September, the month dedicated to Our Mother of Sorrows
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
J.M.J.

Taken from:  "The Servite Manual:  BEHOLD THY MOTHER - a Collection of
Devotions Chiefly in Honor of Our Lady of Sorrows," compiled by The Servite
Fathers; 6th ed; Servite Fathers, Chicago, 1947; pages xv-xxix.

INTRODUCTION

The Devotion and Confraternity of Our Lady of Seven Dolors

Origin and Propagation of the Devotion to the Seven Dolors of our Blessed
Lady

The devotion to the Dolors of Mary is as old as Holy Church: it had its
birth on the day of the Passion at the foot of the cross, when our Lord gave
us His Mother to be our Mother also.  She to whom He bade us turn our eyes,
when in the person of St. John He said to us, "Behold thy Mother," is not
Mary in her Immaculate Conception, in her Annunciation, or her Assumption,
but Mary plunged in sorrow and bathed in tears, the Mother of Dolors.  Thus
we see that among the manifestations of Christian piety towards the most
holy Mother of God, compassion for her Dolors is one of the most ancient;
and among the oldest archaeological remains it is by no means rare to find
her image at the foot of the cross beside that of the crucified Savior.

Like all the devotions of Holy Church, that to the Dolors of Mary developed
by degrees and took a more precise and definite form.  In the middle ages it
had become extremely popular; and we may venture to say that there was no
cathedral or principal church wherein was not exposed for the veneration of
the faithful the image or statue of Mary at the foot of the cross, or
holding the dead body of Jesus on her knees.  Nay more, the same was often
found in even the humblest village churches.  But in order that this worship
might be still more extended, God willed that there should be in His Church
an Order especially set apart for its propagation, and in the persons of the
Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, of St. Philip Benizi and their
successors, He raised up indefatigable apostles to travel through Italy and
the whole of Europe, preaching everywhere compassion for the sufferings of
Jesus crucified and of Mary desolate, as well as hatred for sin, the
accursed cause of these sufferings.

Nothing is more touching and wonderful than the manner in which this mission
was entrusted to the Seven Holy
Founders.  These men where seven Florentine patricians who, according to the
custom of that period, were also engaged in commerce.  Their names were
Bonfilius, Monaldi, Bonagiunta Manetti, Amideus de Amedei, Manettus dell
Antella, Sosteneus Sostegni, Hugh Uguccioni and Alexius Falconieri.  They
were enrolled in the ranks of canonized Saints by Pope Leo XIII, January 5,
1888.

We designate them now by the names of Saints Bonfil, Bunajunt, Amideus,
Manettus, or Manette, Sostene, Hugh and Alexis.  Members of a pious
Confraternity of the most holy Virgin, they were engaged in reciting her
office on the 15th of August, the feast of her Assumption, in the year 1233,
when she herself appeared to them in the glory of her triumph, and exhorted
them to leave the world, in order to dedicate themselves under her auspices
to the service of God.  They renounced their riches and their families
without delay, and retiring to an hermitage near their native town of
Florence, lived a life of prayer and penance in the closest brotherly love.
God was soon pleased to manifest by a wondrous miracle how pleasing to Mary
were these holy men.  In the following month of January, when two of them
were traversing the streets of Florence and asking alms, infants still
unweaned cried:  "Behold the Servants of Mary; give alms to the Servants of
Mary."  Among these infants was St. Philip Benizi, who was to become one of
the most glorious in the Order of Servites.  Owing to the crowds drawn to
them by this miracle, the Seven Holy Founders were obliged to seek a more
secluded retreat, and chose Mount Senario, a wild and desert spot about nine
miles North of Florence.  There, after six years passed in extreme
austerities, Mary showed them, by many miracles, the design she had in
calling them out of the world.  First of all, in the month of March 1240, a
time of the year in which the mountain is still covered with hoar frost, a
young vine, which they had planted in the previous year, grew miraculously
during the night, and was clothed at once with foliage, flower, and fruit,
symbol of the speedy increase of their little company, as was revealed at
the same time to the Bishop of Florence, Ardingo Trotti.  Shortly
afterwards, on Good Friday of the same year, after having meditated and wept
all day over the sufferings of Jesus and the Dolors of His most holy Mother,
the Holy Founders were gathered together at eventide in their little
oratory, when our Lady of Dolors appeared to them, gentle and majestic in
aspect, her eyes streaming with tears, in black garments, and covered with a
long mourning robe.  She bore in her hands habits of like color and form.
Around her was a numerous choir of angels and heavenly spirits. One of these
bore a kind of label, on which, in letters as of gold, glowed the words
"Servi Mariae" (Servants of Mary), another held an open book, whereon were
inscribed the first words of the Rule of St. Augustine, while a third gently
waved a magnificent palm, emblem of victory.
Looking upon them with love, while she slowly drew near, she signed to them
to approach and take the habits which she delivered to them, saying in
gentle tones:  "It is I, my beloved, I upon whom you have so often called.
I have chosen you out of the world, in order that you may be my Servants,
and under that name work in the vineyard of my Son, producing fruits of
salvation in abundance.  Look upon the habit wherewith I am clothed; symbol
of mourning and sadness, it indicates the profound grief which filled my
soul at the death of my only Son.  Take this mourning habit," and as she
said this, she gave to them the garments which she held in her hands, "this
habit like unto mine, and, in memory of the extreme dolor which I suffered,
when I witnessed the cruel death of my dear Son, wear it through life and
until the hour of your death, spreading everywhere the memory of my Dolors
and of the Passion of my Jesus."  Then she gave them the Rule of St.
Augustine, and commanded them to observe it diligently, as also to keep
always the name of Servants of Mary, promising as their reward the palm of
eternal life.  Thus having spoken, she vanished from the eyes of the Seven
Founders, leaving their hearts filled with pity, gratitude and sweet
consolation.

[FOOTNOTE:  These facts, as well as those which follow, are told with
greater detail in the "Story of the Seven Holy Founders," by Fr. Ledoux
(Burns & Oates), and in the "Storia dei Sette Santi Fondatori," published in
Rome at Propaganda, in 1888, on the occasion of their canonization.]

Such is the origin of the black scapular of our Lady of Dolors, such its
touching significance.  It recalls to us
the profound grief of the most holy Virgin, and associates us with it, in
making us wear with her a garb of mourning. It should be still more
venerable in our eyes from its great antiquity, since it even preceded that
of Mount Carmel, which is often supposed to be the most ancient in the
Church, but was given to St. Simon Stock only several years after the gift
of that of the Seven Dolors.