At the cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
all his bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword had passed.
O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother highly blessed
of the sole-begotten One!
Christ above in torment hangs;
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.
Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?
Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
she beheld her tender Child
all with bloody scourges rent.
For the sins of his own nation,
saw him hang in desolation
till his spirit forth he sent.
O thou Mother, fount of love,
touch my spirit from above;
make my heart with thine accord.
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.
Holy Mother, pierce me through;
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified.
Let me share with thee his pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live.
By the cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.
Virgin of all virgins blest!
listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine.
Let me to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.
Wounded with his every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned
in his very Blood away.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in his awful Judgment day.
Christ, when thou shalt call me hence,
be thy Mother my defense,
be thy cross my victory.
While my body here decays,
may my soul thy goodness praise,
safe in paradise with thee.
Amen.
Stabat Mater
Also known as At the Cross Her Station Keeping ยท Stabat Mater Dolorosa
Other forms
Latin (Stabat Mater Dolorosa, opening)
About this prayer
The Stabat Mater is one of the four major medieval Latin sequences that survived the post-Tridentine liturgical reform of 1570 and remain in liturgical use today (the others being the Victimae Paschali Laudes for Easter, the Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost, and the Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi; the Dies Irae was added for Requiem Masses, and the Stabat Mater was added in 1727 for Our Lady of Sorrows). It is also one of the most musically influential prayers in the Catholic tradition, set by composers from Palestrina to Pergolesi, Haydn, Schubert, Rossini, Verdi, Dvorak, and many modern liturgical musicians.
The prayer's theme is the suffering of Mary at the foot of the cross. The opening image, drawn from John 19:25, depicts Mary standing beneath the cross of her crucified Son. The first ten stanzas describe her grief in great detail; the remaining ten stanzas ask Mary to allow the petitioner to share her sorrow, to feel what she felt, to be united with her in her grief over the Passion. The prayer concludes with a petition for Mary's intercession at the petitioner's own death and at the Last Judgment.
The traditional attribution is to the Italian Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230-1306), the Umbrian poet and mystic whose vernacular religious lyrics in Italian are among the foundations of early Italian literature. The attribution to Jacopone is supported by stylistic analysis and the dating of the earliest manuscripts. Earlier alternative attributions (Pope Innocent III, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux) are no longer favored by scholars.
The English translation included here is by Edward Caswall (1849), the same translator whose work provides the standard English versions of the Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo, and O Salutaris Hostia. Caswall's translation preserves the Latin meter and rhyme scheme as closely as English allows.
When it's said
Sung at the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15) and the Friday before Palm Sunday (the Friday of Sorrows, also called Friday in Passion Week). Used in the devotion of the Stations of the Cross, where a verse of the Stabat Mater is sung between each station. Recited as a private devotion during Lent and Holy Week, particularly on Good Friday. Some Catholic religious orders use it as part of their daily office during Passiontide.
Notes on the text
The prayer's first six stanzas form a complete devotional unit in themselves and are sometimes used as a shorter version of the prayer. The full twenty stanzas are sung at major liturgical occasions but most popular devotional use focuses on the shorter form. The musical settings of the Stabat Mater are among the masterpieces of Western sacred music. Pergolesi's 1736 setting for two solo voices and small orchestra is one of the most performed sacred works in the Italian baroque repertoire. Rossini's 1842 setting and Dvorak's 1880 setting are major 19th-century concert pieces. The text's combination of intense personal emotion with formal liturgical structure has made it especially attractive to composers across many centuries. The attribution to Jacopone da Todi is supported by the modern scholarly consensus but is not as certain as the attribution of the Aquinas hymns. Some manuscripts from the 13th-14th centuries attribute the Stabat Mater to other authors. The Jacopone attribution remains the most plausible based on style, dating, and the Franciscan provenance of the prayer's spirituality.
Common questions
Who wrote the Stabat Mater?
When is the Stabat Mater sung in Catholic worship?
Why has the Stabat Mater been set to music by so many composers?
Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230-1306), traditional attribution. The Latin text first appears in 13th-century manuscripts and was incorporated into the Roman Missal in 1727 for the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. English translation by Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica (London, 1849). Public domain.
Last reviewed: June 2026 against primary source.