Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, January 1

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church on 1 January, the Octave Day of Christmas.

Mother of God - Theotokos

Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος, translit. Theotókos) is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and some Protestants use the title Mother of God more often than Theotokos. The Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human.

Theotokos specifically excludes the understanding of Mary as Mother of God in the eternal sense. Christians believe that God is the cause of all, with neither origin nor source, and is therefore "without a mother."

On the other hand, most Christians believe God the Son is begotten of God the Father "from all eternity", but is born "in time" of Mary. Theotokos thus refers to the Incarnation, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature in addition to his pre-existing divine nature, this being made possible through the cooperation of Mary.

Since mainstream Christians understand Jesus Christ as both fully God and fully human, they call Mary Theotokos to affirm the fullness of God's incarnation. The Council of Ephesus decreed, in opposition to those who denied Mary the title Theotokos ("the one who gives birth to God") but called her Christotokos ("the one who gives birth to Christ"), that Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is one person who is both God and man, divine and human. As Cyril of Alexandria wrote, "I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave [Him] birth, not [Theotokos]?" (Epistle 1, to the monks of Egypt; PG 77:13B). Thus the significance of Theotokos lies more in what it says about Jesus than any declaration about Mary.

Within the Orthodox and Catholic doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Mary's identity, role, and status as Theotokos is acknowledged as indispensable, and is for this reason formally defined as official dogma.

History of the Feast

The feast was celebrated in the east before the west, but by the 5th century it was celebrated in France and Spain on the Sunday before Christmas. In Rome, even before the 7th century, 1 January was used as a celebration of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ had come to replace the Marian feast on 1 January. The celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision on 1 January was expanded to the entire Roman Catholic Church in 1570 when Pope Pius V promulgated the Roman Missal. In 1914, the feast of the "Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary" was established in Portugal, occurring on 11 October. In 1931, this feast was extended to the entire Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI and maintained on 11 October. Following the Second Vatican Council in 1974, Pope Paul VI removed the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ from the liturgical calendar, and replaced it with the feast of the "Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God."[1] Traditionalist Catholics continue to celebrate this feast day with the old name "The Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary" on 11 October.[2]

The feast is a celebration of Mary's motherhood of Jesus. The title “Mother of God” is a western derivation from the (Greek: Theotokos, the God-bearer). The term “Theotokos” was adopted at the Council of Ephesus as a way to assert the Divinity of Christ, from which it follows that what is predicated of Christ is predicated of God. So, if Mary is the mother of Jesus, she is the Mother of God. Therefore, the title “Mother of God” and the “Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God”, which celebrates her under this title, are at once Mariological and Christological.

Treasure all things and ponder them in your heart

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God
New Year's Day

The great philosopher, Socrates, once wrote: “An unreflected life is not worth living.” A person who does not pause once in a while to evaluate his life, to ponder on where he is going and where is God leading him, would soon find life burdensome.

Today, as we start a new year, we are given the example of Mary, Mother of God, who “treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The New Year is often celebrated with parties and activities. Everyone is so busy having fun that they sometimes forget to follow the example of Mary to treasure and give thanks for all the things they received in the past year and to ponder on where God is leading them.

Today, let us take some time to reflect over the past year. We are called to remember not only the good things that happen to us. If we remember these good experiences, let us thank God for them. But if we also remember painful and sad experiences, we should also thank God. God has been given you the strength to go through these experiences. The fact that you are here today means that God has not abandoned you inspite of the many difficulties which you have experienced.

One needs to reflect on one’s life because it is only through reflection and prayer that we will understand God’s plan for us. Perhaps, we are not able to see clearly at this point of time. Perhaps, there are many uncertainties that lay in the future. But we believe that God is our constant guide. He continually speaks to us through the events of our lives. If we do not take time to pray and reflect, we will find ourselves moving from one activity to another, aimless and without purpose. It is only with prayer and reflect that we can come to recognize the presence of God even in our painful and difficult experiences.

As we begin a new year, let us put off our old selves, our old bad habits, our old selfish ways. Let us begin this new year with renewed faith in God as Mary did. We the priests of this parish also pray that you will continue to receive God’s blessings throughout this year. This is our prayer for you, the prayer of Moses:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception - December 8

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain (macula in Latin) of original sin. It is one of the four dogmas in Roman Catholic Mariology.

