Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The earliest document commemorating this feast comes from the sixth century.

St. Romanus, the great ecclesiastical lyrist of the Greek Church, composed for it

a hymn (Card. Pitra, "Hymnogr. Graeca", Paris, 1876, 199) which is a poetical

sketch of the apocryphal Gospel of St. James. St. Romanus was a native of

Emesa in Syria, deacon of Berytus and later on at the Blachernae church in

Constantinople, and composed his hymns between 536-556 (P. Maas in

"Byzant. Zeitschrift", 1906). The feast may have originated somewhere in Syria or

Palestine in the beginning of the sixth century, when after the Council of

Ephesus, under the influence of the "Apocrypha", the cult of the Mother of God

was greatly intensified, especially in Syria. St. Andrew of Crete in the beginning

of the eight century preached several sermons on this feast (Lucius- Anrich,

"Anfänge des Heiligenkultus", Tübingen, 1906, 468). Evidence is wanting to show

why the eighth of September was chosen for its date. The Church of Rome

adopted it in the seventh century from the East; it is found in the Gelasian

(seventh cent.) and the Gregorian (eighth to ninth cent.) Sacramentaries. Sergius

I (687- 701) prescribed a litany and procession for this feast (P.L. cxxviii, 897

sqq.). Since the story of Mary's Nativity is known only from apocryphal sources,

the Latin Church was slow in accepting this oriental festival. It does not appear in

many calendars which contain the Assumption, e.g. the Gotho-Gallican, that of

Luxeuil, the Toledan Calendar of the tenth century, and the Mozarabic Calendar.

The church of Angers in France claims that St. Maurilius instituted this feast at

Angers in consequence of a revelation about 430. On the night of 8 Sept., a man

heard the angels singing in heaven, and on asking the reason, they told him they

were rejoicing because the Virgin was born on that night (La fête angevine N.D.

de France, IV, Paris, 1864, 188); but this tradition is not substantiated by

historical proofs. The feast is found in the calendar of Sonnatius, Bishop of

Reims, 614-31 (Kellner, Heortology, 21). Still it cannot be said to have been

generally celebrated in the eighth and ninth centuries. St. Fulbert, Bishop of

Chartres (d. 1028), speaks of it as of recent institution (P.L., cxli, 320, sqq.); the

three sermons he wrote are the oldest genuine Latin sermons for this festival

(Kellner, "Heortology", London, 1908, 230). The octave was instituted by Innocent

IV (a. 1243) in accordance with a vow made by the cardinals in the conclave of

the autumn of 1241, when they were kept prisoners by Frederick II for three

months. In the Greek Church the apodosis (solution) of the feast takes place 12

Sept., on account of the feast and the solemnity of the Exaltation of the Cross,

13 and 14 Sept. The Copts in Egypt and the Abyssinians celebrate Mary's

Nativity on 1 May, and continue the feast under the name of "Seed of Jacob" 33

days (Anal. Juris Pont., xxi, 403); they also commemorate it on the first of every

month (priv. letter from P. Baeteman, C.M., Alikiena). The Catholic Copts have

adopted the Greek feast, but keep it 10 Sept. (Nilles, "Kal. Man.", II, 696, 706).

LUCIUS-ANRICH, Anfange des Heiligenkultus (Tubingen, 1904); HOLWECK, Fasti Mariani

(Freiburg, 1894), 118 sqq.

FREDERICK G. HOLWECK

Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett

Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume X

Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor

Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York