The Archdiocese of Liverpool of which our beautiful Shrine Church is part invites you to answer a couple of simple questions to improve the liturgy in our part of the country. Please click on this link:
It will take you five minutes to support the good proposals by the Archdiocesan Synod, such as:
greater availability of the Extraordinary Form within the Archdiocese;
restricting the use of Extraordinary [lay] Ministers of Holy Communion;
Services of the Word and Communion to be reserved for Sunday in the absence of a priest;
on weekdays, when Mass is not celebrated, a variety of services should be provided, e.g. Divine Office, Rosary and novenas.
While most proposals don’t apply to the EF liturgy celebrated at St Mary’s, we must support the proposed improvements in Ordinary Form churches. Please make sure to type which parish you belong to, i.e. St Mary’s Shrine (within Blessed James Bell Parish), Warrington.
The liturgy is only one of the various aspects in the life of the Church about which the Synod welcomes your input. Feel welcome to express further ideas to the Synod team, in addition to this specific questionnaire.
Reminder: the restrictions imposed by the Government prevent many faithful from meeting the usual conditions to gain the plenary indulgences on behalf of the Holy Souls in Purgatory during this month of November. Thankfully the Holy See has granted more flexible conditions, allowing nearly every one to help one or several holy souls enter heaven this month.
In particular, entering a church or a cemetery is now dispensed with. One can gain the indulgence from home if unable to travel to a church or cemetery. Anyone able to travel is of course expected to make use of the provision for private visit and private prayer to one’s local church, which can include on individual request Confession and private Holy Communion.
Assistant:
Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP (also Choir & Organ)
Assistant:
Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP
Visiting
Priest: Fr Andrew Jolly
Shrine
Secretary: Mrs Jane Wright
Safeguarding: If you have concerns about children or vulnerable adults, please contact the Archdiocesan
Safeguarding Department on 0151 522 1043 or e-mail
safeguarding@rcaol.co.uk, or speak with Clare Fraser, St Mary’s Safeguarding
Officer. Thank you for your awareness.
COVID: Please
observe social distancing, sanitizing and one-way system as signed, and kindly
cover your face with a mantilla, scarf or mask unless exempt.
To receive Holy Communion: one must be a Catholic, in state of
grace, one-hour fasting at least. In the EF liturgy, Holy Communion is received
kneeling (unless unable to) and always
on the tongue. Thank you in advance.
Autumn 2020 Lockdown: Dear worshippers at St Mary’s Shrine, following the decision by the Government to ban public worship between 5th Nov and 2nd Dec 2020, thus turning down the petition made by Cardinal Nichols on behalf of the Catholic Church in England, we are sadly forced to close our doors during all our public liturgies, including every public Holy Mass, Divine Office, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, the faithful will be unable to attend those in person, but all are welcome to watch them live on LiveMass.net at the usual times: Sun 11:00am; Mon-Sat 12:10pm.
Opening Times
for Private Prayer:
Sunday: Church
OPENS 9:00am – Church CLOSES 10:30am – Church
OPENS 5:40pm (while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for private
adoration) – Church CLOSES 7:00pm
Mon-Fri: Church
OPENS 11:00am – Church CLOSES 12noon
Sat: Church
OPENS 10:00am (while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for private
adoration) – Church CLOSES 11:45am
We thank our
stewards who generously give their time to secure a safe environment for
all visitors to St Mary’s. Please make sure to follow their instructions and
abide by the regulations (unless exempt from some), including social distancing
and one-way system.
A priest will be available at those times for Confessions and for private distribution of Holy Communion on request.
As during the
previous lockdown, St Mary’s clergy remains available for pastoral support.
Please do make
good use of the provision granted you to visit St Mary’s, in accordance with
our own Archbishop’s encouragements: “At this difficult moment, we ask that,
as a Catholic community, we make full use of our churches as places of
individual prayer and sources of solace and help. We must sustain each other
in our patterns of prayer.” Read here the
full response released by Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP,
and here the
Bishops Conference’s statement.
