The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows

Mary Prays
13 may
5 min de lectura

The prayer born from a Mother's suffering, given to us at Kibeho so we could understand the cost of love.

TLDR

The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows is a devotion meditating on the seven greatest sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from Simeon's prophecy to the burial of her Son. Our Lady taught this Rosary to the visionaries at Kibeho, Rwanda, in 1982 and asked that it be prayed every Tuesday and Friday. She said it was one of the most powerful tools in the world to defend against temptation and evil, and she gave it to three girls twelve years before a genocide, because she knew the world needed to understand her sorrow before it could understand God's mercy.

History

The devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary has roots that reach back centuries. The Servite Order, founded in 1233, made the Seven Sorrows a central focus of their spirituality, and the devotion spread throughout the Church over the following centuries. St. Bridget of Sweden received private revelations about the extraordinary graces attached to meditating on Our Lady's sorrows. Pope Benedict XIII formally added the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows to the Roman Calendar in 1727, and it is celebrated on September 15.

But the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows received a new urgency and a new mission in 1982, when Our Lady appeared to three teenage girls at Kibeho, Rwanda, and taught them this specific devotion.

She told them that the world had grown deaf to her messages and that the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows was a remedy she was placing in our hands because the times demanded it. She asked that it be prayed every Tuesday and Friday. She said this devotion had the power to break the hardest hearts, to open the eyes of the blind, and to win graces of repentance for those who seemed beyond conversion.

Twelve years later, Rwanda experienced one of the worst genocides in human history. The river of blood that Our Lady had shown the visionaries in a terrifying vision on August 15, 1982, came to pass in the spring of 1994. Marie Claire Mukangango, one of the three visionaries, was killed in the genocide at the very site where Our Lady had appeared.

Our Lady gave this prayer to Rwanda, and to the world, because she knew what was coming. She knew that only by entering into her suffering could we begin to understand the cost of sin and the depth of God's mercy. The Seven Sorrows Rosary is not a comfortable prayer. It is a prayer that breaks you open and puts you back together again, closer to her and closer to her Son.

Promises

The promises associated with the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows come from the revelations to St. Bridget of Sweden and from Our Lady's messages at Kibeho:

Those who meditate on her sorrows will receive true repentance for all their sins before death.

She will protect them in their tribulations and will be their advocate, especially at the hour of death.

She will impress upon their minds the memory of Christ's Passion, and they will receive a special reward in heaven.

Those who pray this Rosary faithfully will be led into the fullness of her sorrows and thereby into the fullness of her graces.

Our Lady told the visionaries at Kibeho that this devotion was one of the most powerful tools against evil and temptation. She said it could soften hearts that seemed beyond reach. She connected it directly to the urgent call for repentance that was the central message of her entire time at Kibeho: "Repent, repent, repent!"

How To Pray

The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows uses a special rosary with seven groups of seven beads, separated by single beads, with a medal of Our Lady of Sorrows. If you do not have one, you can pray it on a regular rosary or simply on your fingers.

Structure

This devotion uses 7 mysteries, with 7 beads for each mystery, corresponding to the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

The 7 Sorrows:

The prophecy of Simeon
Scripture: Luke 2:25–35.
The Flight into Egypt
Scripture: Matthew 2:13–15.
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple
Scripture: Luke 2:43–50.
Mary meets Jesus carrying the Cross
Scripture: Luke 23:26–31.
Mary stands at the foot of the Cross
Scripture: John 19:25–27.
Mary receives the dead body of Jesus
Scripture: John 19:38–40.
The Burial of Jesus
Scripture: Matthew 27:55–61.

Get Started

1. Make the Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

2. Pray the Introductory Prayer

My God, I offer this Rosary in honor of the seven principal Sorrows of Mary, for Your greater glory, for my conversion, and for the conversion of all people through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, our salvation and our only way to You, in union with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

3. Pray the Act of Contrition

My God, I am deeply sorry for having offended You, because You are infinitely good and loving, and sin displeases You. With the help of Your holy grace, I firmly resolve not to offend You again and to do penance. In this contrition, I desire to live and die. Amen.

4. Meditate on each of the Seven Sorrows

For each mystery:

Announce and meditate sorrow.
Read or recall the associated Scripture passage.
Meditate briefly on Mary’s suffering.
Pray the Our Father:
- Our Father, who art in heaven,
  hallowed be Thy name;
  Thy kingdom come;
  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  Give us this day our daily bread;
  and forgive us our trespasses,
  as we forgive those who trespass against us;
  and lead us not into temptation,
  but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Pray the Hail Mary, repeat seven times:
- Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.Blessed art thou among women,and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
  Holy Mary, Mother of God,pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

5. Final Prayer

Queen of Martyrs, your soul was deeply troubled in an ocean of suffering. By the merits of the tears you shed in these sorrowful mysteries, obtain for us and for all sinners throughout the world the grace of complete sincerity and repentance. Amen.

Repeat three times:

Our Father
Hail Mary
“Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!”