The Sweetest Story You've Never Heard: The Origin of the Seven Joys of Our Lady
If you're a cradle Catholic like me, you've probably heard of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Most of us have. But the Seven Joys? I've led a business devoted to the Virgin Mary for the last 6 years...and I only just heard about it myself!
And what a shame, because the story behind this devotion is beautiful!
It begins in 1422, with a young man named James.
James was deeply devoted to Our Lady. Before entering the Franciscan Order, he had a simple daily practice that meant everything to him: he would weave a chaplet of flowers and place it on a statue of the Blessed Virgin like a crown. It wasn't grand or complicated. It was just his quiet, faithful gift to her - offered every single day.
When he entered the novitiate, everything changed. The schedule was rigorous. The freedom he'd had before was gone. He could no longer continue beloved practice of crowning Our Lady with flowers.
In his simplicity (and I find this part so sweet)= he worried that Mary would withdraw her affection from him...that she would notice the missing flowers and love him less. He resolved to leave the Order entirely.
But before he went, he knelt before her statue one last time.
Our Lady appeared to James
She said sweetly: "Do not be sad and cast down, my son, because you are no longer able to place a wreath of flowers on my statue."
And then she taught him something better.
She showed him how to weave a crown from prayer instead:
Seven decades of Hail Marys, one for each of the Seven Joys she had experienced in her life. A crown that would never wilt. A gift more lasting than any flower.
He began praying the new crown immediately.
The Angel and the Roses
One day, the Director of Novices passed and stopped in his tracks. He saw James deep in prayer - and beside him, an angel weaving a crown of roses, placing a golden lily between each set of ten. When James finished praying, the angel placed the crown upon his head.
The Director told the other friars what he had seen, and the devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary began to spread, first through the Franciscan family, and eventually to the whole Church.
St. Bernardine of Siena, one of the great Franciscan preachers of the 15th century, had his own vision of Mary while meditating on the Seven Joys. He said it was through this devotion that he had obtained every grace Heaven had ever given him. That's not a small thing to say.
The Seven Joys
So what are they? The Seven Joys are the moments in Mary's life that the Church invites us to rejoice with her .
🤍 The Annunciation: We rejoice in Mary's "yes." Her fiat.
🤍 The Visitation: We rejoice with Elizabeth that Mary brings Christ to us.
🤍 The Nativity: We rejoice in Christ's birth.
🤍 The Adoration of the Magi: We rejoice that the whole world came to kneel before Him.
🤍 Finding Jesus in the Temple: We rejoice that we have found Christ.
🤍 The Resurrection: We rejoice that death did not have the final word.
🤍 The Assumption and Coronation: We rejoice that Mary is now a Mother to us all.
A Crown More Lasting Than Flowers
What I love most about this story is how human it is. James wasn't a theologian or a mystic. He was a young man who missed his flowers. Who worried that his small, imperfect offering wasn't enough anymore.
Mary didn't ask him to do more. She just showed him a different way to give what he already had... his time, his attention, his heart.
Our Lady of Joy, pray for us. 🌸
