Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross, Henri Lehmann, 1847.
Attributed by some to Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi and by others to Pope Innocent III, the Stabat Mater was frequently used in the liturgy before it became a sequence in 1727 for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 15th. The hymn is often prayed with the Stations of the Cross at Lent.
“Let us bind ourselves tightly to the Sorrowful Heart of our Heavenly Mother and reflect on its boundless grief and how precious is our soul.”
St. Padre Pio
Listen to the hymn here:
Latin lyrics
1 Stabat Mater dolorosa
Juxta crucem lacrimosa,
Dum pendebat Filius.
2 Cujus animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem,
Pertransivit gladius.
3 O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta,
Mater Unigeniti!
4 Quae maerebat et dolebat,
Pia Mater, dum videbat
Nati poenas inclyti.
5 Quis non posset contristari,
Piam Matrem contemplari
Dolentem cum Filio?
6 Quis est homo qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret
In tanto supplicio?
7 Pro peccatis suae gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.
8 Vidit suum dulcem Natum
Moriendo desolatum,
Dum emisit spiritum.
9 Eia Mater, fons amoris,
Me sentire vim doloris
Fac, ut tecum lugeam.
10 Fac ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum,
ut sibi complaceam.
11 Sancta Mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
Cordi meo valide.
12 Tui Nati vulnerati,
Tam dignati pro me pati,
Poenas mecum divide.
13 Fac me vere tecum flere,
Crucifixo condolere,
Donec ego vixero.
14 Juxta crucem tecum stare,
Ac me tibi sociare
In planctu desidero.
15 Virgo virginum praeclara,
Mihi jam non sis amara:
Fac me tecum plangere.
English lyrics
1 At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
2 Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.
3 O how sad and sore distressed,
Was that Mother highly blest
Of the sole begotten One!
4 Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son.
5 Is there one who would not weep,
Whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
6 Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that Mother’s pain untold?
7 Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent.
8 For the sins of his own nation
Saw him hang in desolation
Till his spirit forth he sent.
9 O thou Mother! Font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with thine accord.
10 Make me feel as thou hast felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.
11 Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
12 Let me share with thee his pain,
Who for all my sins was slain,
Who for me in torment died.
13 Let me mingle tears with thee,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.
14 By the cross with thee to stay;
There with thee to weep and pray,
All I ask of thee to give.
15 Virgin of all Virgins best!
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share thy grief divine.