Our Lady of Sorrows at St Anthony Church
Today 8 June 2025, I went to church. It was Pentecost day. There were incense and the priest wore red vestment. The vestment was so nice. There was a white dove on the vestment of Father Eugene. After mass was over, I walked towards the above image where I saw everytime I went to mass. Walking over there, I realised that the image was Our Lady of Sorrows. This is a new addition to the renovated new church.
Devotion to Our Lady’s Sorrows has existed since the early centuries of the Church. It came into particular focus in the 13th century when Our Lady appeared to the Seven Founders of the Servite Order, giving them a black garment as their habit and asking them to meditate on her Sorrows. In the 14th century, Our Lady revealed to St. Bridget of Sweden seven special graces that she would grant to those devoted to her Sorrows. She spoke at length to St. Bridget about the Passion of her Son and her own Sorrows, and made these promises to those who would say seven Hail Marys daily while meditating on her tears and sufferings:1. I will grant peace to their families.
2. They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
3. I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.
4. I will give them as much as they as for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
5. I will protect them against the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death; they will see the face of their Mother.
7. I have obtained the grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, 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.
Our Lady also told Marie Claire, one of the three Kibeho visionaries, that with the recitation of her Seven Sorrows Rosary:
- The hardest hearts will change.
- They shall be freed from obsessions and addictions.
- They will find the strength to repent and convert their hearts.
- They will obtain an understanding of the weaknesses that lead them to sin.
- Praying it from the heart, they will obtain whatever they ask.
Closer look at Our Lady of Sorrows
