Our Lady of Sorrows Novena

Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross, is a foundational image in the spirituality of the Congregation of Holy Cross. As men with hope to bring, we, like Mary, anchor that hope in the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Each year, on September 15, the Congregation of Holy Cross celebrates our patronal feast, the Solemnity of Our Lady of Sorrows. This novena, a prayer of nine days, is an opportunity to enter more deeply into the preparation for that celebration. While able to be prayed at any time of the year, if it is begun on September 7, the novena will then conclude on September 15, the day of the feast.

Using lines from the 8th Constitution of the Congregation of Holy Cross, entitled ‘The Cross, Our Hope’, this novena invites each person who prays it to reflect more deeply on the sorrows and sufferings in our world, to acknowledge them, and to pray that Mary will carry these prayers to her Son. We trust that, in the Cross, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will find an end to pain and sorrow. As the Constitutions of Holy Cross say, ‘we walk by Easter’s first light, and we long for its fullness’.

Special gratitude to Rev. Timothy R. Weed, C.S.C., for compiling and writing the reflections of this novena.

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 1

Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C.
Provincial Superior

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 2

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 4

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 5

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 7

Our Lady of Sorrows Novena
Day 8