"My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord".

This Article can be found on ENLARGING THE HEART at 

http://enlargingtheheart.wordpress.com/

Madonna Adoring the Child with Five Angels, by Sandro Botticelli.

Date: 1485 - 1490.

Source: [1]

Author: w:Botticelli

(Wikimedia Commons)

And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38)….

If a handmaid is she who, with intent and with complete attention, beholds her Lord, then again the Most-Holy Virgin is the first among the handmaids of the Lord.

[...] She did not care to please the world, but only God; nor did she care to justify herself before the world, but only before God. She herself is obedience; she herself is service; she herself is meekness.

The Most-Holy Virgin could in truth say to the angel of God: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord".

The greatest perfection, and the greatest honour that a woman can attain on Earth, is to be a handmaid of the Lord. Eve lost this perfection and honour in Paradise without effort, and the Virgin Mary achieved this perfection and this honour outside Paradise with her efforts.


My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46).

Brethren, we have in total only a few words spoken by the Most-Holy Theotokos recorded in the Gospels.

All of her words pertain to the magnification of God. She was silent before men but her soul conversed unceasingly with God. Every day and every hour, she found a new reason and incentive to magnify God.

If only we were able to know and to record all her magnifications of God throughout her whole life, oh, how many books would it take!

But, even by this one magnification, which she spoke before her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the mother of the great Prophet and Forerunner, John, every Christian can evaluate what a fragrant and God-pleasing flower was her most holy soul.

This is but one wonderful canticle of the soul of the Theotokos, which has come down to us through the Gospel. However, such canticles were without number in the course of the life of the Most-Blessed One.

Even before she heard the Gospel from the lips of her Son, she knew how to speak with God and to glorify Him in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel.

This knowledge came to her from the Holy Spirit of God, whose grace constantly poured into her like clear water into a pure vessel.

Her soul magnified God with canticles throughout her whole life, and therefore God magnified her above the Cherubim and the Seraphim.

Likewise, small and sinful as we are, the same Lord will magnify in His Kingdom us who magnify her, if we exert ourselves to fill this brief life with the magnification of God in our deeds, words, thoughts and prayers.

O Most-Holy, Most-Pure and Most-Blessed Theotokos, cover us with the wings of thy prayers.

Nikolai Velimirovich.

Nikolai Velimirovich (1880-1956; Orthodox Church): 

Prologue from Ohrid, December 26th and 27th OS.

La Porte du Ciel; Porta Caeli

Taken from Holy Card Heaven Blog at http://holycardheaven.blogspot.co.uk/

La Porte du Ciel.

Porta Caeli.

Gate of Heaven.

The Sweet Name of Mary is my Hope and my Refuge

This Article can be found on the HOLY CARD HEAVEN Blog.

THE SWEET NAME OF MARY IS MY HOPE AND MY REFUGE.

Stabat Mater

The Stabat Mater (the Mother stood) is the Sequence 
for today's Mass (15 September) of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Illustrations taken from GOSPEL OPERATION INTERNATIONAL Web-Site.

Stabat Mater dolorosa,

Juxta crucem lacrimosa,

Dum pendebat Filius.

At the Cross, her station keeping,

Stood the mournful Mother weeping,

Close to Jesus to the last.

Cujus animam gementem,

Contristatam et dolentem,

Pertransivit gladius.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

All His bitter anguish bearing,

Now at length the sword had passed.

O quam tristis et afflicta,

Fuit illa benedicta,

Mater Unigeniti !

Oh, how sad and sore distress'd,

Was that Mother, highly blest

Of the sole-begotten One !

Quae maerebat, et dolebat,

Pia Mater dum videbat

Nati poenas inclyti.

Christ above in torment hangs;

She beneath beholds the pangs

Of her dying glorious Son.

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,

Matrem Christi si videret

In tanto supplicio ?

Is there one who would not weep

Whelm'd in miseries so deep

Christ's dear Mother to behold ?

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

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

Pro peccatis suae gentis
Vidit Jesum in tormentis
Et flagellis subditum.

