Our Patroness
Our Lady of Sorrows
The founders of the church wanted as their patron the Blessed Virgin Mary, under this specific title.
The consecration of our new church was done on her feast in 2015, and after each Saturday Mass, the priests lead a public devotion to the 7 Sorrows of Our Lady.
It is under her continual patronage and protection that we place the priory, school, and retreat center in Phoenix.
Some History
In 1233, seven young men in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (“Order of the Servants of Mary”). They sought to spread devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary
The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was instituted by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the Protestant Hussites (by the way, it the Hussites were the ones that put the sword gashes on the face of the Polish Our Lady of Czestochowa)
Pope Saint Pius X placed the feast on September 15 so that it would close to the feast of the Holy Cross on September 14.
The Blessed Virgin Mary revealed to Saint Bridget of Sweden (died 1373) that those that pray a Hail Mary while meditating on Mary’s Seven Sorrows will receive Seven Graces:
- I will grant peace to their families.
- They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
- I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
- I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
- I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
- I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.
- I have obtained (This Grace) from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and sorrows, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.
Notably, the Seven Sorrows are Scriptural (with the exception of #4):
- The prophecy of Simeon. (St. Luke 2: 34, 35)
- The flight into Egypt. (St. Matthew 2:13-14)
- The loss of the Child Jesus in the temple. (St. Luke 2: 43-45)
- The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.
- The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus.
- The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.
- The burial of Jesus.