Our Lady of Sorrows

Patroness of Our Congregation

Our Lady of Sorrows, patroness of our Congregation is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary referring to the sufferings she endured as the Mother of Jesus. For the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, united to her Divine Son and to his work by an intimate and everlasting bond, is the model of our vocation and mission. We honor her especially in her intimate relation to the Passion and Death of Christ, and invoke her under the title of “Our Lady of Sorrows.”
(Constitutions of the Congregation)

With the cross, the prophecy of Simeon became a reality for our Blessed Mother, and Mary met her Son on the road to Calvary with great tenderness and a deep maternal love. Her “fiat” had led to this moment, and her “yes” had given her a power within much greater than herself. This is what gave her the strength to stand with her Son. Mary’s standing beneath the cross speaks of to us of love, faithfulness, and endurance.

Mother Elisabetta Renzi found in the person of Mary, standing at the foot of the cross, a companion for the journey. The Blessed Mother had known suffering and the hope that followed; she was Elisabetta’s model for being a woman of compassion. Throughout her own life, Elisabetta had known much suffering, and she used the example of Mary to help her endure and persevere.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, as Our Lady of Sorrows, offered Elisabetta inspiration, so much so, that she chose her as the patron of the Congregation. Our Lady of Sorrows, thus, becomes a symbol for us as we meet our own daily cross and are challenged to be transformed through it.

It is from Mary, as Our Lady of Sorrows, that we learn to be women of strength, standing in faith and love, particularly in times of darkness and suffering, as she did at the foot of the cross. Her maternity, her living faith in the fulfillment of the most profound mysteries of the Redemption, her contemplative silence, her humble, hidden, and constant activity in the simple life in Nazareth and in the early Church, are the basis of our nourishment and spiritual growth. Meditation on her mission and her virtues facilitates our personal encounter with Christ and our docility to the Spirit of God. (Constitutions of the Congregation)