Contact us also for material and financial support if you
struggle during lockdown. Speak confidentially to any of the priests on your
visit at our church and we will help.
General statement: most of our usual activities are suspended due to Covid regulations but visit our website for updates, in case Cardinal Nichols obtains the lifting of restrictions sooner than our next edition.
Shrine Directory: Email Fr Stewart
(astewart@olgseminary.org) your profession, trade or skills with the contact
details you would like to be included on a printed booklet to be shared with
parishioners. A good opportunity to support fellow Catholics in these difficult
times.
No more OFFERTORY COLLECTION. Kindly bring your collection in an envelope and put it through the letter slot on the front door of St Mary’s Presbytery (where we clergy live). It is even better for us if you can send your donation to St Mary’s Shrine via our Donate page: https://fssp.co.uk/donate/.
Ask
us for a Gift Aid form to increase your donation by 20% at no extra cost to
you. Gift Aid
envelopes can be obtained from our Secretariat. Standing orders are
easier and quicker for us to process than cash: Lloyds Bank ; Sort Code: 30-80-27 ; Account
number: 30993368 ;
Account name: FSSP Warrington
Children
Education Meeting at
St Mary’s. As you know, families meet every Wednesday afternoon at Priory Court
for educational activities. The purchase of the new building and the growing
needs of families lead us to envisage more. Please look at the successful Regina Caeli Academy model as an
option.
Due to the latest Covid
restrictions, the meeting on Sunday 22nd Nov to discuss education at
St Mary’s is cancelled. Anyone interested in making alternative arrangements,
please contact Alison Kahn on 01925 727759 before then, to agree details.
LMS booklets for sale: £3.00 per copy or £5 for two copies. Subject to Covid regulations, you can visit after the 11am Sunday Mass Unit 2 of Priory Court to purchase this booklet and other Catholic books.
Church Cleaning
Team: The
winning team! Thank you to all of you who kindly came forward join this
discreet but so necessary team, coordinated by Maria Haynes.
Our
quarterly magazine Dowryis available in print,
and online here.
Browse now through 32 pages of in-depth and lighter articles on saints, the
Holy Eucharist, Columbus, former-Satanist priest convert, news, poetry and the
Priory Campaign. Send the link to your friends: a simple way of spreading the
Good News at no cost.
Christmas cards, Advent Calendars, etc available from Aid to the Church in Need website www.acnuk.org or by ringing 0345 241 6068 and
asking for a Catalogue.
Prayer
intentions for
our sick: John Marechal, Hilda Creagan, John Sunderland, Steve Humphrey.
“At this difficult moment, we ask that, as a Catholic community, we make full use of our churches as places of individual prayer and sources of solace and help.” Statement by Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Malcom McMahon OP about this new lockdown.
Dear worshippers at St Mary’s Shrine (WA1 2NS, Buttermarket Street, Warrington), following the decision by the Government to ban public worship between 5th Nov and 2nd Dec 2020, thus turning down the petition made by Cardinal Nichols on behalf of the Catholic Church in England, we are sadly forced to close our doors during all our public liturgies, including every public Holy Mass, Divine Office, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Thus, the faithful will be unable to attend in person, but all are welcome to watch them live on LiveMass.net at the usual times: Sun 11:00am; Mon-Sat 12:10pm.
Opening Times for Private Prayer:
Sunday: Church OPENS 9:00am – Church CLOSES 10:30am – Church OPENS 5:40pm (while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for private adoration) – Church CLOSES 7:00pm
Mon-Fri: Church OPENS 11:00am – Church CLOSES 12noon
Sat: Church OPENS 10:00am (while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for private adoration) – Church CLOSES 11:45am
We thank our stewards who generously give their time to secure a safe environment for all visitors to St Mary’s. Please make sure to follow their instructions and abide by the regulations (unless exempt from some), including social distancing and one-way system.
A priest will be available at those times for Confession and for private distribution of Holy Communion on request.
As during the previous lockdown, St Mary’s clergy remains available for pastoral support.
