stabat mater

• POS: Noun Phrase
• HYPHEN: Sta=bat Ma=ter

CIDE DICTIONARY

stabat mater,  [L., the mother was standing.].

 A celebrated Latin hymn, beginning with these words, commemorating the sorrows of the mother of our Lord at the foot of the cross. It is read in the Mass of the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, and is sung by Catholics when making “the way of the cross” (Via Crucis). See Station, 7 (c).  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stabat mater, n.
1 a Latin hymn on the suffering of the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion.
2 a musical setting for this.

Etymology

the opening words, L Stabat mater dolorosa 'Stood the mother, full of grief'