The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In Nativitate Beatae Mariae Virginis
This feast celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the dawn that heralded the rising of the Sun of justice, and the beginning of our salvation in the daughter of David chosen to be the Mother of God.
On the eighth of September the Church keeps with joy the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Among the saints, the Church solemnly observes the heavenly birthday — the day of death — rather than the day of earthly birth; but to three she gives the singular honour of keeping their nativity: to our Lord, to Saint John the Baptist, and to the Mother of God. For Mary was born full of grace, preserved from every stain of sin, and her coming into the world was the near dawn of the world’s redemption.
The dawn of salvation
Holy Scripture does not record the circumstances of our Lady’s birth, nor the names of her parents; these the Church receives from ancient tradition, which honours her father as Saint Joachim and her mother as Saint Anne. What the faithful celebrate on this day is not a wealth of detail, but a great mystery of grace: that she who was to be the Mother of the Redeemer was herself brought into being by the goodness of God, prepared and adorned from the first moment for the dignity that awaited her.
The Fathers and the liturgy delight to call Mary the dawn, the morning star that goes before the day. As the dawn is not yet the day, but the sure promise of it, so the birth of the Virgin was not yet the coming of Christ, but its near and certain herald. From her, in the fullness of time, would be born He who is the Light of the world; and so her nativity is greeted by the Church as a cause of joy for all the earth, the rising of that pure star whose Child would scatter the darkness of sin and death.
The feast
The feast of our Lady’s Nativity is of great antiquity, kept in the Christian East from early centuries and received in time throughout the Western Church. It is fittingly counted among the principal feasts of the Blessed Virgin, and falls nine months after the feast of her Immaculate Conception, kept on the eighth of December.
The collect of the feast asks that we, thy servants, may be helped by the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, since from her arose the Author of life. In honouring the birth of the Mother, the Church lifts up her heart in thanksgiving to God, who through this lowly daughter of Israel prepared the salvation of the world.
The Collect
Grant unto thy servants, we beseech thee, O Lord, the gift of thy heavenly grace: that as the child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin was the beginning of our salvation, so the solemn feast of her Nativity may bring us an increase of peace.
Famúlis tuis, quæsumus, Dómine, cæléstis grátiæ munus impertíre: ut, quibus beátæ Vírginis partus exístitit salutis exórdium; Nativitátis eius votíva sollemnitas pacis tríbuat increméntum.
Patronage
The feast honours the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, hailed by the Church as the dawn of salvation.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar this feast is observed on the same day, 8 September.
Common Questions
When is the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary?
It is kept on 8 September in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Second Class feast, and likewise on 8 September in the modern calendar. It falls nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December.
What does this feast celebrate?
It celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church keeps the earthly birthday of only three persons — our Lord, Saint John the Baptist, and our Lady — and greets the Nativity of Mary as the dawn that heralded the coming of Christ, the Sun of justice.
What do we know of our Lady’s birth?
Scripture does not record the circumstances of her birth or name her parents. From ancient tradition the Church honours her father as Saint Joachim and her mother as Saint Anne. The feast celebrates not a wealth of detail but the mystery of grace by which the future Mother of God was brought into the world, prepared from the first moment for her unique dignity.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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