“Conversion is central to our life at Franciscan,” said Isaac Lin, a junior mathematics major and the speaker at the Our Lady of Sorrows Social, “And we must live conversion through prayer because it is more powerful than any of us know.” The Our Lady of Sorrows Social, which took place on Sept. 15 at 8 p.m., offered students a chance to do just that.  

The Militia Immaculata hosted the Our Lady of Sorrows Social in the Household Commons, where a table displayed a spread of snacks and Our Lady of Sorrows prayer cards. Students inspired by devotion and a desire to learn more about the Sorrows of Our Lady gathered to hear Lin, who is also the Militia’s vice president, speak. 

Lin delved into the history of the devotion, which began with a Marian apparition to seven Florentine noblemen in the 1200s, when St. Thomas Aquinas was just seven years old. Devotion to Mary’s sorrows has stretched onward to recent decades, when Our Lady of Kibeho, Africa’s only approved Marian apparition, appeared a few years before the 1994 Rwandan genocide. 

The Seven Sorrows, or Dolors, of Mary have their root in Scripture, where they are either explicitly stated or implied through Mary’s attendance of Christ’s Passion. According to Lin, Jesus asked Bl. Veronica of Binasco to meditate on His mother’s sorrows and comfort her because of His love for her. 

In his closing remarks, Lin said, “Ask our Lady what her sorrows mean – why meditate on the sorrows and not the joys?” 

After the talk, the group prayed the Seven Sorrows Chaplet, meditating on the Seven Dolors that Lin had expounded. 

Consecration to Mary is the core of the Militia Immaculata’s mission. “I just love Mary,” said Madeline Ramsey, a senior philosophy and theology major, and the president of the Militia Immaculata. “She was important in my conversion to the Faith. St. Maximilian Kolbe says, ‘Never be afraid to love the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.’” 

Ramsey has been active in the Militia Immaculata since her freshman year, when she helped a fellow student restart St. Maximilian Kolbe’s movement here on campus. Now she runs the Militia and looks forward to the 33-Day Consecration and book study in October, an important event for prospective members. 

The Our Lady of Sorrows Social served as a beautiful and prayerful guide to students looking to deepen their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.