Stabat Mater Dolorosa


Stabat Mater Dolorosa

(stä`bät mä`tĕr dō'lōrō`sä) [Lat.,=the sorrowful mother was standing], 13th-century hymn of the Roman Church attributed to Jacopone da Todi. A prayer meditating on the sorrows of the Virgin Mary in her station at the Cross, it was the liturgical sequence for the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin (Sept. 15 and the Friday before Palm Sunday). It is no longer used on the Friday before Palm Sunday and is optional on Sept. 15, but it continues to be sung at nonliturgical Lenten services. It was not admitted as a liturgical sequence until 1727, and musical settings are more numerous after that date. Among composers who have used the text are Josquin Desprez, Palestrina, Pergolesi, Haydn, Schubert, and Rossini.