Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora

Marian title of Mokronog (Baja Carniola)

La advocación de Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora (en esloveno, Žalostna Gora, Marija Sedmih žalosti) is linked to a church located on a hill near Mokronogin the historic region of Baja Carniola (Dolenjska), Eslovenia. The temple is dedicated specifically to the Seven Dolores of the Virgin Maryin the line of the traditional devotion of the Mater Dolorosa widely spread in the Latin Church.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora (en esloveno, Žalostna Gora, Marija Sedmih žalosti) is linked to a church located on a hill near Mokronogin the historic region of Baja Carniola (Dolenjska), Eslovenia. The temple is dedicated specifically to the Seven Dolores of the Virgin Maryin the line of the traditional devotion of the Mater Dolorosa widely spread in the Latin Church.

The documentation easily accessible online (encyclopedic bases, international Catholic press, general tourist sources) does not contain precise historical data on the foundation of the sanctuary, su constructive chronology or outstanding episodes of his history (miracles, special graces, relevant interventions by bishops or religious, etc.). No explicit reference has been found to the shrine of Žalostna Gora in the main articles on Marian shrines of Slovenia, which often highlight other centers such as Ptujska Gora (Our Lady of Mercy). Consequently, no consta surely a documented historical narrative of the origin of this advocation in Žalostna Gora.

Nor does a concrete tradition or foundation legend (apparition, miraculous finding of an image, vote in time of plague or war, etc.) associated with this place. All that can be said with rigour is that it is a Slovenian Marian shrine dedicated to the Seven Dolores of Maryin an elevated location near Mokronog, in Lower Carniola, in continuity with universal devotion to the Virgin Dolorosa. More details would require direct consultation from local sources (official site of the sanctuary, competent diocese or historical monographs in Slovenian), which are not reflected in the ordinary open resources.

The image and the sanctuary

On the concrete image of Our Lady of the Dolores venerated in Žalostna Gora on verified dates in the sources consulted: it is not indicated whether it is a sculpture or painting, nor its authorship, material, chronology or artistic style. There is also no precise description of the iconography (if she presents herself as a Virgin standing with a sword in her heart, a Virgin sitting with the Son dead in her arms, presence of seven swords, etc.). Since the temple is dedicated to the Seven Dolores of Mary, it is reasonable to assume a representation in accordance with the iconography of the Mater Dolorosa which highlights the past heart or the different moments of pain, but this is a inferencia general, no data documentado para esta imagen concrete.

The sanctuary is the church of the Virgin Dolorosa of Žalostna Gora, located on a hill next to Mokrnog, setting itself as a Marian sanctuary de alturain a landscape of the Slovenian valleys and hills, similar to other Marian shrines erected in high places as a sign of protection over the surrounding villages. It is not recorded in open sources that the church has been declared minor basilicaor having an official title of National sanctuary; therefore, at the level of verifiable data it can be described as iglesia- local / diocesan Marian sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of the Seven Dolores. Without specific documentation of the ordinariate, no consta a higher canonical category (basilica, national sanctuary).

Sponsorship and coronation

In the information available online no consta that Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora has been proclaimed official employer of Mokronog, of the region of Baja Carniola, of a specific diocese or of the whole nation. It is not mentioned among the great Marian patronings of national scope collected in the general sources on the claims of the Virgin of the Dolores, where, for example, it is mentioned patronings of Slovakia or other countries, but not this particular Slovenian sanctuary.

As for the canonical coronation of the image, in the sources consulted not found reference to a pontifical or diocesan canonical coronation of the Virgin of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora. Accordingly, following the requested criterion:

> does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

The litigation fiesta universal de Our Lady of Sorrows in the Latin Church is celebrated 15 September, a mandatory memory that particularly recalls the Virgin's participation in the Passion of Christ and her "spiritual martyrdom" at the foot of the cross. Since the sanctuary is explicitly dedicated to the Seven Dolores of Mary, it is very likely that that date will also be the local devotional calendar centerbut this is a deducción general, since there is no specific calendar of the sanctuary in the sources consulted.

No verifiable data on number of pilgrims, organization of rosemary from nearby locations, specific popular traditions (via crosses on the hill, processions with the image, representations of the Seven Dolores, promises, exvotes, etc.). All this indicates that it is a Marian sanctuary of local and regional devotion, inserted in the lively Slovenian tradition of pilgrimage to Marian churches on top of hills and mountains, but for this specific location of Žalostna Gora no detailed figures and descriptions of the pilgrimages in the open sources consulted.

Link to the Rosary

In the sources consulted no consta una specific and documented relationship between the advocation of Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora and a particular form of prayer of the Rosary (special promises, co-fradies of the Rosary canonically erected in the sanctuary, own indulgences, etc.).

However, from a spiritual point of view, there is a deep affinity between the devotion to the Seven Dolores of Mary y el Rosary:

– El Rosary of the Seven Dolores (o Corona de los Dolores) es una forma tradicional de contemplar, en clave mariana, los momentos de sufrimiento de la Virgen junto a Cristo. – Los painful mysteries of the Rosary (Prayer in Gethsemane, Flagellation, Coronation of thorns, Calvary Road, Crucifixion) highlight the union of Mary with the Passion of her Son, in perfect harmony with the spirituality of the Mater Dolorosa.

This is why, although there is no specific legal or historical link between Žalostna Gora and the Rosary, it is theologically natural that the prayer of the Rosary - especially in its form of painful mysteries or as Rosary of the Seven Dolores- accompany and support the devotion to Our Lady of the Dolores of Žalostna Gora, helping the faithful to join their own sufferings to the cross of Christ, in the company of the Blessed Virgin.