Exaltation of the Holy
Cross
✠
Sorrows
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Scroll down to
enroll your intentions.
“May the Sorrowful Virgin obtain for us from her most holy Son the grace to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of the cross and like her to become inebriated with Jesus’ sufferings. The surest sign of love is the capacity to suffer for the beloved, and since the Son of God endured many sufferings for pure love, there is no doubt the cross carried for him becomes as lovable as love itself.”
—Saint Pio
Annual Enrollment
Cross + Sorrows
Seven Masses beginning 14 September
"I have said this to you, so that in Me you may find peace. In the world, you will only find tribulation; but take courage,
I have overcome the world."
John xvi. 33
These words of our Lord on the eve of His Most Sacred Passion remind us that as Christians whose mark of discipleship is the Cross, we are to expect a measure of difficulty in this life, even opposition to our fidelity to Christ and His Holy Church. At the same time, Christ fills us with confidence and peace with these same words, telling us plainly that He reveals all this to us so that we can be at peace. In truth, we face the difficulties of our life, our Crosses and sorrows, knowing their outcome in faith: total victory in Christ who works all things together for our good. Neither do we face our Crosses and sorrows alone. Attending us in our long vigil through this life is our dear Mother, the Woman of Sorrows, who cares for us more tenderly than we can possibly fathom in this life. As the Church focuses our gaze upon the Cross and Our Lady with the feasts of the Triumph of the Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows, we invite you to enroll your intentions in our Cross + Sorrows Enrollment. Yoke your burdens to Our Lord who promises to make them sweet and light and entrust them to Our Lady who ever stands at the foot of our crosses. Unite your own crosses to the Sacrifice of Calvary at our altar!
High Mass on Sunday at 11:30 am
High Mass on Monday at 7 pm
Attend in person
Visit the Shrine for these special feasts! Masses will be offered at 7:30, 9:30, and 11:30am on Sunday for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Masses on Monday, for the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin, will be offered at 7am and 7pm. If this will be your first visit to the Shrine, check our Schedule page for more information on confession times, parking, and directions.
More informationEnroll your intentions
We are accepting your intentions now. Entrust your sorrows and crosses, and those your family and loved ones bear, to Our Lord and Our Lady this year.
Enroll your intentionsWatch Mass live online
High Mass for each feast will be broadcasted live on our YouTube channel. If you can’t assist at Mass in person or if you live farther away, plan to join us live for these special feasts and unite your prayers with ours.
Watch Mass liveDownload the Seven Sorrows Devotion
After Mass at the Shrine on every Saturday in September, we will pray a devotion to Our Lady’s Sorrows. We’ll also make our devotion following each Mass on her feast day. Download a copy to print for use at home or at Mass.
Download the DevotionSponsor the music
The High Mass on the evening of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary will feature Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, di Lasso’s Salve Regina Misericordiae, and Palestrina’s Missa Ave Maria. If our sacred music program at the Shrine ministers to your spiritual life, please consider helping us make it possible. Every donation of any amount is greatly appreciated.
Sponsor the musicMater dolorósa...
"The Cross possesses such power and strength that, whether they will or not, it attracts, draws, and ravishes those who carry it."
—Blessed Henry Suso
Annual Enrollment
Cross + Sorrows
We invite you to enroll your intentions now for this year’s seven Masses beginning on the Feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Use the button below to make a much-needed donation to support the spiritual work of the Shrine and to submit your intentions. You will be given an opportunity to submit as many as intentions as weigh on your heart after completing your transaction. We’re grateful both for your support and for this opportunity to unite our crosses and sorrows to the Sacrifice of Calvary at our altar.
Your intentions will be placed on the altar in a gold box during the Masses offered for them. We’ll also provide downloadable Mass cards for you to print and share.
Watch it live
High Mass
on the Feast Days
Exaltation of the Most
Holy Cross
14 September 2025
Be Thou with us, O Lord, our God: and defend with Thine abiding help those whom Thou makest to rejoice in the honor of Thy holy Cross.
—Postcommunion
The opening Mass of our Cross + Sorrows enrollment. Join us for Mass on this Holy Day, or watch the broadcast of High Mass, live from the Shrine, beginning at 10 am.
Feast Day schedule
7:30 am Traditional Latin Mass
9:30 am Traditional Latin Mass
11:30 am Traditional Latin Mass (High)
Seven Sorrows
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
15 September 2025
My grief hath overwhelmed me, my face is swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death.
—Ant. Magn. of Second Vespers (Job xvi. 8, 17)
One of Our Lady’s most beautiful Masses of the liturgical year. Join us for Mass on this Holy Day, or watch the broadcast of High Mass, live from the Shrine, beginning at 7 pm.
Feast Day schedule
7:00 am Traditional Latin Mass
7:00 pm Traditional Latin Mass (High)
“O Lady, tell me where did you stand? Was it only at the foot of the Cross? O, much more than this, you were on the Cross itself,
crucified with your Son.”
—Saint Bonaventure
Download the
Seven Sorrows
Devotion
We will offer our devotion following each Mass on the feast of Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows, and after Mass on every Saturday in September.
Click the image (or the button below) to download and print your own copy, which you can use here at Mass or at home during the month dedicated to the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
O Lady, if I have offended thee, in justice wound my heart.
Sponsor the Music
Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina
The illustrious and iconic composer Palestrina is an especially bright star in the firmament of sacred music. Appointed Maestro di Cappella at Saint Peter’s Basilica by Pope Julius III in 1551, he also ended his career there. When he died, he was buried beneath the floor of the Basilica, though his tomb has been lost to time. Covered over by new construction, his grave has yet to be found.
Highly prolific, Palestrina composed more than 105 Masses and 250 motets. While exceedingly famous during his lifetime, his fame has only continued to grow.
Palestrina’s influence as a composer cannot be overstated. He has been carefully studied and emmulated by the greatest masters of music throughout the centuries since his death in 1594. J.S. Bach himself painstankingly hand-copied his first book of Masses – and even arranged two of them for performances. To this day, Palestrina is still widely considered to have achieved, with his refinement of polyphony, counterpoint, and tone painting, “a summit of technical perfection.”
We hope that you will be moved to a deeper spiritual experience of the Holy Mass by Palestrina’s music. We hope, also, that you will be moved to support our efforts to elevate the place and practice of sacred music here at the Shrine. Any donation you may be led to give toward those efforts will be greatly appreciated, and we pray that God reward you for your generosity.
Cost for Vocal Quartet: $ 880
May God bless our donor’s generosity.
*Please note that individual music selections may be subject to change in case of unexpected circumstances.