THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
One of the principal feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on September 8; a double feast of the second class with a simple octave.
I. LITURGY
The reason why the feast of the Nativity of Mary was fixed on September 8 is absolutely unknown. Its origin, like that of all the principal Marian feasts, is found in the East, probably in Palestine, and perhaps in Jerusalem.The birth and life of the Blessed Virgin, which the Gospels omit, nevertheless greatly engaged the popular imagination; to fill this void, various apocryphal works soon appeared, among which the so-called Proto-Gospel of James stands out for its early date and importance, certainly dating from the late second century. Yet at the time of St. Augustine, there was certainly no particular liturgical feast (Sermo 292 de Sanctis: PL 38, 1320). Soon afterward, however—following the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451), which brought the figure of the “Mother of God” into full view of the Church—this feast, along with the other major Marian feasts, came into being. The wording of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum: “Nativitas s. Mariae, Matris Dei” clearly betrays the profound theological significance of this celebration. Many patristic sermons, especially those from the East, exalt the Nativity of Mary (though not all are authentic); thus St. Proclus of Constantinople (d. 447; PG 65, 680ff.) and Romanos the Melodist, one of the greatest Byzantine liturgical poets (c. 560), described it in verse according to the Proto-Gospel of James (J. B. Pitra, Analecta sacra, I, Venice 1876). For St. Andrew of Crete (740), the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was already an ancient tradition (cf. the four sermons for this feast: PG 97, 805–82).
In Rome, the feast was introduced around the mid-seventh century, along with the feasts of the Purification, the Annunciation, and the Assumption of Mary, through the efforts of Eastern monks who, at that time, emigrated en masse from the regions fallen under the Muslim yoke. Sergius I (687–701) decreed that these Marian feasts be distinguished by a solemn procession that would begin at the ancient Curia Senatus, which had become the church of S. Adriano, and end at S. Maria Maggiore (Liber Pontificalis, I, p. 376). By the seventh century, the feast of the Nativity of Mary also appears in many liturgical books (e.g., the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries, the Capitularia Evangeliorum, and various lectionaries). The Gospel pericope was generally taken from the story of the Visitation (Lk 1:39–47), later replaced by the genealogy in Mt 1:1–16. The readings varied considerably until the time of Pius V. The spread of the feast was slow and uneven. It soon appeared in martyrologies: Bede mentions it in both the *Martyrologium poeticum* and the *Martyrologium historicum* (PL 94, 605; 1037), Ado in the *Libellus de festivitatibus ss. Apostolorum* (PL 123, 201–202), and Usuard in his Martyrology, which served as the basis for the Roman Martyrology (Acta SS. Junii, VI, Antwerp 1715, p. 486). Canon 20 of the Council of Reims, held under Sonnatius (630), prescribed the Nativity of Mary as a holy day (Mansi, X, p. 599), as did the Synod of Riesbach-Freising (791, canon 10; Hefele-Leclercq, III, p. 1107), while it is absent from the list of holy days compiled by St. Boniface and from the great reform council of Mainz in 813. Amalarius also makes no mention of it in his numerous writings. A synod was held in London on this feast in 948. Nevertheless, by the tenth to eleventh centuries, the feast of the Nativity of Mary was universally observed. Notable liturgical writers such as William Durandus (*Rationale Div. Officiorum*, VII, 28), John Beleth (*Div. Officiorum eorumdem rationum brevis explicatio*, 149), and Sicard of Cremona (*Mitrale*, IX, 43) attest to this. During the difficult conclave following the death of Gregory IX (1241), the cardinals pledged that, if the conclave ended successfully, they would urge the new pope to institute an octave for the feast of the Nativity of Mary. After the election of Celestine IV, who died after only eighteen days, Innocent IV, with the approval of the Second Council of Lyon (1245), decreed the octave, which, according to Radulph of Rivo (*De can. observantia*, propos. 19, ed. C. Mohlberg, Münster 1915, p. 117), was celebrated as a major, or complete, octave. Gregory XI (1378) also instituted a vigil with fasting and composed the Mass for the feast, but both fell into disuse after his death.