The dogma states that, from the first moment of her existence (conception in St. Anne's womb), she was preserved by God from the lack of sanctifying grace that afflicts mankind, and that she was instead filled with divine grace. We Catholics also believe that she lived a life completely free from sin. Her immaculate conception in the womb of her mother, through sexual intercourse, should not be confused with the doctrine of the virginal conception of her son Jesus, known as the Annunciation, and followed by the Virgin Birth.

The Dogma

"We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful."

With these words, spoken in 1854, Pope Pius IX, in the Papal Bull ineffabilis Dei, declared Mary's Immaculate Conception to be dogma. Pius did not invent the concept. Rather, he was affirming a belief held by many Christians that came before him, from East and West, that Mary was conceived free of the stain of original sin, on account of Christ's work. God caused this immaculate conception in order to render Mary a pure vessel to bear God-made-flesh.

Mary, the one who is "full of grace" and the one whom "all generations will called 'blessed'" has been viewed as unique since the earliest days of the Christian faith. Just as Christ has been called the "new Adam," the Church Fathers, especially Saints Justin (AD 150) and Irenaeus (AD 180), saw Mary as the "new Eve," who humbly obeyed God, even though Eve disobeyed. The Church Fathers also called Mary the "new ark of the covenant" and theotokos, God-bearer. It is from these titles that the doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception and sinlessness unfolded. Thus St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. AD 373) spoke of Mary as without stain or blemish, calling her "all-pure, all-immaculate, all-stainless, all-undefiled, all-incorrupt, all-inviolate" (see Nisibine Hymns, and "Precationes ad Deiparam"). St. Ambrose (d. AD 397) wrote "lift me up not from Sarah, but from Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled, but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin" (Commentary on Psalm 118). Augustine left open the possibility of Mary's sinlessness, even using language similar to the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin (On Nature and Grace, 42).

Later Fathers, such as St. John of Damascus (d. AD 755) and St. Andrew of Crete (d. AD 740) continued this emphasis on Mary's sinlessness as bearer of God. John of Damascus wrote:

The Father's...sanctifying power overshadowed her, cleansed and made her holy, and, as it were, predestined her. Then Thou, Word of the Father...didst take flesh of the Blessed Virgin, vivified by a reasoning soul, having first abided in her undefiled and immaculate womb...(Sermon I: On the Assumption)

John also spoke of Mary's "holy, undefiled, and stainless soul" (Sermon II: On the Assumption). However, there was no official dogma of the Immaculate Conception as of this period. Most Church Fathers agreed that Mary was sinless at the time she gave birth to Christ. They disagreed as to whether Mary was made sinless at conception, birth, or when she said "yes" to God's call. Even some prominent medieval Western theologians (notably St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas*) denied Mary's Immaculate Conception, although not her sinlessness. Even today, Catholic and Orthodox theologians agree that Mary is the all-holy, blameless, "new ark"; the debate is not about Mary being sinless, but about when Mary was made sinless. Part of this disagreement is because the East does not believe in original sin as the Western Church defines it. Orthodox theologian John Myendorff, in Byzantine Theology, has suggested the East would likely accept the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception if they had a Western understanding of Original Sin. The East and West nonetheless seem to be getting at the same "mystery": Mary's sinlessness and holiness in her role as theotokos.

St. Thomas believed, like most at the time, in the entire personal sinlessness of Mary, and believed that Mary was made immaculate before her birth; His writings place this sanctification somewhere between conception and birth, at the time when her soul and body were joined, an event some medieval theologians believed occurred a short time after conception.

History of the Feast

The Feast of Mary's Conception is clearly known as early as the 7th century in the East, and may even date to as early as the 5th century in the Churches of Syria. The feast spread to the West, at least by the 9th century. The feast and doctrine initially were opposed by the Dominicans, while the Franciscans argued in favor of the Immaculate Conception and its feast. For awhile, a great debate raged about the doctrine, even up until the 19th century. The Council of Basle in 1439 affirmed that the Immaculate Conception was a pious belief in accord with the Catholic faith. In 1476 Pope Sixtus IV approved the feast with its own Mass and Office, and in 1708, Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church, making it a holy day of obligation. In 1847, Pope Pius IX proclaimed Mary as patroness of the United States, under the title of her immaculate conception. Thus, to this day, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is the patronal feast of the United States.