Bruis'd, derided, curs'd, defil'd,
She beheld her tender child:
All with bloody scourges rent.

Vidit suum dulcem natum
Moriendo desolatum,
Dum emisit spiritum.

For the sins of His own nation,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
'Til His spirit forth He sent.

Eia Mater, fons amoris,

Me sentire vim doloris

Fac, ut tecum lugeam.

O thou Mother, fount of love !

Touch my spirit from above;

Make my heart with thine accord.

Fac ut ardeat cor meum

In amando Christum Deum,

Ut sibi complaceam.

Make me feel as thou hast felt;

Make my soul to glow and melt

With the love of Christ Our Lord.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,

Crucifixi fige plagas

Cordi meo valide.

Holy Mother ! Pierce me through;

In my heart each wound renew

Of my Saviour crucified.

Tui nati vulnerati,

Tam dignati pro me pati,

Poenas mecum divide.

Let me share with thee His pain,

Who for all my sins was slain,

Who for me in torments died.

Fac me tecum pie flere,

Crucifixo condolere,

Donec ego vixero.

Let me mingle tears with thee,

Mourning Him who mourn'd for me,

All the days that I may live.

Juxta crucem tecum stare,

Et me tibi sociare

In planctu desidero.

By the Cross with thee to stay,

There with thee to weep and pray,

Is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgo virginum praeclara,

Mihi jam non sis amara:

Fac me tecum plangere.

Virgin of all virgins best,

Listen to my fond request:

Let me share thy grief divine.

Fac ut portem Christi mortem,

Passionis fac consortem,

Et plagas recolere.

Let me, to my latest breath,

In my body bear the death

Of that dying Son of thine.

Fac me plagis vulnerati
Fac me cruce inebriari,
Et cruore Filii.

Wounded with his every wound,

Steep my soul 'til it hath swoon'd

In His very blood away.

Flammis ne urar succensus,

Per te, Virgo, sim defensus,

In die judicii.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,

Lest in flames I burn and die,

In His awful Judgment Day.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,

Da per Matrem me venire

Ad palmam victoriae.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,

Be Thy Mother my defence,

Be Thy Cross my victory.

Quando corpus morietur,

Fac ut animae donetur

Paradisi gloria.

Amen. Alleluia.

While my body here decays,

May my Soul Thy goodness praise,

Safe in Paradise with Thee.

Amen. Alleluia.

15 September - The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Part Four)

This Article was taken from the HOLY CARD HEAVEN Blog.

MY HEART IS ALL SHINING WITH LOVE.

FOR YOU, THE HEART OF MY MOTHER

WAS PIERCED WITH SORROW.

THIS ENDS THE ARTICLE ON THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

15 September - The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Part Three) (Stabat Mater (Marco Frisina))

15 September - The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Part Two)

Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.

Double of the Second Class

White Vestments

The Blessed Virgin Mary surrounded by her Seven Sorrows.

Nederlands: Linkerluik van een diptiek Onze-Lieve-Vrouw der Zeven Weeën 

door Adriaen Isenbrant (circa 1490-1551); KMSKB, Brussel.

Author: Georges Jansoone (JoJan) - artwork by Adriaen Isenbrant. 

Photo: June 2009. 

(Wikimedia Commons). 

PLEASE NOTE: 

THERE WILL BE A

MISSA CANTATA 

AT 

OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 

BLACKFEN, SIDCUP, 

KENT,

ENGLAND, 

ON

SATURDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2012, 

AT

1030 HRS.

Contact Details:

Our Lady of the Rosary RC Church,

330A, Burnt Oak Lane,

Sidcup, 

Kent DA15 8LW,

England.

Tel: 020 8300 2697.

blackfencatholic.org‎

Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus was hanging (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Sequence, Gospel), and, as Simeon had prophesied (Collect), a sword of sorrow pierced her Soul (Secret).

Powerless, "she saw her sweet child desolate in the anguish of death, and she received His last breath" (Sequence). The compassion, which her maternal heart felt at the foot of the Cross, obtained for her as its reward the palm of martyrdom without death (Communion).

