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. Faber attended the grammar school of Bishop Auckland for a short time, but a large portion of his boyhood was spent in Westmorland. He afterwards went to Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1835, he obtained a scholarship at University College. In 1836, he won the Newdigate Prize for a poem on "The Knights of St John," which elicited special praise from John Keble. Among his college friends were Dean Stanley and Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne.
Among his best-known hymns are: "Souls of Men, Why Will Ye Scatter", "Faith of Our Fathers", and "My God, How Wonderful Thou Art".
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