The Orthodox and many Eastern Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Conception of Mary on December 9. This places Mary's conception 9 months, minus a day, from her birth (celebrated September 8). This apparently symbolizes that while Christ had a perfect humanity, even though Mary was the Mother of God, she did not (since Christ spent 9 full months in the womb, from March 25-December 25). However, the Orthodox do not celebrate Mary's immaculate conception on December 9 as Eastern Catholics do. The West observes the feast on December 8. While this dogma took centuries to develop and unfold, as did the dogma of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is certainly fitting for one whom the Eastern Christians call panagia, i.e. "all-holy," and who bore God-Made-Man, Jesus Christ.

October - The Month of the Rosary

The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful.

The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.

Legend tells us that the Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170- 1221) by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the "Hail Mary" and the "Glory be to the Father" at the conclusion of each mystery.

Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages where it came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" developed now substituting 150 "Hail Marys" in place of the "Our Fathers."

The 150 "Hail Marys" were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. He also attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin" to St. Dominic and thus spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results.

The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary.

Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary , ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. We are currently celebrating the centennial of these papal encyclicals.

Many other popes have contributed to help increase devotion to the Rosary by their writings. In the recent past, Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation MARIALIS CULTUS to the Angelus and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that "the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness." (MC, 41)

The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. This can be summarized by the traditional phrase used by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) that the Rosary is " a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.

the late Pope John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).

Pope John Paul II issued Rosarium Virginis Mariae - Apostolic Letter on Rosary of the Virgin Mary. He declared October 2002 ­- October 2003 The Year of the Rosary, and added Mysteries of Light that focus on events of Christ's ministry.

Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed the Church's long standing tradition to this beautiful tradition. He said, "Today, together we confirm that the Holy Rosary is not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourishes for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ's mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory. May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can "water" society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each "Hail Mary".

In this month of October, let us consider this beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use in order to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation. Let us also ask her to intercede for our chapel community as we prepare to celebrate our Chapel's Feast Triduum.

Our Lady of Sorrows, September 15

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa, at times just Dolorosa), and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular devotion in the Roman Catholic Church and is commemorated each year by the Church on September, 15th. There is a devotional prayer which consists of meditation on her Seven Sorrows. Also, there is a corresponding devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary.

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art.

1. The Prophecy of Simeon over the Infant Jesus. (Luke 2:34)
2. The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. (Matthew 2:13)
3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. (Luke 2:43)
4. The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross. (Luke 23:26)
5. The Crucifixion, where Mary stands at the foot of the cross. (John 19:25)
6. The Descent from the Cross, where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)

The feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustix et doloris B. Marix V. Before the 16th century, the feast was celebrated only in parts of Northern Europe.

No feast in her honour was included in St Pius V's 1570 Tridentine Calendar. Vatican approval for the celebration of a feast in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows was first granted to the Servite order in 1667.

By inserting the feast into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date.

Pesta Gereja Maria Bonda, Kampung Orang Asli (Orang Asli Village Celebrates Feast of Mary, Patron of Chapel)

Komuniti Orang Asli di Kampung Tekir, Jalan Labu, akan merayakan Pesta Gereja Kecil mereka yang di letakkan dibawah naungan Bonda Maria, pada 13hb September. Ini adalah sempena Pesta Kelahiran Bonda Maria pada 8hb September.

Gereja Maria Bonda mempunyai sejarah yang melebihi 100 tahun. Pada masa sekarang, terdapat 3 komuniti Orang Asli yang berumat Katolik dibawah jagaan paroki Gereja Visitasi, Seremban, iaitu, Kampung Orang Asli Tekir, Kampung Orang Asli Sebir (kedua-dua di Jalan Labu) dan Kampung Orang Asli Belihoi (sepanjang jalan Seremban-Mantin).

Pesta Kelahiran Bonda Maria mengingatkan kita tentang identiti dan maruah peribadi kita. Tuhan Allah telah memilih Bonda Maria sebagai ibu kandung Yesus sejak dari permulaan. Oleh sebab, gadis Yahudi ini telah menyahut seruan Tuhan maka seluruh dunia dan manusia sejagat dapat menikmati keberkatan penyelamatan.

