Stories of the Seven Sorrows

1: The young man and the eighth sword

Related by Father Roviglione of the Society of Jesus.

A certain young man had the devotion of visiting every day an image of the sorrowful Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, shown with seven swords piercing her heart.

One night the young man fell into grave sin. When he went the next morning to visit the image, he saw in Mary's heart not seven swords but eight.

As he stood staring at it, he heard a voice telling him that his sin had added the eighth sword to her heart. This broke through his hardened heart; he went at once to confession, and through the intercession of his advocate he recovered the grace of God.

2: The two nuns and the persecuted child

Concerning Blessed Colette and Venerable Sister Jane of Jesus and Mary, both Franciscan nuns.

One day the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Blessed Colette, a Franciscan nun, and showed her the child Jesus wounded and as if torn by cruelty, saying, "This is how sinners continually treat my Son, renewing his death and my sorrows. My daughter, pray for them, that they may be converted." A like vision came to the venerable Sister Jane of Jesus and Mary, also a Franciscan nun.

As she was meditating one day on the infant Jesus pursued by Herod, she heard a great noise, like armed men chasing someone; then a most beautiful child appeared before her, fleeing in distress, who cried out, "My Jane, help me, hide me. I am Jesus of Nazareth. I am fleeing from sinners who wish to kill me and who persecute me as Herod did. Save me."

3: The young man in India and the offered dagger

From the Annual Letters of the Society of Jesus.

A young man in India was just leaving his room to go and commit a sin when he heard a voice say, "Stop. Where are you going?" He turned and saw a carved image of the sorrowful Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who drew out the sword that pierced her breast and said to him, "Take this dagger and pierce my heart rather than wound my Son with this sin."

At these words the young man threw himself to the ground and, weeping with deep sorrow, asked and obtained from God and from Mary the pardon of his sin.

4: Sister Diomira's flowers and Blessed Jerome Emiliani in the tower

Concerning Sister Diomira of Florence and Blessed Jerome Emiliani..

One day the Saviour appeared to Sister Diomira, a nun in Florence, and said to her, "Think of me and love me, and I will think of you and love you." At the same time he gave her a bunch of flowers together with a cross, showing her that the consolations the saints receive on this earth are always joined to the cross, and that it is the cross that unites souls to God. So it was with Blessed Jerome Emiliani.

While he was still a soldier leading a very sinful life, he was captured by his enemies and shut up in a tower. There, feeling his misery deeply and moved by God to change his life, he turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary for help, and with her aid he began to live as a saint.

He went on to found the Somaschi order, died a holy death, and merited to behold one day the high place God had prepared for him in heaven; the Church later honored him as Blessed.

5: The young man of Perugia and the scapular

Recounted by St. Alphonsus Liguori; the event is set at Perugia..

A young man in Perugia once made a terrible bargain with the devil: in exchange for help in committing a sin he desired, he promised the devil his soul, and even gave him a writing to that effect signed in his own blood.

Once the deed was done, the devil came to claim what was promised. He led the young man to a deep well and threatened to carry him off, body and soul, unless he threw himself in. Terrified, the young man said he had not the courage to do it, and that if the devil wanted him dead he would have to do it himself.

Now the young man was wearing the scapular of the sorrowing Mary, the Blessed Virgin, around his neck. "Take off that scapular," said the devil, "and I will throw you in." But seeing that the Mother of God was still protecting him through that scapular, the young man refused to remove it; and after a long struggle the devil left him in confusion.

The young man repented, and in gratitude to his sorrowful mother he went to thank her and offered a painting of the event at her altar in the new church of Santa Maria in Perugia.

6: The fugitive sinner and the white dove

Related by "the Disciple" (the medieval exempla collection of Johannes Herolt).

A poor sinner, guilty of grave crimes, including the deaths of his own father and a brother, had become a fugitive.

One day during Lent he happened to hear a sermon on the mercy of God, and he went to the preacher himself to make his confession. After hearing the man's sins, the confessor sent him to an altar of the sorrowful Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to pray that she would obtain for him true sorrow and the pardon of his sins. The sinner obeyed and began to pray; and suddenly, overcome with contrition, he fell down dead.

The next day, when the priest asked the people to pray for the man who had died, a white dove appeared in the church and let a small card fall at his feet. He picked it up and read these words: that the soul of the dead man had gone straight to paradise the moment it left the body, and that the priest should keep on preaching the infinite mercy of God.

7: The scrupulous religious consoled at death

Related by Father Engelgrave.

A certain religious was so tormented by scruples that at times he was nearly driven to despair; but he had a great devotion to Mary, the mother of sorrows, the Blessed Virgin, and whenever his spirit was in anguish he turned to her and found much comfort in meditating on her sorrows.

When death drew near, the devil troubled him more than ever and tried to push him toward despair. Then his merciful mother, seeing her poor son so afflicted, appeared to him and said, "Why, my son, are you so overwhelmed with sorrow, you who have so often consoled me by your compassion for my sorrows? Take heart. Jesus sends me to comfort you. Be at peace, rejoice, and come with me to paradise."

At these words the religious died quietly, full of consolation and trust.

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Source:

Simplified retellings of the "example" stories that St. Alphonsus Liguori placed at the end of each section of The Glories of Mary. These are paraphrased in plain modern prose, faithful to the substance of the 1888 English translation. Liguori himself, in his author's "Protest," noted that the miracles and apparitions in the book are offered on human authority only, not as articles of faith.