Please do make good use of the provision granted you to visit St Mary’s, in accordance with our own Archbishop’s encouragements: “At this difficult moment, we ask that, as a Catholic community, we make full use of our churches as places of individual prayer and sources of solace and help. We must sustain each other in our patterns of prayer“. Read here the full response released by Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP, and here the Bishops Conference’s statement.
As you will be aware, today the Government turned down a petition from Cardinal Vincent Nichols on behalf of the Catholic Church in England to allow public worship during the November 2020 lockdown.
Read here the full response released this afternoon by Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP, including the following encouragement: “At this difficult moment, we ask that, as a Catholic community, we make full use of our churches as places of individual prayer and sources of solace and help. We must sustain each other in our patterns of prayer “.
Please sign this petition and write to your local MP to challenge the unnecessary violation of liberty by the Government. You will be pleased to note that the Bishops Conference has challenged the Government on this point, as have several bishops. Please pray that these restrictions are lifted quickly.
During the lockdown, we will strive to keep the founts of sacramental grace flowing. Please note that, commencing Friday 6th November, St Mary’s Shrine will be open for private prayer at times soon to be announced.
Our daily Holy Mass will continue to be offered at its usual times (Sun 11:00am; Mo-Sat 12:110pm) but will be available only via LiveMass.net.
We will do our utmost to support your spiritual needs within the provision of the law. Please visit this website for updates as we will post them as soon as available.
Assistant: Fr Ian Verrier,
FSSP (also Choir & Organ)
Assistant: Fr Alex
Stewart, FSSP
Visiting Priest: Fr Andrew
Jolly
Shrine Secretary: Mrs Jane Wright
Safeguarding: If you have concerns
about children or vulnerable adults, please
contact the Archdiocesan Safeguarding Department on 0151
522 1043 or e-mail safeguarding@rcaol.co.uk, or speak with Clare Fraser, St
Mary’s Safeguarding Officer. Thank you for your awareness.
Church Opening Times (with stewarding)
Weekdays: 11:00am – 1:30pm
Saturdays: 10:00am-1:30pm
Sundays: 10:00am– 1:00pm& 5:00pm-7:00pm
Daily Mass open to all present on site, and
accessible online for free daily viaLiveMass.net.
Holy Mass times:
Mon-Sat: 12:10pm Mass
Sundays: 11:00am Sung
Mass; 6:00pm Low Mass.
Confessions: ½ hr daily before
every Holy Mass:
Sun: 10:30am-11:00am, and
5:30pm-6:00pm;
Mon-Fri: 11:40am-12:05pm;
Sat: 10:00am-12noon
No booking is required to attend Mass at St
Mary’s.
Devotions:
Vespers
and Benediction Sunday 5:00pm-6:00pm
Eucharistic
Adoration Saturday 10:00am-12noon
Daily
Rosary 11:30am
Stations
of the Cross Mon & Fri 1:00pm
Mothers’
Prayer Group Wed 1:00pm
Divine
Mercy Prayer second Tuesday 1:00pm
First
Friday (7pm Mass and Eucharistic adoration) and First Saturday devotions (10am
Eucharistic Adoration and Marian prayer)
Access: Make sure to park
in our TWO car parks, both of them adjacent to the church.
COVID: Please observe
social distancing, sanitizing and one-way system as signed, and kindly cover
your face with a mantilla, scarf or mask unless exempt.
Thank you
on behalf of all to all our stewards whose kind vigilance allows us all to use St
Mary’s safely for everybody’s benefit.
To receive Holy Communion: one must be a
Catholic, in state of grace, one-hour fasting at least. In the EF liturgy, Holy
Communion is received kneeling (unless unable to) and always on the tongue.
Thank you in advance.
Modesty in church: please cover your
bodies at least down to elbows and below knees; no tight or see-through
garments. ‘Sunday best’ on Sundays and feast.