Pada hari yang mulia ini, marilah kita bersyukur kepada Tuhan atas kurniaannya, khususnya, Bonda Maria . Kita juga ingin bersyukur kepadanya atas nyawa setiap insan didunia ini, kerana setiap insan juga merupakan kurniaan daripada Tuhan dan diletak disini dengan tujuannya tersendiri.

(The Orang Asli Community of Kampung Tekir, Jalan Labu, celebrates the Feasts of Our Lady, the patron of their 100 year old village chapel on Sunday, September 13, 4.00 pm)

Gadong Chapel's Feast of Annai Vellangkanni - Our Lady of Good Health

Our sister Chapel of Annai Vellangkanni in Gadong, under the pastoral care of the Church of Visitation, Seremban, will be celebrating its Patron's Feast with a Triduum.
Sep 11th (Frid) 7.30 pm Mass
Sep 12th (Sat) 7.30 pm Mass
Sep 13th (Sun) 11.00 am Mass (Feast Day)

The actual Feast of Annai Vellangkanni coincides with the Feast of the Nativiy of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8. As Annai Vellangkanni is also called "Our Lady of Good Health", her shrine has also been called the Lourdes of the East.

The Story of Mary's Apparition in the town of Vellangkanni

Our lady of Good Health, popularly called "Our Lady of Vellangkanni" is in the small town of Vellangkanni (5000 residents) located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is located 150 miles south of Madras in Tamil Nadu and 5 miles south of Nagapattinam. Our lady chose this place to dispense her miracles to mankind. A strong oral tradition attests to Our Lady’s apparitions at Vellangkanni. The tradition is built around the following three significant events:

First Miracle: Hindu Boy and Annai Vellangkanni

Sometime during the sixteenth century, Our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a customer’s home. While he rested under a Banyan tree near a tank (pond), Our Lady appeared to him and asked for milk for her Son and the boy gave her some. On reaching the customer’s home, the boy apologized for his lateness and the reduced amount of milk by relating the incident that occurred on his way. On inspection, the man found the milk pot to be full and realized that something miraculous had happened. That man, also a Hindu, wanting to see the place where the apparition occurred, accompanied the boy.

When they reached the tank, Our Lady appeared once again. On learning that it was Our Lady who appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became ecstatic. The tank where the apparition took place is called "Matha Kulam" or Our Lady’s tank.

Second Miracle: Crippled Boy and Annai Vellangkanni

Some years later Our Lady appeared again. This time to a crippled boy who was selling buttermilk near a public square on the outskirts of the same village of Vellangkanni. She asked him for buttermilk for her infant Son and the boy compiled. Our Lady asked the boy to inform a certain wealthy Catholic man in the nearby town of Nagapattinam of her appearance. Not realizing that his crippled leg was miraculously cured by Our Lady, the boy rose up and began his journey. The man also had a vision the previous night in which Our Lady asked him to build a chapel for her. Together, the man and the boy returned to the site of the miracle.

This time Our Lady appeared to both. The man erected a thatched chapel for Our Lady at the site of Her second appearance. This chapel became a holy place of veneration to Our Blesses mother and She was called henceforth, Mother of Good Health ("Arokia Matha").

Third Miracle: Portuguese Ship and Annai Vellangkanni

A few years later, Our Merciful Mother rescued a few Portuguese merchant sailors from a violent storm, which wrecked their ship. When the merchants reached the shore of Vellangkanni they were taken by local fisherman to the thatched chapel. To give thanks and pay tribute to Our Lady, they built a small permanent chapel on their return trip. On subsequent visits they improved on it. The merchants dedicated the chapel to Our Lady on September 8th to celebrate the feast of her nativity and to mark the date of their safe landing to Vellangkanni.

Today, the celebration of this feast is an annual festival which lasts for 9 days and draws more than a million and a half pilgrims. Vellangkanni attracts more pilgrims than any other sacred shrine in India. Not only do multitudes of Catholic travel there throughout the year but many non-Christians visit as well. Hundreds of miraculous cures are reported every year.

A video of the car procession at the Shrine of Annai Vellangkanni, India

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - September 8

The Nativity (Birth) of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is celebrated as a liturgical feast in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, a great feast in Eastern Orthodox calender and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December.

