marian anniversaries     march

March 8

Nossa Senhora das Lágrimas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

In 1928, Amália Aguirre was one of the founding members of the Missionaries of Jesus Crucified, taking the name Sister Amália of the Scourged Jesus, and gaining a bit of fame when she developed stigmata, which later healed. The following year, kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer for a relative's dying wife, Sister Amália asked Jesus what she could do to help the young mother. She received the answer, "Ask me for the sake of my mother's tears," and three prayers: "O Jesus, look upon the tears of the one who loved You most on earth, and loves You most ardently in heaven." "O Jesus, listen to our prayers, for the sake of the tears of your most Holy Mother." "O Mary, Mother of Love, Sorrow and Mercy, we beseech you to unite your prayers with ours so that Jesus, your Divine Son, to whom we turn, may hear our petitions in the name of your maternal tears, and grant us, not only the favors we now ask, but the crown of everlasting life."

Four months later, Mary appeared. "It was March 8, 1930. I was in the chapel kneeling on the steps of the altar, as I suddenly felt myself being lifted up. Then I saw a woman of unspeakable beauty approaching me. She wore a violet robe, blue mantle, and a white veil draped over her shoulders. Smiling, she floated in the air towards me, holding a rosary in her hands, which she herself called corona (crown, circle, rosary). Its beads shone like the sun and were as white as snow. Handing me this rosary she said to me, 'This is the rosary of my tears, which is being entrusted by my Son to His beloved Institute as a portion of His inheritance. ...'" Blessed Mother Mary told Sister Amalia how to say a rosary of her tears using the three prayers given by Jesus. "My Son wants to honor me in a special way through these invocations, and so, He will grant all graces that are begged for the sake of my tears." 

The rosary of Our Lady of the Tears uses a ring of seven groups of seven beads separated by single beads, plus a pendant of three beads and a medal—similar to the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, but with white beads instead of black. The prayer, "O Jesus, look upon the tears ..." is said on the separator beads and "O Jesus, listen to our prayers ..." on the grouped beads. "O Mary, Mother ..." is said in conclusion.

On April 8, 1930, Sister Amalia again saw Mary, who revealed a medal of Our Dear Lady of Tears. On the front, around a picture of Mary holding the rosary, are the words, "O most sorrowful Virgin, your tears bring down the infernal empire." On the reverse is an image of Jesus with the inscription, "By your divine gentleness, O manacled Jesus, save the world from the error that threatens it." This medal is used as the pendant on the rosary of Our Lady of the Tears. 

In 1934, her Institute's founder, Francisco de Campos Barreto, Bishop of Campinas, gave an Imprimatur to the Rosary of Tears and recommended use of the medal, saying it had already worked many miracles in Brazil and Europe. 

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