The Holiness of Seven.
Seven always has been a holy number, and that may be why it is considered lucky. The creation occupied seven days; there are seven spirits before the throne of God. There are seven days in the week; seven divisions of the Lord’s Prayer; seven ages in the life of man; and the just are supposed to fall “seven times a day.”
The moon has seven phases, every seventh year was sabbatical for the Jews, and seven times seven years was the “jubilee.” The three great feasts of the Jews lasted seven days, and seven weeks elapsed between the first and the second of these.
Levitical purifications lasted seven days. In the Bible are mentioned seven candlesticks, seven trumpets, seven stars, and seven horns. The Lamb had seven eyes. Ten times seven Israelites went into Egypt, and the exile lasted ten times seven years. There were ten times seven elders, and Pharaoh, in his dream, saw seven ears of corn and seven kine.
The bibles or sacred books of the world are seven in number: the Bible of the Christians; the Eddas of the Scandinavians; the Five Kings of the Chinese; the Koran of the Mohammedans; the Tri Pitikes of the Buddhists; the three Vedas of the Hindus; and the Zendavesta of the Persians. Incidentally, the Koran dates from the seventh century.
The seven churches of Asia were founded in the following cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Strangely enough, each of these churches, which were founded by the Apostles themselves, are now Mohammedan, and the cities in which they stand, with the exception of Smyrna, are more or less insignificant.
Before the throne of God stand seven angels. They are Michael, Gabriel, Lamael, Raphael, Zachariel, Anael, and Oriphel. The Deity is endowed with seven spirits: the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Righteousness, the Spirit of Knowledge, and the Spirit of Divine Awfulness.
In the life of the Virgin Mary there were Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows. The former were the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, the finding of Christ among the Doctors, and the Assumption. The sorrows were: Simeon’s Prophecy, the Flight into Egypt, the unexplained absence of Christ, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and the Ascension, when Mary was left alone. In the picture “Our Lady of Dolors” she is represented with her breast pierced with seven swords emblematic of her seven sorrows.