It is believed that the origin of the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is linked to the dedication, in the fourth century, of an ancient Marian basilica in Jerusalem. On its ruins was built in the twelfth century the present church of St. Anne. Tradition has it that in this place, explains Vatican NewsThe house of Mary's parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, was the birthplace of the Virgin, who would become the Mother of Jesus, Mother of God.
This feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary takes place nine months after the date of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, and seems to have begun to be celebrated in the Eastern Church of Byzantium (ancient Constantinople, now Istanbul).
The feast of Our Lady began to be celebrated in the eighth century in Rome, with Pope Sergius I although it has its origin in Jerusalem. It is the third feast of the "nativity" in the Roman calendar, which commemorates the Nativity of Jesus, the Son of God (December 25, Christmas). The feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24), and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on September 8.
Perspective on the mysteries of salvation
The liturgy links the anniversary of the Virgin's birth with the perspective of the beginning of the mysteries of salvation, writes the franciscan directory. "The Marian celebration is the first fruits of the good things that her Son will bring us". On this same date, in immediate and following days, the Virgin is celebrated under multiple names and invocations.
On August 15, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Pope Leo XIV said in the homily of the MassThe event was celebrated in the parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo. "On the cross, trust won; love, which is capable of seeing what has not yet arrived, won; forgiveness won". And Mary was there; she was there, united to her Son. Today we can sense that Mary is us when we do not flee, we are us when we respond with our 'yes' to her 'yes'".
