On the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today’s feast day, the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, should be very important to anyone who loves the Mother God and is devoted to her Seven Dolors, something that was explained by Dom Prosper Gueranger in The Liturgical Year and in the readings for Matins as found in today’s Divine Office:

Clouds are gathering over Holy Church. We are reminded on every side of the approach of those days when our Emmanuel will show Himself to us in the pitiable state to which our sins have brought Him. Bethlehem is so soon followed by Calvary. We shall find the Mother of Divine Grace at the foot of the Cross as we found her at Ephrata. She brought forth her firstborn in joy, but now in tears she is to bring forth those brothers of His whose birth cost her so much. We have shared her joy, and we shall not refuse to weep and suffer with her.

Let us take for our models the saints whom the Church honors today. They passed their lives in contemplation of our Lady’s sorrows, and the Order which they founded has the special mission of this devotion. St. Francis of Assisi raised the standard of the Cross anew in the world grown cold. The work of redemption seemed to be taken up afresh, and, as on the great Friday Jesus would not manifest Himself without Mary, the Servites completed the work of the Founder of the Friars Minor. Men regained confidence as they meditated on the Passion of the Son and the Compassion of the Mother.

The two feasts consecrated to the Dolours of our Lady will teach us in due course what place her compassion had in the economy of the Redemption. The queen of heaven herself showed her predilection for the Order which made itself her apostle, in the striking outpouring of holiness which marked its origin The simultaneous blooming of seven lilies gathered on earth today by the angels, was a sight new even to heaven. Peter of Verona had a vision of them when they were implanting themselves on Monte Senario; and the future martyr saw the Blessed Virgin smile as she gazed on that mountain where countless other flowers sprang up to perfume holy Church. Florence, the city of flowers, had never before given such blooms to God. Hell multiplied its attacks against the noble city, but could not prevail against Mary within its walls. We shall be reminded of these things by the feasts of St. Juliana Falconieri and St. Philip Benizi, which were established before the one we are keeping to-day. Let us unite our gratitude to that which the Church feels for the Religious family of the Servites. The world owes to them the grace of a new development in the knowledge and love of the Mother of God, who became our Mother at the price of unparalleled sufferings.

The lessons read by the Church on this day speak of the merits of our Saints and the favors with which our Lady rewarded their fidelity. February 11, the day first chosen as their common feast, is not the anniversary of the death of anyone of them, but the day on which, in the year 1304, after passing through many vicissitudes, their Order obtained the definitive approbation of the Church:

In the thirteenth century, when the more cultured parts of Italy were rent by the dread dissension of the Emperor Frederick the Second and by bloody civil wars, the mercy of God set forth divers men eminent for holiness, and among others raised up seven nobles of Florence, who were bound one to another in charity and gave an illustrious example of brotherly love. Their names were Bonfiglio Monaldi, Bonajuncta Manetti, Manetto Antalli, Amadeo de' Amidei, Uguccio de' Uguccioni, Sosteneo de' Sostenei, and Alexis de' Falconieri. Upon the holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin into heaven in the year 1233 they were praying in the oratory of a guild called the Guild of Praise, when the same Mother of God appeared to each one of them, and bade them embrace a life of greater holiness and perfection. These seven men discussed the matter with the Bishop of Florence, and then, considering neither the nobility of their birth nor their wealth, and clad in haircloth under vile and worn - out garments, withdrew into a little house in the country upon the the day of September, that they might begin their holier life upon the same day whereon the Mother of God herself had by her birth begun her life of holiness upon earth.

