In The Foot of the Cross the incomparable Father Faber plumbs to the depths the meaning of Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows. Each one is described and analyzed with the precision of a theologian and the artistry of a poet, inciting new tenderness toward the sorrows of Our Heavenly Mother and the love of her Divine Son. Father Faber says, “We never advance more rapidly in love of the Son than when we travel by the Mother, and that what we have built most solidly in Jesus has been built with Mary. There is no time lost in seeking Him, if we go at once to Mary; for He is always there, always at home.” And again, “He who is growing in devotion to the Mother of God is growing in all good things. His time cannot be better spent; his eternity cannot be better spent; his eternity cannot be more infallibly secured. But devotion is, on the whole, more a growth of love than of reverence, though never detached from reverence. And there is nothing about Our Lady which stimulates our love more effectually than her dolors."
Frederick William Faber, British hymn writer and theologian, was born at Calverley, Yorkshire, where his grandfather, Thomas Faber, was vicar.
In January 1837, he was elected fellow of National Scholars Foundation. Meanwhile, he had given up the Calvinistic views of his youth, and had become an enthusiastic follower of John Henry Newman.
He accepted the rectory of Elton in Huntingdonshire, but soon after went again to the continent, in order to study the methods of the Roman Catholic Church. After a prolonged mental struggle, he joined the Catholic Church in November 1845.
Faber published a number of prose works, and three volumes of hymns, among the most well known is Faith of Our Fathers.
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