Sanctify the Day of the Lord! How best? Further to devoutly attending Holy Mass, there is no more Catholic way than to attend Sung Vespers (cf Baronius pp. 103-111), the official prayer of the Church, that is, the Mystical Bride of Christ, followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, thus adoring the Eucharistic Bridegroom. This takes place every Sunday at St Mary’s, from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. Confessions are heard as usual from 5:30pm to 6:00pm, with Holy Mass following at 6:00pm.
Shrine
Directory: Email Fr Stewart
(astewart@olgseminary.org) your profession, trade or skills with the contact
details you would like to be included on a printed booklet to be shared with
parishioners. A good opportunity to support fellow Catholics in these difficult
times.
OFFERTORY COLLECTION at the END of EVERY
Mass,
daily: a steward will be holding the collection basket by the Porch door as you
exit, for you kindly to put your offering. You can send your donation to St
Mary’s Shrine via our Donate page: https://fssp.co.uk/donate/.
Ask us for a Gift Aid form to increase your
donation by 20% at no extra cost to you. Gift Aid envelopes can be obtained
from our Secretariat. Standing
orders are easier and quicker for us to process than cash:
Lloyds Bank ; Sort Code: 30-80-27 ;
Account number: 30993368 ;
Account name: FSSP Warrington
All Saints educational event for (a limited number of) young children and parents
after 11am Mass on Sunday 1st
Nov. Register with A. Kahn penketh.kahns@gmail.com.
On
All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2nd ) a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor
Souls in Purgatory, is granted to those who visit a Catholic church and there
recite one Our Father and one Creed. On all the days from November 1st
through November 8th inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable
only to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, is granted to those who visit a
cemetery and pray even if only mentally for the departed. There must be one
visit for each day one seeks to gain the indulgence; one visit will not apply
for several days. Any public cemetery with Christian tombs will do. The nearest
one is 5 minutes walk from St Mary’s: St Elphin’s, Church Street, WA1 2TL.
Conditions for both
indulgences: 1. Only one plenary indulgence can be granted per day. 2. It is
necessary to be in the state of grace, at least by completion of the work. 3.
Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary; otherwise the
indulgence is only partial. (By this is meant attachment to a particular sin,
not sin in general.) 4. Holy Communion must be received each time the
indulgence is sought. 5. Prayers must be recited for the traditional
intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought. No
particular prayers are prescribed. One Our Father and one Hail Mary suffice, or
other suitable prayers. 6. One must be absolved in confession the
fortnight before or following.
Children Education Meeting at St Mary’s. As
you know, families meet every Wednesday afternoon at Priory Court for
educational activities. The purchase of the new building and the growing needs
of families lead us to envisage more.
Covid
restrictions prevent us from rescheduling soon the wide information gathering
focused on the Regina Caeli Academy model, cancelled
last 26th April, but we will hold a smaller consultation for the purposes of education on Sunday 22nd November 2020, 1:00pm.
Priestly Vocations: 38 Second Year FSSP seminarians tonsured
on Sat. 17 October in Bavaria and on Sat. 24 October in America, including Tom,
Henry and Conan from the UK and Ireland: pray for them.
LMS booklets for sale: £3.00 per copy or £5 for two
copies. Subject to Covid regulations, you can visit after the 11am Sunday Mass
Unit 2 of Priory Court to purchase this booklet and other Catholic books.
Church Cleaning Team: The winning team! Thank
you to all of you who kindly came forward join this discreet but so necessary
team, coordinated by Maria Haynes.
Our quarterly
magazine Dowryis now available in print , and online at https://fssp.co.uk/category/dowry/.
Browse now through 32 pages of in-depth and lighter articles on saints, the
Holy Eucharist, Columbus, former-Satanist priest convert, news, poetry and the
Priory Campaign. Send the link to your friends: a simple way of spreading the
Good News at no cost.
Catechumens
& Recent Converts:
Most Saturdays 6:30pm-7:30pm. Contact: malleray@fssp.org.
Children,
sacramental preparation:
most Saturdays 1:00pm. Contact: iverrier@fssp.org.