She showed by a miracle how acceptable in His sight should be their manner of life, for a short while after, when these seven men were begging alms from door to door through the city of Florence, it came to pass that some children, among whom was holy Philip Benizi, who had then scarcely entered the fifth month of his age, called them blessed Mary's servants, by the which name they were called ever after. To avoid meeting people, and in the desire to be alone, they all withdrew together to the solitude of Monte Senario, and there began a kind of heavenly life. They lived in caves and upon herbs and water only, while they wore out their bodies with watching and other hardships, while they contemplated unweariedly the sufferings of Christ and the woes of His most sorrowful Mother. One Good Friday, when their thoughts were fixed thereon more than ever, the Blessed Virgin appeared to them twice, and showed them her garments of mourning as those wherein they should clothe themselves. She bade them know that she would take it right well that they should raise up in the Church a new order to recall the memory of the sorrows which she bore beneath the Cross of the Lord. Holy Peter, the illustrious martyr of the Order of Friars Preachers, learnt this not only from his familiar converse with these holy men, but also from a special vision of the Mother of God, and it was on his incitement that they founded the regular Order called that of the Servites, or servants of the blessed Virgin, the which Order was afterward approved by the Supreme Pontiff Innocent IV.

These holy men, when they had gathered to themselves some companions, began to go through the cities and towns of Italy, and especially of Tuscany, everywhere preaching Christ crucified, stilling contests among the citizens, and calling back almost countless backsliders into the path of grace. Neither did they make Italy only the field of their Gospel labours, but also France, Germany, and Poland. They passed away to be ever with the Lord when they had spread far and wide a sweet savour of Christ, and were famous also for the glory of signs and wonders. As one love of brotherhood and of the monastic life had joined them together upon earth, so one grave held their dead bodies, and one honour was paid them by the people. For this reason the Supreme Pontiffs Clement XI. and Benedict XIII. confirmed the honour which had for centuries been paid to them individually, and Leo XIII., after proof of their miracles which had been wrought by God on the common invocation of these saints, after their veneration had been sanctioned in the jubilee year of his priesthood, decreed to them the honours paid to Saints, and ordered that their memory should every year be kept throughout the universal Church with an office and Mass. (From Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of the Twelve Holy Founders of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

You made the sorrows of Mary your own, and now she shares her eternal joys with you. The vine with its miraculously ripening grapes, which prefigured your fruitfulness in a frozen world, still yields a sweet odor in this land of exile, and the faithful still appreciate its fruit. Philip and Juliana have long been honored as branches of this blessed vine, and to-day we pay our homage to the seven-fold root from which they sprang. You rejoiced in the obscurity which covered the life upon earth of the Queen of Saints herself, but today the glory of Mary pierces all clouds, and no shadow can withdraw the servants from the radiance which surrounds the Mistress. May your glory be increased by the favors you bestow upon men! Teach an aged world to seek warmth at the fire whence you draw a love strong enough to triumph over the world and sacrifice self for God.

O Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow, furnace of love which throughout all eternity feeds the fires of the very Seraphim, be our model, our refuge, and our consolation until the dawn of that blissful day which is to be the end of our exile in this vale of tears. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites, February 12.)

We must take heart as we implore the holy intercession of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose remarked embrace of penances that were unheard of before they practice them brought many to repentance, including heretics back to obey the Roman Pontiff. Quite unlike the late Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who made light of penance, the following prayers to the Seven Holy Founders, which are found at the end of the daily Septenary that many of us pray prior to their feast, remind us that Catholics who love Our Lord and His Most Blessed Mother always want to practice penance as we compassionate them for what our sins and those of all men in the whole world caused them to suffer.

Holy Mother Church exhorts her children to quit their sins and to make a good and integral confession of them to a true priest. She does not reaffirm her children in their sins or protest that it would not be “merciful” to exhort hardened sinners to change their lives lest they perish in eternal hellfire after their deaths.

For example, several prayers to the Twelve Holy Founders of the Order of the Servites contained in the Septenary to them prior to their feast discuss how the Twelve Holy Founders sough to eradicate sin from the lives of those steeped in it by compassion for the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

TO THE SEVEN HOLY FOUNDERS

O MOST glorious Patriarchs, who by your sublime sanctity became worthy to be chosen by the Mother of God herself to propagate the devotion to her Dolors; at her bidding you separated from the world and, hidden in the caves of the Mount Senario, chastised your bodies with unheard-of penances, and fed your spirit whit the continual contemplation of the great mysteries of the faith, thus preparing, without knowing for the mission which was afterwards entrusted to you and your Order, namely, to eradicate sin and iniquity from the hearts of men through compassion for the Dolors of the blessed Virgin Mary; then, bearing the Passion of Jesus and the sufferings of His Mother deeply engrave in your hearts, you strove everywhere to quell civil feuds, move sinners to repentance, and bring back heretics to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff.