This Feast was celebrated with great solemnity by the Servites in the 17th-Century. In 1817, it was extended by Pope Pius VII to the whole Church, so as to recall the sufferings she (the Church) had undergone in the person of her exiled and captive head (Pope Pius VII), delivered by the protection of the Blessed Virgin.

Just as the first Feast of the Sorrows of Mary, in Passiontide, shows us how she had her share in the sacrifice of Jesus, the second Feast, in the Season after Pentecost, tells us of all the compassion which the Mother of the Saviour feels for the Church, the spouse of Jesus, who is crucified in her turn and whose devotion to the Sorrows of Mary increases in these calamitous times. 

His Holiness, Pope Saint Pius X, in 1908 raised this Feast to the rank of a Solemnity of the Second Class.

15 September - The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Part One)

Double of the Second Class
White Vestments

Pictures and Italic text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia) (unless otherwise accredited)

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa, at times just Dolorosa), and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. 

As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

Archetypal Gothic Lady of Sorrows from a triptych 

by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace, circa 1455

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. There are devotional prayers which consist of meditations on her Seven Sorrows. Examples include the Servite Rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Also, there is a corresponding devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary. The term "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary" refers to the combined devotion of both the Immaculate Heart and the Seven Sorrows of Mary as first used by the Franciscan Tertiary, Berthe Petit.

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each of the Seven Sorrows, which are:

The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34-35) or the Circumcision of Christ
The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43-45)
Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary.
Jesus Dies on the Cross. (John 19:25)
Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in Her Arms. (Matthew 27:57-59)
The Body of Jesus Is Placed in the Tomb. (John 19:40-42)

These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

 Madonna in Sorrow, by Titian, 1554

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a Provincial Synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris Beatae Mariae Virginis. Before the 16th-Century, the Feast was celebrated only in parts of northern Europe.

Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the "Sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross", as the principal devotion of their Order.

Over the centuries, several devotions, and even Orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

  Our Lady, who softens evil hearts. Russian icon, 19th-Century

On February 2, the same day as the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox Christians andEastern Catholics commemorate a wonder-working icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) known as "the Softening of Evil Hearts" or "Simeon's Prophecy."

It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says: "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also...." (Luke 2:35) She stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the seven sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the infant Jesus. The refrain "Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men!" is also used.

The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the monastery of Schönau. Especially in Mediterranean countries, parishioners traditionally carry statues of Our Lady of Sorrows in processions on the days leading to Good Friday.

No Feast in her honour was included in Pope Saint Pius V's 1570 Tridentine Calendar. Vatican approval for the celebration of a Feast, in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, was first granted to the Servite Order in 1667.

 Our Lady of Sorrows, El Viso del Alcor, Seville, Spain.

By inserting the Feast into the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the Feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date.

Another Feast, originating in the 17th-Century, was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727. It was originally celebrated on Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of Major Double (slightly lower than the rank of the September 15 Feast) in the General Roman Calendar.

In 1962, the Feast was reduced to a Commemoration.

By 1969 the Vatican had come to consider it a duplication of the 15 September Feast, and the Passion Week Feast was omitted in that year's revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.

Each celebration was called a Feast of "The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The 15 September Feast that now combines and continues both of them is known as the Feast of "Our Lady of Sorrows" (Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis). The Sequence known as Stabat Mater may be sung at Mass on that day.

 Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, 1816.

Fernando Estévez de Salas

Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, Villa de La Orotava. 

Dolorosa Estévez from Wikimedia Commons. 

Photo taken by JosuHdez, April 2010

Our Lady of Sorrows, depicted as "Mater Dolorosa" (Mother of Sorrows) has been the subject of some key works of Roman Catholic Marian art. Mater Dolorosa is one of the three common artistic representations of a sorrowful Virgin Mary, the other two being Stabat Mater ("Stood the Mother") and Pietà.

In this iconography, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is at times simply represented in a sad and anguished mode by herself, her expression being that of tears and sadness. In other representations, the Virgin Mary is depicted with seven swords in her heart, a reference to the prophecy of Simeon, at the Presentation.