Save babies: peaceful prayer presence 6am to 9pm
outside Liverpool BPAS abortuary for 40 days from 23rd Sept. to
1st Nov. Can
you give one hour? Contact Gabrielle Stanley:
Liverpool40daysforlife@gmail.com; 07895128073. Website: www.40daysforlife.com.
Pro-Life Chain on
Sat. 24th October,
2:00pm-4:00pm, Mersey Street. Signs to hold will be available.
Prayer intentions for our sick: John
Marechal, Hilda Creagan, John Sunderland, Steve Humphrey.
All activities subject to Covid-19 regulations:
Ladies’ Group: monthly meeting on Saturday
21st November, 1pm, at Priory Court. Bring packed lunch. Talk on ‘Death,
Judgment, Heaven & Hell’ at 2:00pm.
Weekly Mothers’ (and
Grandmothers’) Prayer
Group : every Wed. 1:00pm. Contact: Myriam.
Men’s Group every Wednesday
evening: 6:30pm Confessions, 7pm Holy Mass, 8pm Talk, 9pm Prayers
Youth Group facebook.com/juventutem.warrington/
Weekly family educational afternoon: every Wed 1pm.
Contact: Alison Kahn.
HOLY MASS INTENTIONS:
Sun 25
Christ the King (British Summer time ends)5pm Vespers & Benediction
11:00am 6:00pm
Polkey Family Thanksgiving
Lawson Family Deceased
Mon 26
Votive Mass in Times of
Pestilence (Baronius p. 1664)
12:10pm
Patricia Durkan
Tue 27
Votive Mass for Ecclesiastical
Vocations
12:10pm
F.S.S.P.
Wed 28
Ss. Simon & Jude, Apostles
Mothers’ Group 1pm; Men’s Group
7:00pm-9:15pm
12:10pm
7:00pm
Wendy Moss’ intentions
Ester Pinto
Thu 29
Votive Mass for the Sick
(Baronius p. 1670)
12:10pm
David De Sanctis (sick)
Fri 30
Votive Mass for the Defence of
the Church (Baron. p. 1653)
Juventutem London resumed its monthly Mass and Social in September after the lockdowns of the summer. In this video recording, Fr Armand de Malleray offers a homily to the faithful on the theme of betrothal to Christ. Fr reflects that “betrothal […] is to give ourselves completely body and soul to somebody else. For human couples in holy matrimony, this is being married and starting a family. For the individual soul, it is to surrender all that we are to the Lord, in trust that He will make use of what we are, who we are, better than if we were making the decisions.”
Our conveyancer emailed us today: “I am pleased to confirm that completion has taken place today.” The purchase of Priory Court Unit 1, 2 and 3 is now completed and our charity legally owns the entire building.
Our heartfelt thanks go to God and all our benefactors for the success of the Priory Campaign. The Trustees of FSSP England are delighted to announce that the remaining funds needed to complete the purchase of Priory Court (Unit 1) and to undertake the necessary conversion work have now been raised and we have ceased fundraising.
Fr Goddard, our charity’s Bursar, has written as follows: “This much needed addition to St Mary’s Shrine facilities involves significant funding, and it would not have been possible without your financial support. At the time of writing, with a few final administrative checks still to be undertaken, we are fairly certain that the Priory Campaign final total stands at £957,917.48. This includes a legacy of £139,800.00 which the executor was happy to put towards Campaign funds. When we add the expected Gift Aid rebates on some of your donations, along with other funds received towards hall facilities, this raises the total to about £1,019,300.00. With last year’s purchase of Units 2 and 3, and some remedial works completed in recent months, roughly half of this figure has been spent. However, the remaining funds will allow us to comfortably buy Unit 1 and make all the necessary conversion work and adaptions for Shrine use.”ur heartfelt thanks go to God and all our benefactors for the success of the Priory Campaign. The Trustees of FSSP England are delighted to announce that the remaining funds needed to complete the purchase of Priory Court (Unit 1) and to undertake the necessary conversion work have now been raised and we have ceased fundraising.