Deign, O glorious Saints, now that you are reigning in heaven with Christ, deign from the thrones of your glory, to look down upon us, unfortunate pilgrims, who have still to fight in this land of trial and combat. The devil with his suggestions, the world with its deceits, the flesh with its concupiscence, as so many roaring lions, are ever seeking to devour us.

Have then compassion on us, and pour down into our hearts a portion at least of that tender devotion to the Dolors of Mary with which you were constantly penetrated, that the sight of our Mother, so afflicted may enable us resist the seductions of sin, and preserve us from renewing by our sins of Passion of our divine Redeemer and her own Sorrows.

Obtain for us, we beseech you, O powerful Protectors, docility and promptitude to answer the calls of God, detachment from the fallacious goods of this world, a true spirit of mortification and penance, that following on earth your examples of perfection and sanctity, we may deserve to be with you in heaven, to praise for ever the tender mercies of our crucified Redeemer and exalt the glory of the Queen of Martyrs.  Amen.

Another Prayer

O GLORIOUS Servants of Mary, beloved sons of the most holy Virgin, seven brilliant stars of her sacred Order, you so pleased her in your youth by your filial devotion, that, showing herself in her glory, she called upon you to leave the world and to dedicate yourselves to God and her special service; and not content with this favor, she showed you her tender love by continual wonders, now causing little infants to give you that this beautiful name of Servants of Mary, now showing you to her great servants, Saint Peter Martyr, under the figure of seven lilies as white as snow and exquisite fragrance, now giving you that wonderful picture of her Annunciation, which even to our days has worked so many miracles, but, above all, enduing you with her own garb of mourning, and entrusting to you the touching mission of propagating everywhere compassion for her Dolors and hatred of sin.

Deign, I beseech you, admirable models of devotion to Mary, deign to use great power with her, and obtain for me, through her intercession, all the graces where of I stand in need. Especially obtain for me an intense hatred of sin, together with the heartfelt sorrow for those I have ever committed, and the most tender love for my crucified Savior and His sorrowful Mother.

Pray to her that during my life my soul may always be pure and spotless as a white lily of sweet fragrance, and that in my last hour I may, like you, be comforted by sweet presence, and die a death precious on the sight of the Lord.  Amen. (The Servite Manual: BEHOLD THY MOTHER: A Collection of Devotions Chiefly in Honor of OUR LADY OF SORROWS, p. 329-330,  published originally in 1947 by the Servite Fathers and republished by Refuge of Sinners Publishing, Inc., with the permission secured by the Gauvin and Sentman families, who funded the printing of the first two hundred copies. Please do pray for the Sentman and Gauvin families who took the initiative to have this great spiritual treasure republished.)

Very few people today have any kind of hatred for personal sin, believing that the only kinds of “sins” that exist involve  opposing open borders, denying climate change, and opposing statist schemes of income redistribution in the name of “solving” poverty. This is, nothing other than displaced guilt as one of the greatest refuges of those steeped in their own sins and who celebrate it in the lives of others is to contend that “morality” is to found in actions that deify nature and empower the civil state in the midst of wanton barbarism while civil and religious leaders alike bown down to false gods and reaffirm men in their sins. 

The joy of Easter Sunday awaits us in but fifty-two days away. The period of time between now and then is a simile for life itself. Whether we live to be seventy or eighty or ninety years and beyond, life is over in but a flash. An unending Easter Sunday of unparalleled joy awaits the just who persist until their dying breaths in a state of sanctifying grace. Is not a life of penance, lived in a more intensified manner, to be sure, during some parts of the liturgical year, worth the prize of an eternal Easter Sunday in Paradise?

Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, help us to be like thee.

Help us to be so consecrated to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart that we will one day come to detest even the thought of sin and will work more attentively to root it out in our own lives and thus be an instrument of rooting out in the life of the Church and the life of the world as we remain ever faithful to thy Most Holy Rosary and to thy Seven Dolors.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

The Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.