Latin Marian Prayer for September

September is traditionally the month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, and the Church asks that we focus on the seven sorrows experienced by Our Lady during the life, death and Passion of Her Son:

• Simeon’s announcement of the future suffering of Jesus
• The Holy Family’s escape into Egypt
• Jesus’ lost’ disappearance in the Temple at Jerusalem
• Mary meeting Jesus on His way to Calvary
• Mary standing under the Cross of her Son Jesus
• The body of Jesus being handed into the arms of Mary
• The body of Jesus being placed in the tomb

Some of the prayers recited during this time include St. Bonaventure’s prayer to our Lady of Sorrows, and the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows.

To Our Lady of Sorrows by Saint Bonaventure

O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and the death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion, and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that, being disengaged from all undue affection for the passing joys of this earth, I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem, and that henceforward all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed towards this one most desirable object.

Honour, glory, and love to our divine Lord Jesus, and to the holy and immaculate Mother of God. Amen.

Given below is a special version of the Ave Maria used in the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows. It differs only slightly from the usual version and is fairly simple to translate. The Latin words for tear, lacrimosa, and tearful, lacrymabilis, are used several times, and so is Crucifixus, the Crucified (the adjective used here as a noun.)

The rest of the Chaplet may be found here.

Dolorous Ave Maria

Ave Maria doloribus plena,
Crucifixus tecum:
lacrymabilis te in mulieribus,
et lacrymabilis fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Crucifixi:
lacrymas impertire nobis crucifixoribus Filii tui,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of sorrows,
the Crucified is with thee:
tearful art thou amongst women,
and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified,
grant tears to us crucifiers of thy Son,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.