Via Matris

VIA MATRIS. - A devotional practice to Our Lady of Sorrows which, like the Way of the Cross, meditates on the sorrows that the Madonna suffered in her life, in seven stations according to the seven sorrows that medieval tradition has consecrated as the principal ones: the prophecy of Simeon 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, spread 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, Gregory XVI approved it and granted indulgences to it. Leo XIII (23 July 1898) and Blessed Pius X (14 Apr. 1913) extended the indulgences. In 1937, under the name of "Perpetual Novena," in the church of the Addolorata of the Servants of Mary, in Chicago, the development of this practice assumed extraordinary proportions. In a single day it had to be repeated 38 times, with 78,000 people present. At present this novena is established in more than 161 dioceses and is practiced in more than 1300 churches. The Sacred Penitentiary extended (4 July 1946) to the V. M. the concessions made to the Way of the Cross, as regards the manner of practicing it; on 24 Apr. 1951 it granted the plenary indulgence.

Enrico Zanetta