The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the Church’s ancient Marian celebrations. Its history is especially interesting because it begins in the Christian East, is connected with Jerusalem, and only later spreads westward to Rome. The feast appears to have originated in Jerusalem, probably by the fifth or early sixth century. Its development was associated with a church dedicated to Mary near the Pool of Bethesda, traditionally identified with the location of the home of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne. Our earliest evidence isn’t quite precise enough to identify a single year in which someone instituted “the Feast of Mary’s Birthday.” Rather, as happened with many ancient feasts, the commemoration developed around a holy place and its dedication and gradually acquired a wider liturgical observance. By the sixth century, the feast was known in the Byzantine world. St. Romanos the Melodist and other Eastern traditions testify to a developing theological interest in Mary’s birth, and by the seventh century the feast was well established in the East.
Why September 8? There is some “chicken or the egg” debate around the date. The date is probably related to the dedication of the Jerusalem church associated with Mary’s birthplace rather than to any historical knowledge of Mary’s actual birthday. But once September 8 became established as Mary’s Nativity, something interesting happened in the opposite direction. The feast of the Immaculate Conception eventually settled on December 8 nine months before September 8. Of course you can make the argument the other way, but given the nativity celebration seems to be older, I think that is more likely to have influenced the date of the Immaculate Conception.
The feast reached Rome during the seventh century, probably during the period in which there was a lot of Eastern/Greek influence on the Roman liturgy. It is generally associated particularly with Pope Sergius I (687–701), himself of Syrian background. Sergius prescribed processions associated with four Marian celebrations: Nativity of Mary, the Annunciation, the Presentation, and the Assumption.The Nativity gradually spread through the Western Church and became firmly established during the Middle Ages.
Traditionally we assert that Mary’s parents were Joachim and Anne. This is a point at which liturgical tradition differs from Scripture. The canonical New Testament tells us virtually nothing about Mary’s birth or childhood and doesn’t name her parents. Much of the narrative tradition comes from the second-century, non-canocial Protoevangelium of James (often dated around AD 150–170). It tells of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, their childlessness, their prayers, the miraculous conception of Mary, her birth, and eventually her presentation in the Temple. The traditions contained in it profoundly influenced Christian art, devotion and liturgy. That all being said, the feast does not depend upon our knowing the historical circumstances of Mary’s birth.
But why celebrate Mary’s birth at all? This becomes particularly interesting because the Church ordinarily celebrates saints on the date of their death, their “birthday into heaven.” There are only three persons whose earthly births receive liturgical celebrations: Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist – and that is not accidental. Each birth represents a decisive moment in salvation history: John’s birth announces that the forerunner has arrived. Mary’s birth announces that the woman from whom the Savior will take flesh has entered history. Christ’s birth is the arrival of the Savior himself. So Mary’s Nativity isn’t primarily a liturgical birthday party for Mary. The Church looks at her birth retrospectively from Christ.
The significance of this particular child lies in what God is preparing to do through her. Think about it. There is no biblical indication that the world noticed Mary’s birth. There are no angels, Magi, star, or anything else notable. A Jewish girl is simply born and yet something enormously important in salvation history has begun.
That makes Mary’s Nativity quite different from many Marian celebrations. It celebrates God working before anyone realizes it.
Long before the Annunciation, before Gabriel appears, before Mary’s response, before Bethlehem, before Cana, before Calvary – before all this, God was already preparing human history for the coming of His Only Son in the Incarnation. God often begins his greatest works very quietly.
Nobody looking at the infant Mary could have known what God was preparing. And perhaps we often cannot recognize God’s work in its beginnings either: in a child, a vocation, an unexpected friendship, an act of forgiveness, a small decision to say yes, a seemingly insignificant moment of grace. Only later do we look backward and realize God was already preparing something.
That seems particularly appropriate to the feast because the Gospel assigned to Mary’s Nativity places Mary within the long genealogy leading to Christ. The liturgy effectively says: Look at this apparently ordinary birth within human history and see what God has been preparing all along. In this sense, this feast celebrates not simply the birth of Mary, but the quiet unfolding of God’s providence preparing the way for Christ.
Image: “Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.