September brings lovely Marian feasts, including – in the traditional Roman calendar – Our Lady of the Good Shepherd (on the 3rd), Nativity of Mary (8th), Name of Mary (12th), Seven Sorrows of Mary or Our Lady of Sorrows (15th) and Our Lady of Ransom (24th).
The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was instituted in Cologne in 1413 as a response to the Protestant Hussites (the ones who put the sword gashes on the face of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Poland). Pope St Pius X assigned her feast to September 15 so she could remain close to the Cross and the feast of its Exaltation on September 14.
