Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
27 February, 2006 by PF
Salve, receptus candida
sede Angelorum, Gabriel,
cuius perennem gloriam
et mira gentes efferunt.
*
Salve, dolorum particeps
et gaudiorum Virginis:
virtute per quam fulseras,
per hanc corona cingeris.
*
Nostris secundam casibus
caeli preceris Arbitram:
pro fratribus te supplice,
nil Virgo Mater abnuet.
*
Pravis referta erroribus
instat scatebra ab inferis:
hanc, te rogante, exterminet
Maria, victrix haeresis.
(Hymn for Lauds - I have a translation of this somewhere; if I find it, I’ll post it later.)
Today is the feast of Saint Gabriel, Passionist student, who died at Isola del Gran Sasso (Italy) in 1862. He was born in Assisi and baptised at the same font as Saint Francis of Assisi, whose name he was given in baptism (Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was his religious name).
You can read about the life of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows here.
It goes well by the “Iesu, dulcis memoria” melody.
I have a question for you, Padre. Do Passionists pray the Seven Dolors Rosary? I know that it is a devotion associated with the Servite Order, but it certainly suits the Passionist charism as interpreted by Saint Gabriel. A wonderful prayer, really: a kind of lectio divina on the Passion in the company of the Mother of Christ.
The Seven Dolour beads were never prayed in common in our communities, in my experience, although they were taught in the novitiate and encouraged as a private devotion. In some communities, including my own, a public novena for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, based on the Seven Dolours, is made each year.