Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, or Our Lady of Solitude, is one of the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Soledad, or Solitude, refers to the Blessed Mother contemplating the death of Jesus, her son. It is both a physical and psychological solitude for only a mother can know the pain the death of a child brings. A mother who has lost a child is truly isolated from those around her.
Under this title of Our Lady of Solitude, Mary is a model for those of us who withdraw from the world to pursue a life of contemplation. Devotion to Mary under this title commemorates the solitude of the Blessed Mother on Holy Saturday.
In art Our Lady of Solitude is represented dressed in black and white, like a nun, with her hands folded in prayer. In this picture by Nicholas Rodrigues Juarez, symbols of the passion of Christ are below the Blessed Mother and she is seemingly bowed in contemplation and mourning the death of her son. This devotion is dedicated to Mary’s solitude on Holy Saturday, the day when the body of Jesus laid in the tomb before His resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Patroness: of the bereaved, consolation, a happy death, and against loneliness.
Feast Day: Good Friday and Holy Saturday
a solitary bird 