Compassionate service to those who suffer is deeply rooted in the vocation of the Servants of Mary. From the beginnings of the Order, service to Mary has never been separated from service to Christ present in our brothers and sisters particularly the poor, the sick, the suffering and those most in need.

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The Prayerbook of the Servite Secular Order recalls that even before the Order was formally established, the First Fathers, while members of a lay association, exercised their apostolate “in the midst of the poor and sick of their day,” bringing God's healing love and compassion through their ministry. It further identifies the Servite charism as one of fraternity, loving service to others, and devotion to Mary, Mother and Servant of the Lord.

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Fr. Conrad M. Borntrager, O.S.M., in his commentary on the Rule of Life, explains that this relationship between Mary and compassionate service reaches back to the origins of the Order. The Seven Holy Founders called themselves Servants of St. Mary within a penitential and conversion movement and translated their service of Mary into service of the poor and sick in the hospice of St. Mary.

This reveals something fundamental about the Servite vocation: we serve Mary in order to become more faithful servants of God and of one another.

 

To Understand and Alleviate Human Suffering

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The Constitutions of the Order give this ancient Servite instinct a particularly beautiful expression.

The Servants of Mary dedicate themselves to the Mother of God in order to serve the Lord and their brothers and sisters. From Mary's Fiat, they learn to receive the Word of God and remain attentive to the Holy Spirit. From Mary's participation in the redemptive mission of her Son, the Suffering Servant of the Lord, they learn to “understand and alleviate human suffering.” This is one of the clearest expressions of the Servite response to suffering.

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The Servite does not contemplate the Sorrows of Mary merely as an historical event. Mary's compassion for her suffering Son forms the Servant of Mary to recognize suffering in the world and respond to it with compassionate presence and concrete service.

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This is why the Constitutions call Servite communities to respond to the needs of a suffering and changing world, to seek new forms of service when necessary, and to show a special love for those who are poorest and most needy. They specifically direct the friars to be available to the aged and the sick, to encourage those caring for them, and to welcome especially the unfortunate with fraternal understanding.

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With Mary at the Foot of the Cross

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For the Secular Servant of Mary, this ministry receives an even more explicitly Marian form. Article 42 of the 1995 OSSM Rule of Life states: “Through devotion to the Mother of Sorrows, the Secular Servite acquires a particular interest in service to the sick, the infirm and the most needy, whether physically, spiritually or morally.”

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The Rule then identifies Mary at the foot of the Cross as the guiding principle of this service. The reason is profoundly Christ-centered: human suffering continues to confront the disciple with the mystery of the Crucified Christ. Therefore, the Rule teaches that the Secular Servant of Mary desires to remain with Mary “at the foot of these infinite crosses.”

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This imagery appears from the very beginning of the 1995 Rule. In presenting the Rule to Secular Servites, Prior General Fr. Hubert M. Moons, O.S.M., called them to carry the saving Word to their brothers and sisters as Mary did and, in order to bring “comfort and a redeeming presence,” to stand with her at the foot of the “countless crosses borne by mankind.”

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This is perhaps the clearest image of the Servite ministry to the suffering:

To stand with Mary at the foot of the Cross and therefore to stand with her beside the crosses of our brothers and sisters.

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Our Lady of Sorrows: A School of Compassion

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Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows therefore has an apostolic consequence. The traditional Servite manual teaches the faithful to contemplate Mary standing beside the Cross of Jesus and to develop compassion for her Sorrows. It describes the Servite vocation as particularly dedicated to meditation upon the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin and to fostering this devotion among the faithful. 

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But the modern Rule of Life makes explicit where such contemplation should lead: from the Sorrows of Mary to the sorrows of humanity. The Servite learns from Mary how to remain beside suffering rather than flee from it. Her steadfast presence at Calvary becomes the model for accompanying the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the poor, the morally wounded, and all those carrying heavy crosses. For this reason, compassionate service is not simply another apostolate that a Servite may choose. It flows from the very spirituality of being a Servant of Mary.

 

St. Peregrine Laziosi, O.S.M.

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Within this tradition, St. Peregrine Laziosi, O.S.M. has become one of the Church's best-known Servite saints associated with prayer for the sick. A friar of the Order of Servants of Mary, Peregrine endured serious illness himself and became associated with the tradition of an extraordinary healing. Through the centuries, devotion to him has made him a powerful spiritual companion for people facing cancer and other grave illnesses.

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His place within Servite spirituality is particularly fitting. The Order that seeks to understand and alleviate human suffering offers St. Peregrine to the suffering faithful as a brother in the Servite Family who himself knew sickness, prayer, dependence upon God and hope. Through prayer, shrines, novenas and celebrations in his honor, Servites continue to entrust the sick to God through the intercession of St. Peregrine.

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A Servite Apostolate of Compassion

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The Servite response to suffering can therefore take many forms especially toward care for the sick and aged, works of mercy, compassionate welcome, prayer, pastoral service, service of the poor and needy, and cooperation with those devoted to their care.

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For Secular Servites, this ministry is not confined to an institution. The Rule calls them to cooperate in apostolic works responding to the needs of their neighborhood and local Church, according to their individual gifts and circumstances. The suffering person may therefore be encountered in a hospital or nursing home, but also in one's own family, parish, workplace or neighborhood. The person carrying the cross may be physically sick, spiritually wounded, morally struggling, grieving, lonely, elderly, poor or otherwise in need. Wherever the Cross is found, the Servite is called to recognize an invitation to compassionate love.