VIA MATRIS. - A devotional practice in honor of the Virgin of Sorrows which, after the model of the Via
Crucis, meditates upon the sufferings endured by the Madonna during her life, in seven stations corresponding to the seven sorrows that medieval tradition consecrated as the principal ones: Simeon’s prophecy in the Temple, the flight into Egypt, the loss of Jesus in the Temple, the meeting with Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus, the deposition, and the burial of Jesus.
This pious practice, already known in 1450, became widespread toward the end of the 17th century, especially in Spain and among the Slavic peoples. From 1836 it began to be practiced in the church of S. Marcello al Corso in Rome. On 13 July 1837, Gregorio XVI approved it and granted indulgences for II. The indulgences were enlarged by Leone XIII (23 July 1898) and Blessed Pio X (14 Apr. 1913). In 1937, under the name of the “Perpetual Novena,” in the church of the Addolorata of the Servants of Mary in Chicago, the development of this practice assumed extraordinary proportions. On a single day it had to be repeated 38 times, with 78,000 persons present. At present this novena has been established in more than 161 dioceses and is practiced in more than 1,300 churches. The S. Penitenzieria extended (4 July 1946) to the V. M. the concessions made to the Via Crucis, as regards the manner of practicing it; on 24 Apr. 1951 it granted a plenary indulgence.