Our Lady of Sorrows is the patron saint of:

Slovakia;
the Congregation of Holy Cross;
the village of Mola di Bari and the Molise region of Italy;
the state of Mississippi, USA;
Dolores, in the Philippines;
Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Mater Dolorosa (Berlin-Lankwitz).

13 September - The Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.
The Illustration is from Wikimedia Commons

The Virgin in Prayer.

Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", 

Jungfrun i bön (1640-1650). 

National Gallery, London. 

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Book of Canticles, vii. 1, 2.

How beautiful are thy first steps, O prince's daughter !

Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army.

Blessed child, continue to grow in grace;

   may thy course be prosperous;

   may thy royalty be strengthened and established.

But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up,

   to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon:

First Antiphon of the Third Nocturn of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Rejoice, O Virgin Mary;

   thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.

8 September. Feast of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Non-Italic text and Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise .

Double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave.
White Vestments.

The Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tschagguns, Austria.

Tschagguns is a community in the Montafon Valley, Austria. 

It is situated in the Westernmost federal state of Vorarlberg, Austria. 

Tschagguns ist eine Marktgemeinde in der Region Montafon im Bundesland Vorarlberg im äußersten Westen Österreichs. Im Bild: Pfarrkirche Unsere Liebe Frau Mariä Geburt. 

Author: Nikater

Photo: August 2011. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

The Nativity of Mary, or Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary by her parents Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.

Tradition celebrates the event as a liturgical Feast in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December.

The Eastern Orthodox equivalent, The Nativity of the Theotokos, pertains to the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox perspective.

This Feast, like that of the Assumption of Mary, originated in Jerusalem. It began in the 5th-Century as the Feast of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Basilica of Saint Anne. 

In the 7th-Century, the Feast was celebrated by the Byzantines and at Rome as the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September and by Coptic Christians on 9 May (1 Bashans).

The Feast is also included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September.

The Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 

in the Borough of Media, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Author: Smallbones

Photo: December 2010. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

The scene was frequently depicted in art, as part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin. Late-Mediaeval depictions are often valuable records of domestic interiors and their fittings - at this period the setting was often in a wealthy household.

Apostolic tradition places Mary's birthplace either in the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, or in Tzippori, Israel, where Saint Anne once lived.

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Mezőkovácsháza, Hungary. 

Magyar: A mezőkovácsházi római katolikus templom. Épült 1878–79-ben. 

Author: Burrows

Photo: August 2009. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

This very ancient Feast was already solemnised in the 7th-Century, and Pope Innocent IV, to fulfil the vow made by the Cardinals before the election of his predecessor, Pope Celestine IV, gave it an Octave at the First Council of Lyons in 1245.

This date, September 8, served to fix that of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December.

Mary is inseparable from Jesus in the Divine Plan, wherefore the Liturgy applies to her what Holy Scripture says of the eternal Wisdom which is the Word "by whom all was made".

Like Christ, the Virgin presides over the whole work of creation, for, having been chosen of all eternity to give us the Saviour, it is she, with her Son, whom God had chiefly in view when He created the world.

Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave.

White Vestments.

This Illustration is taken from the HOLY CARD HEAVEN Blog.

NATIVITE DE LA SAINTE VIERGE.

EXALTATION DE LA SAINTE CROIX.

Les enfants de Marie sont surtout et toujours les enfants de la croix.

Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Illustration taken from the Web-Site of the Transalpine Redemptorists

The following text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal for 16 July, The Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Greater-Double

White Vestments

According to a pious tradition authorised by the Liturgy, on the day of Pentecost a number of men who walked in the footsteps of the holy prophets, Elias and Eliseus, and whom John the Baptist had prepared for the advent of Jesus, embraced the Christian faith, and erected the first Church to the Blessed Virgin on Mount Carmel, at the very spot where Elias had seen a cloud rise, a figure of the fecundity of the Mother of God (Lesson of Second Nocturn at Matins).

They were called: Brethren of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel (Collect). These Religious came to Europe in the 13th-Century and, in 1245, Pope Innocent IV gave his approbation to their rule under the generalship of Simon Stock, an English Saint.

