The New Liturgical Movement has an interesting article today about the two Feasts of the Seven Sorrows which appear, with different rankings over time, in the pre-1970 Calendar. The coincidence of today, September 15th, where the celebration was fixed by St Pius X, being a Sunday, and the third of the month, when it would have been observed from Pope Pius VII’s inclusion of it in the universal Calendar in 1814, obviously helped inspire the article.
The two feasts, one in Passiontide on the Friday of Passion Week, and one in September, arise from popular devotion In the first case this originated in the later medieval Rhineland, and spread across much of the continent. The second is a somewhat later fruit of the work of the Servite Order. Both represent the organic development of private devotion over time and place to become a part of the life of the whole Church. Often called the Compassion of Our Lady it is part of the religious culture that made carvings and paintings of the Pieta so much a part of late medieval spirituality and devotion.
The article gives a detailed account of the evolution of the two celebrations and of the Office for the two days. It can be seen at Liturgical Notes on the Feasts of the Seven Sorrows
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