calvary, he says, "a beautiful light breaks out of its gloomiest centre," because Mary understood her suffering as bound up with the honor of God and the redemption of the world.
6. How the Church Presents These Sorrows to Us
Faber points out that the Church doesn't present the Seven Sorrows as pious speculation or private opinion — she presents them "as part of the Gospel, as one of the facts of the Gospel, and as an object of special devotion" (Faber, Ch. I, "The Way in Which the Church Puts Our Lady's Dolours Before Us"). He even references an old tradition recorded by Marchese in the Diario di Maria, tracing devotion to Mary's sorrows back to apostolic times, through a vision reportedly given to St. John the Evangelist.
7. The Spirit of True Devotion to Our Lady's Dolours
Faber closes his introductory chapter by describing what this devotion is actually meant to produce in us: "an extreme tenderness towards our Blessed Lord, united with the profoundest reverence." He's clear that devotion to Mary's sorrows isn't an end in itself — it's meant to draw the heart closer to Jesus, deepening both our reverence for Him and our affection for Him (Faber, Ch. I, "The Spirit of Devotion to Our Lady's Dolours").
Why This Theology Still Matters
What makes Faber's treatment of Our Lady of Sorrows so compelling is that it refuses to treat her grief as simply tragic or something to feel sorry about from a distance. Instead, he frames it as a window into some of the deepest questions of the Christian faith: Why does God allow suffering in those He loves most? How can sorrow and joy coexist in the same heart? And what does it look like to walk closely with Christ through pain rather than around it?
If this overview has sparked your curiosity, it's genuinely worth going deeper. Beyond the theology, there's a whole living tradition of devotion built around the Seven Sorrows — including the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, the Stabat Mater hymn, and the Church's feast day honoring Our Lady of Sorrows. Exploring these practices is a natural next step if you want to move from understanding this devotion to actually living it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Lady of Sorrows
What does "Our Lady of Sorrows" mean? It's a title for the Virgin Mary that highlights her compassionate suffering alongside Jesus throughout His life, especially His Passion. Faber describes this as a form of martyrdom lived out through her heart rather than her body.
What are the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady? They are: the Prophecy of Simeon, 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, and the Burial of Jesus.
Why did God allow Mary to suffer so much? Faber addresses this directly, arguing that we can reverently ask "why" — not to doubt God, but to deepen our love by understanding more. He suggests Mary's sorrows were bound up with the redemption of the world and the honor of God.
Did Mary know in advance what she would suffer? Faber suggests that once Mary conceived Jesus and grasped the mystery of the Incarnation, she likely had a clear sense of the outline of His future Passion — meaning her sorrow, in some sense, lasted her whole life rather than being confined to seven isolated moments.
Can sorrow and joy coexist in the Christian life? According to Faber's reading of Mary's experience, yes — her sorrows and her joys were deeply intertwined rather than separate. This is one of the central theological insights behind the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows.
How does the Church view the Seven Sorrows? Faber notes that the Church presents them as part of the Gospel itself, not merely as pious tradition, and treats them as a fitting object of ongoing devotion for the faithful.
Key Sources
Faber, Frederick William. The Foot of the Cross; or, The Sorrows of Mary. London: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1858. Chapter I, "The Martyrdom of Mary" — Sections: "The Immensity of Our Lady's Dolours," "Why God Permitted Our Lady's Dolours," "The Fountains of Our Lady's Dolours," "The Characteristics of Our Lady's Dolours," "How Our Lady Could Rejoice in Her Dolours," "The Way in Which the Church Puts Our Lady's Dolours Before Us," and "The Spirit of Devotion to Our Lady's Dolours."
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