On 16 July 1251, Mary appeared to this fervent servant [Simon Stock] and placed in his hands the habit which was to be their distinctive sign. Pope Innocent IV blessed this habit and attached to it many privileges, not only for the members of the Order, but also for those who entered the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. By wearing the scapular, which is in smaller form than that of the Carmelite Fathers, they participate in all their merits and may hope to obtain through the Virgin a prompt delivery from Purgatory, if they have faithfully observed abstinence, chastity (according to their state), and said the Prayers prescribed by Pope John XXII, in the Sabbatine Bull, published on 3 March 1322.

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, at first celebrated only in the Churches of the Order, was extended to all Christendom by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.

Solemn High Masses for the Feast of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel

This information has been provided by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.
Their Blog can be found at http://sthughofcluny.org/

For our American readers, please be aware that the following Churches in Newark, New Jersey, and Stamford, Connecticut, and New York, have scheduled Traditional Masses, to observe the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on Sunday, 15 July 2012, Monday, 16 July 2012, and also Saturday, 21 July 2012.

Monday, 16 July 2012, at 7:30 p.m.

SOLEMN HIGH MASS FOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

Gregorian Chant with music by Victoria and Morales.

Light refreshments to follow in Parish Meeting Room

Church of Saint Gabriel, 914 Newfield Avenue, Stamford, Connecticut.



Sunday, 15 July 2012, and Monday, 16 July 2012, both at 12 noon

Solemn High Masses with Procession through the streets of the neighborhood with Italian Marching band.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 259 Oliver Street, Newark, NJ 07105.



Saturday, 21 July 2012, at 11 a.m.

Solemn High Mass at the Altar of the Pontifically Crowned Madonna.

Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 449 East 115th Street, New York, New York.

On this day, O beautiful Mother

Ars Orandi: The Art and Beauty of Traditional Catholicism has a lovely Post up for Our Lady and Her Month of May. It can be found on the Post for Friday, 11 May 2012.

Or watch on YouTube.

Our Lady of Ushaw,

Durham, England

The Seven Joys of Mary, Mother of Jesus

Pictures and italic text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia) (unless otherwise accredited)

The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary and the Virgin of the Rosary

The Seven Joys of the Virgin (or of Mary, the Mother of Jesus) is a popular devotion to events of the life of the Virgin Mary, arising from a trope of medieval devotional literature and art.

The Seven Joys were frequently depicted in mediaeval devotional literature and art. The Seven Joys are usually listed as:

The Annunciation
The Nativity of Jesus
The Adoration of the Magi
The Resurrection of Christ
The Ascension of Christ to Heaven
The Pentecost or Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary
The Coronation of the Virgin in Heaven

 

Raphael's Sistine Madonna painting (1513) at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome 

is considered a key example of High Renaissance art

 
Alternative choices were made and might include the Visitation and the Finding in the Temple, as in the Franciscan Crown form of Rosary, which uses the Seven Joys, but omits the Ascension and Pentecost. Depiction in art of the Assumption of Mary may replace or be combined with the Coronation, especially from the 15th-Century onwards; by the 17th-Century, it is the norm. As with other sets of scenes, the different practical implications of depictions in different media such as painting, ivory miniature carving, liturgical drama and music led to different conventions by medium, as well as other factors such as geography and the influence of different religious orders. There is a matching set of seven Sorrows of the Virgin; both sets influenced the selection of scenes in depictions of the Life of the Virgin.

Originally, there were five joys of the Virgin. Later, that number increased to seven, nine, and even fifteen in medieval literature, although seven remained the most common number, and others are rarely found in art. The five joys of Mary are mentioned in the 14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a source of Gawain's strength. The devotion was especially popular in pre-Reformation England. The French writer Antoine de la Sale completed a satire called Les Quinze Joies de Mariage ("The Fifteen Joys of Marriage") in about 1462, which partly parodied the form of Les Quinze Joies de Notre Dame ("The Fifteen Joys of Our Lady"), a popular litany.