This feast, like that of the Assumption of Mary, originated in Jerusalem. It began in the fifth century as the feast of the basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now the Basilica of Saint Anne. In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated by the Byzantines and at Rome as the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September and by Coptic Christians on 1 Bashans (i.e., 9 May).

In the Western Church, the feast was included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September and has remained on that date.

Roman Catholics believe that Mary was immaculately conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, by her father St. Joachim. The Feast of that Immaculate Conception, 8 December, is a much greater Feast than her birthday; but Catholics recall Mary's birthday, too -- the birth of the woman destined by God from the beginning of time to be born of the House of David and the Tribe of Judah, the women whose enmity toward Satan was spoken of as far back as Genesis, the woman whom St. John saw crowned with stars and with the moon at her feet, the woman whom God chose to bear His Son and bring life to the world.

This Feast of Mary's birth is one of the only three birthdays honored in the liturgical year (the others being that of St. John the Baptist and that of Jesus Christ Himself, all three born without original sin, though only Mary and Jesus were free from sin at the moments of their conceptions). Little is known about Mary's birth and youth, most of the information coming from the apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity of Mary (translated from the Hebrew by St. Jerome, A.D. 340-420), the Protevangelium of St. James (dated to ca. A.D. 125), and the visions of various mystics through the years.

The Nativity of the Theotokos (Mother of God, most esteemed title of Mary) is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, is also celebrated on September 8.

Like Roman Catholics, the Orthodox believe that the Holy Virgin and Theotokos Mary was born to elderly and previously barren parents by the names of Joachim and Anna, in answer to their prayers. Orthodox Christians do not hold to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, in which it is supposed that Mary was preserved from the ancestral sin that befalls us all as descendents of Adam and Eve, in anticipation of her giving birth to the sinless Christ. The Orthodox believe that Mary indeed received the ancestral sin, having been conceived in the normal way of humanity, and thus needed salvation like all mankind. Orthodox thought does vary on whether Mary actually ever sinned, though there is general agreement that she was cleansed from sin at the Annunciation.

Mary in Islam (مريم "Maryam" in Arabic), the mother of Jesus, is considered the most righteous woman in Islam. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an - her name is mentioned more than it is in the New Testament. According to the Qur'an, Jesus (called 'Isa in Arabic) was born miraculously by the will of God without a father. His mother is regarded as a chaste and virtuous woman and is a highly respected figure in Islam. The Qur'an states that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth, but that neither Mary nor her son was divine.

In the Qur'an, no other woman is given more attention than Mary. The nineteenth sura of the Qur'an is named after her and is, to some extent, about her life. Of the Qur'an's 114 suras, she is among only eight people who have a sura named after them. In Islam, she is generally referred to as Maryam, Umm Isa (Mary, the mother of Jesus). For Muslims she is a symbol of submission to God and piety. She is one of the most highly-regarded women in Islam; there are several verses in the Qur'an praising her and confirming that she was an extremely chaste and pious woman.

According to the Qur'an, Mary's father was 'Imran. The name which in Arabic means prosperity, not only links Mary to her direct father but also to her ancestor, Amram the father of Moses and of Aaron, whence the description "sister of Aaron" which the Quran likewise uses, is to show that Mary is of the same race as the two brother prophets, as commentators such as Al-Ghazzali have stated.

Mary's mother, although unnamed, is identified in some traditions as Hannah in Arabic or Saint Anne in Juedo-Christian tradition. The Immaculate Conception is not Islamic doctrine, however, as since Islam lacks the concept of original sin such a reference would be meaningless.

Mary's story in the Qur'an, begins while she is still in her mother's womb. The mother of Mary said, "O my Lord! I do dedicate into Thee what is in my womb for Thy special service: So accept this of me: For Thou hearest and knowest all things." (Qur'an 3:35). When Mary was delivered, she said, "O my Lord! Behold! I am delivered of a female child!" (Qur'an 3:36). She had expected her baby to be a boy who would grow up to be a scholar or religious leader. Qur'an 3:36 continues "...and God knew best what she brought forth — 'And no wise is the male like the female. I have named her Maryam, and I commend her and her offspring to Thy protection from Satan, the Rejected.'"

(Published in ameia-kl.blogspot.com)