The Seven Joys of Mary

Seven is a mystical number. Our Lady’s Sorrows are seven and are celebrated twice during the year — on the Friday before Good Friday and on September 15. Our Lady’s joys are also seven and are celebrated within the octave of the feast of her Immaculate Heart. The Seven Joys of Our Lady are: (1) The Annunciation; (2) the Visitation; (3) the Birth of Our Lord; (4) the Adoration of Jesus by the Magi; (5) the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple; (6) the Resurrection of Our Lord; (7) the Assumption of Mary in body and in soul into Heaven. The feast of The Seven Joys of Our Lady is a very special feast of the Franciscan Order and they recite in its honor the Franciscan Crown, which consists of a seven-decade rosary — seven Our Fathers and seventy Hail Marys, to which are added two Hail Marys because Our Lady was seventy-two when she died and was assumed into Heaven.

See also: The Joyful Heart of Mary

Related Items: A Right to be Merry

Hans Memling (circa 1433–1494), The Seven Joys of Mary (source)

Hans Memling (circa 1433–1494), The Seven Joys of Mary (source)