In Rome, the feast of the Nativity of Mary remained highly solemn even into the mid-thirteenth century (Ordo Romanus XI by Benedict the Canon: PL 78, 1052); a solemn papal Mass was celebrated at S. Adriano. In Ordo Romanus XIV, it is listed among the feasts that preclude a consistory (ibid., 1230). Peter Amelius (Ordo Romanus XV, cap. 126; ibid., 1344–45) also notes the vigil. However, with the turbulent period of the Avignon papacy, the papal celebration of the feast ceased. Sixtus V, in reorganizing the papal chapels, established one for September 8 in the church of S. Maria del Popolo, which lasted until his death (1590). Alexander VII (whose family held the funerary chapel in that church) restored it in 1666 after the cessation of the plague of 1665, and it continued until 1870. In the church of S. Maria in Via, fresh water from the well is distributed on this day, in which, according to tradition, the image of the Madonna venerated there was found floating. It should be noted that the lessons for the second nocturn in the Breviary, attributed to St. Augustine (Sermo 18 de Sanctis), are instead by the abbot Ambrose Autpert (d. 787; cf. Enc. Catt., II, cols. 499–500). Pius X reduced the octave to a simple one, and with the transfer of the feast of the Sorrows of Mary to September 15, the eighth day was effectively eliminated.
II. ICONOGRAPHY
The earliest known depictions of the Nativity of Mary date to the eleventh century; the oldest appears to be a miniature in a Greek codex from the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 1613), dated to 1025. The iconography of the Nativity of Mary appears in synoptic representations of the entire life of the Blessed Virgin, presented in a series of consecutive scenes of Marian history from the birth of the Virgin Mary to her Assumption into Heaven, the entry into which is depicted with her Coronation. Such synoptic Marian representations appear in the art of Western Europe and multiply in the late Middle Ages. In depictions of the sceneUsually two scenes are depicted together: the first shows the account of the birth of St Anne, lying on a spacious bed in a chamber; the second generally shows the midwives grouped around the bed, busy washing the newborn in a basin. The same iconographic type has been adopted for representations of the birth of St John the Baptist, which are often indistinguishable from those of the Madonna. Italian art, from the 14th to the 16th centuries, produced several beautiful depictions of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Among those to be cited for medieval art are: the mosaic by Pietro Cavallini in S. Maria in Trastevere in Rome; the fresco by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua; the fresco by Taddeo Gaddi in the Baroncelli Chapel and another by Giovanni da Milano in the sacristy of S. Croce in Florence; the sculpted panel by Orcagna in the tabernacle of Orsanmichele in Florence; following the 14th-century model is the Nativity of Mary frescoed in 1424 by Ottaviano Nelli in the Trinci Chapel of the homonymous palace in Foligno. For Renaissance art, the well-known 15th-century depiction by Domenico Ghirlandaio, frescoed in 1488 in the main chapel of S. Maria Novella in Florence, is to be remembered. Fra Filippo Lippi adorned the background of his tondo of the Madonna and Child with the Nativity of Mary, painted in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. Among the 16th-century depictions of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is the fresco by Andrea del Sarto in the cloister of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. — See pl. CXI.
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**Witold Wehr**
**III. THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN — Title given in many manuscripts to the apocryphal work first published (by Postel, d. 1581) under the name *Proto-Gospel of James* (q.v.). In its earliest form it dates to the 2nd century. A later Latin reworking, usually cited as *Pseudo-Matthew*, also bears the title *Book of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Infancy of the Saviour*. The first 17 chapters depend on the *Proto-Gospel of James*; the remainder tells of the flight into Egypt and life in Nazareth.
Later, in the Carolingian period, a new Latin reworking arose, more delicate and restrained than the previous one; it tones down the incongruities by accepting only what *Pseudo-Matthew* shares with the *Proto-Gospel of James*. These writings greatly influenced art and liturgy in both East and West. The feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple is derived from this apocryphon.
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