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Prayer — Marian Prayers

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Stabat Mater Dolorosa

The Sorrowful Mother Stood

Late 13th century; attributed to Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230–1306)

The 13th-century Passion sequence on Mary at the foot of the Cross — sung at the Stations of the Cross and on the feast of the Seven Sorrows.

The Prayer · Multiple Versions
Latin · Original
Stabat Mater dolorosa
iuxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.

Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem,
pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigeniti!

Quae moerebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati poenas inclyti.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?

Quis non posset contristari,
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?

Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.

Eia Mater, fons amoris,
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum,
ut sibi complaceam.

[…continued in 20 verses, ending:]

Quando corpus morietur,
fac ut animae donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.
English
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword had passed.

O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother highly blest
of the sole-begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs;
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?

[…continued in 20 verses, ending:]

While my body here decays,
may my soul Thy goodness praise,
safe in Paradise with Thee. Amen.
When the Prayer is Said

Sequence at the Mass of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15); traditional accompaniment to the Stations of the Cross; on Fridays of Lent.

History & Background

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa is traditionally attributed to the Franciscan friar and Italian poet Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230–1306) — one of the great early Italian vernacular poets and the principal Spiritual Franciscan of his generation. The Latin text contemplates the Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the Cross of her crucified Son, and invites the praying soul to share in her sorrow.

In 1727, the year of the institution of the universal feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, Pope Benedict XIII added the Stabat Mater to the Roman Missal as the proper Sequence for that feast. It is also the traditional accompaniment to the Stations of the Cross (one verse sung between each station).

Among the most-set Latin texts in the history of Christian music: settings by Palestrina (c. 1590), Pergolesi (1736, composed on his deathbed), Haydn (1767), Schubert (1816), Rossini (1842), Dvořák (1877), Verdi (1898), Poulenc (1951), and Pärt (1985), among hundreds of others.

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