The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Their story

The Church celebrates the birthdays of only three people: Jesus on Christmas, St. John the Baptist on June 24, and the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8. The feast falls nine months after the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, when we celebrate that Mary was conceived without original sin. The Bible does not tell us about Mary's birth. Our knowledge of her parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne, and of the joy that surrounded her birth comes from an ancient Christian writing called the Protoevangelium of James. Christians in the East celebrated Mary's birth by the sixth century, perhaps beginning with the dedication of a church in Jerusalem near the place where her parents were believed to have lived. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century. Mary's birth has been called the dawn of salvation. Just as the morning star shines before the sun rises, Mary's coming into the world announced that the Savior would soon come. Her birth reminds us that God had been preparing for the coming of His Son for generations, and that every child born into the world is a gift with a purpose in God's plan.