It seemed very fitting for us to try to buy back the old Priory and convent, both on Buttermarket Street, because they were part of St Mary’s Parish – originally owned and run by the Benedictine monks of Ampleforth Abbey. Similarly, Priory Court stands on the site of the old parish school of St Mary’s. But we started this Campaign two years ago in adverse circumstances. The owner – a large company letting office and industrial space nationwide – granted us three months, between 18th July and 18th October 2018 to raise the £1.5 million needed to make the purchases. However, with everyone going on holiday, including benefactors, this was the worst time in the year to launch a fundraising campaign. And yet, money started being sent to us.
Articles in national media such as The Catholic Herald and some international blogs draw attention to the project. The Priory Campaign received official support from TheLatin Mass Society, pro-life organisations such as SPUC, 40 Days for Life, Good Counsel Network, and other prominent Catholics such as Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Viscountess Ashbrook.
The October 2018 deadline was extended over time and our scope had to be limited to the amount raised and to administrative constraints. After one year, in October 2019, we managed to buy two units of Priory Court, while allocating funds for the necessary conversion costs from office to our use. One year later, we are now completing the purchase of the final unit and can allocate space within the entire building for various needs.
Work should start shortly to make Priory Court a versatile venue for Catholic activities and events. We wish this venue to support Catholicism not only in Warrington but further afield through family activities and through liturgical, doctrinal, pro-life and artistic events. We thank wholeheartedly our benefactors, including those who offered sacrifices and prayers rather than or in addition to money, according to their means. From the start the Priory Campaign was entrusted to Our Blessed Lady. St Joseph was also regularly invoked, as well as the Servant of God Elizabeth Prout. The success of the Campaign demonstrates their blessing through the generosity of our benefactors and supporters. In happy contrast with the sad departure of the Benedictine monks from Downside Abbey in the news recently, the success of the Priory Campaign speaks of the reclamation of part of Warrington’s Benedictine patrimony. The Abbey of Ampleforth in Yorkshire used to run four parishes in Warrington. St Mary’s was the last one they had to relinquish, due to lack of vocations. There is something symbolic in the saving of St Mary’s Church from likely closure in 2015, followed by the reclaiming of the site of the old parish school next door. To English Catholics and to anyone in love with our Catholic heritage and faith, it speaks of hope, of ardour and of trust in the Lord and His saints, helping us rebuild Our Lady’s Dowry.
Special intercessor:
Born in Shrewsbury, the Servant of God Elizabeth Prout (1820-1864) founded the female branch of the Passionists with Bl. Dominic Barberi. Her congregation served deserving families in the North West. The Sisters of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ arrived in Warrington on 3 January 1899. Their convent, 80 Buttermarket Street, was beside St Mary’s Benedictine Priory. They came to teach, to visit sick and needy parishioners, to instruct converts and to help the poor. The Sisters taught in St Mary’s girls’ and infants’ schools from 1899 to 1967. Her congregation now asks to be informed of any favour granted specifically through her intercession. This could lead to her beatification. In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of her birth this September, less than a month before the fundraising deadline for our Campaign, the following petition was suggested: “Servant of God Elizabeth Prout, to further your work of Catholic education and assistance to Catholic families in our country so much in need of it, please obtain from God’s Providence the successful completion of the Priory Campaign in Warrington, on the very location where your Sisters served for seven decades.”
Dear benefactors, while the Priory Campaign is satisfactorily ended, please continue to pray and support us in our ongoing expenses. To give you a recent example, the cost of a necessary Visual Condition survey (N.B. not including yet any repair) of St Mary’s church roof, tower and external areas amounts to £12,447.30 incl. VAT. The body of Elizabeth Prout lies at the Sutton St Helens Passionist Shrine, fifteen minutes from St Mary’s, along the bodies of Bl. Dominic Barberi and Ven. Ignatius Spencer. What a grace if this saintly woman could be beatified soon and intercede even more powerfully for our service to souls at Priory Court and St Mary’s. God bless you! □
Dear visitors, this is to thank you for your vigilance against the spread of the Covid-19. As you know, Warrington is under special measures of containment. As visitors to St Mary’s Shrine, please continue to abide by the guidelines for the sake of the common good.
