maria dolorosa – Big Lucky Hoodoo

Ref. terminology, I’ll say this, though you all probably know it.

Maria Dolorosa — lit. Sorrowful Mary
Mater Dolorosa — lit. Sorrowful Mother
Virgen de Dolores — lit. Virgin of Sorrows
… and then there’s the English Our Lady of Sorrows etc.

The image frequently encountered for Our Lady Maria Dolorosa is the one in my icon – you can see the Mexican Catholic influence if you look carefully; she’s surrounded by milagros and that sword is really Spanish-looking.

If you’re Catholic, you’ll pray the Hail Mary, which I’ll reproduce for non-Catholic readers.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

And there are plenty of prayers to choose from in the Catholic tradition, some specific to Our Lady of Sorrows. There’s even a special rosary, which looks different than a regular five-decade rosary, for counting a set of prayers that deal specifically with Mary’s Seven Sorrows (technically a chaplet and not a rosary, but anyway). (I ought to make one of those one of these days.)

If you’re working with her, like many do in folk practice, for healing from sorrow and disappointment, especially in love, or maybe for drawing a healthy love into your life, or for nourishing broken dreams, then you will probably want to focus on the Sorrowful angle rather than a straight-up Hail Mary by its lonesome.

If I were calling on her for help with keen disappointment, for example, I might say a prayer like this one:

Pray for us, O most Sorrowful Virgin, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen. Lord Jesus, we now implore, both for the present and for the hour of our death, the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother, whose holy soul was pierced at the time of your Passion by a sword of grief. Grant us this favor, O Savior of the world, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

In any case I would "talk to her," adding something about my own situation and petition. The possibilities are nearly endless, and there are some very good Catholic resources out there in internet land.

I have no idea if anybody cares about medieval flower symbolism for Our Lady, so I’ll save it 🙂

Greetings, When burning a candle to Mater Dolorosa, how do you petition her? What do you give her as a offering? Thanks again!

It depends on how "Catholic" you are. Flowers are *always* good, fresh flowers. The candle itself is an offering, too. Among less Orthodox "folk Catholics," especially around here, silver heart-shaped milagros and jewelry are used. I work with her as a face of the loa Erzulie Freda, which is yet another level of "unorthodox" :-), and I give her Freda’s offerings — perfume, pink and blue things (lace, cakes, candles, maybe candies, small heart-shaped pink boxes, stuff like that).

I find that the longer I work with a saint the more of a sense of what he or she likes comes through. I will sometimes be in a store and think "St. Patrick needs that for his altar!" and buy it 🙂 So flowers and candles are always a safe start, and you will probably find yourself inspired as you go and you can build from there. Roses and lilies are good, but there’s actually a whole complex system of flower and plant symbolism associated with her that date from medieval times (and probably predate) — so you can feel just fine about starting small.

Ref. the petition, again that depends on how Catholic you are. You can simply talk to her out loud or silently, in a heartfelt way, or you can pray a traditional prayer.

…to be continued…