For further information, please visit https://www.warrington.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-warrington.
You can download the Prayer against Pestilencehere.
The Stabat Mater
describes the gradual acknowledging of guilt through the establishing of a
filial relationship between the penitent onlooker and the Mournful Mother,
leading to a brotherly relationship with Christ recognised as the Brother we slew
and as the Messiah who saves. This will be manifested through the awakening of
the moral conscience. Let us present more in detail each of the three parts.
Part One: The Stabat Mater teaches us to say ‘I’. What ‘I’ will speak, though? Not our inflated ego, inherited from the sinful pride of Adam and Eve. Not the rebellious ‘I’, setting itself against the divine Father and trampling underfoot God’s law of life in hellish brag: “I shall not serve!” Instead, the humble and filial ‘I’ will speak: that ‘I’ healed through contrition confessed and through filiation restored, as illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee” (Lk 15:18). In that perspective, the anonymity of the narrator in Part One is loaded with deep meaning. No one says ‘I’ in Part One. No one dares or is able to take ownership for the words spoken. The vacant identity of the narrator indicates that sin has nearly killed the moral conscience. It is too weak to act. This stage could be called purgative. The selfish ego is incapacitated by the display of the Mother’s sorrow. That sinful ego is silenced by the detailed description of what the innocent Lady endures. And yet, already it benefits from absorbing the bitter depiction of the Sorrowful Mother. These stanzas correct the selfish use of emotions. They turn sentimentality into sensitivity, mere consciousness into conscience and mind into soul.
Part Two: Following this purgation, an essential improvement occurs in the healing process with Part Two. One could name this stage illuminative. A relationship is established. It connects the onlooker and the contemplated Mother, as he now comes to realise. No longer anonymous, he discovers his identity as her son, bearing responsibility for her sufferings since her Crucified One endures them for his sake. The gradual admitting of his personal guilt is painful. But to the soul’s surprise, this realisation does not crush it but liberates it. Where he expected to find a harsh or exacting judge, the penitent can only contemplate a beautiful Woman in tears. He dreaded having his pride humiliated, and instead he only finds his conscience pricked. If this revelation hurts, as he experiences, it also heals. This new filiation instils in the soul a peace subtle but all-powerful, a joy discreet but unmistakable. Those consign to oblivion the coarse pleasures of sin, held up to then as the measure of human fulfilment. The unidentified self of Part One grows into the self-confessed penitent son of the Mother in Part Two. This leads him to addressing her divine Son in Part Three.
Part Three: The Sorrowful Mother acted as a protective lens between the dying ego and Christ, Splendour of the Father. Now is the unitive stage, between the soul and Christ. Like the Blue Madonna on the Great Window of the Chartres Cathedral, the Mater Dolorosa spread as a merciful prism, granting time for the eyes of the muddy pilgrim to open wider and to welcome the blazing beams of the Sun of Justice, Jesus the Saviour. Thus is the personal and direct encounter between the penitent soul and Christ made possible in the last two stanzas of the Stabat Mater. We should not take for granted our relationship with Christ. While He (and his Mother) always will it for our good, we sinners need all their care to understand and accept it. If the penitent is emboldened to address Christ directly in Part Three, such improvement is necessarily owed to the Mother’s intercession in Part One and Two. Without it, the soul would proudly deny its guilt or collapse in dire shame at the mere thought of a direct contact with her Son, now undeniably identified as the God pierced by our sins. And yet, out of necessity for salvation, the guilty soul must relate to Christ, the only Saviour of men. Becoming child of Mary was the only way. Marian filiation is the mode allowing personal encounter with Christ. Since the crucified Saviour is also and supremely Son of the Virgin, kinship gives the penitent assurance of mercy. Brotherhood bodes well of pardon.
