Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The
earliest document commemorating this feast comes from the sixth
century. St. Romanus, the great ecclesiastical lyrist of the Greek
Church, composed for it a hymn (Card. Pitra, "Hymnogr. Graeca", Paris,
1876, 199) which is a poetical sketch of the apocryphal Gospel of St.
James. St. Romanus was a native of Emesa in Syria, deacon of Berytus and
later on at the Blachernae church in Constantinople, and composed his
hymns between 536-556 (P. Maas in "Byzant. Zeitschrift", 1906). The
feast may have originated somewhere in Syria or Palestine in the
beginning of the sixth century, when after the Council of Ephesus, under
the influence of the "Apocrypha", the cult of the Mother of God was
greatly intensified, especially in Syria. St. Andrew of Crete in the
beginning of the eight century preached several sermons on this feast
(Lucius-Anrich, "Anfänge des Heiligenkultus", Tübingen, 1906, 468).
Evidence is wanting to show why the eighth of September was chosen for
its date. The Church of Rome adopted it in the seventh century from the
East; it is found in the Gelasian (seventh cent.) and the Gregorian
(eighth to ninth cent.) Sacramentaries. Sergius I (687-701) prescribed a
litany and procession for this feast (P.L. cxxviii, 897 sqq.). Since
the story of Mary's Nativity is known only from apocryphal sources, the
Latin Church was slow in accepting this oriental festival. It does not
appear in many calendars which contain the Assumption, e.g. the
Gotho-Gallican, that of Luxeuil, the Toledan Calendar of the tenth
century, and the Mozarabic Calendar.
The church of Angers in France
claims that St. Maurilius instituted this feast at Angers in consequence
of a revelation about 430. On the night of 8 Sept., a man heard the
angels singing in heaven, and on asking the reason, they told him they
were rejoicing because the Virgin was born on that night (La fête
angevine N.D. de France, IV, Paris, 1864, 188); but this tradition is
not substantiated by historical proofs. The feast is found in the
calendar of Sonnatius, Bishop of Reims, 614-31 (Kellner, Heortology,
21). Still it cannot be said to have been generally celebrated in the
eighth and ninth centuries. St. Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (d. 1028),
speaks of it as of recent institution (P.L., cxli, 320, sqq.); the three
sermons he wrote are the oldest genuine Latin sermons for this festival
(Kellner, "Heortology", London, 1908, 230). The octave was instituted
by Innocent IV (a. 1243) in accordance with a vow made by the cardinals
in the conclave of the autumn of 1241, when they were kept prisoners by
Frederick II for three months. In the Greek Church the apodosis
(solution) of the feast takes place 12 Sept., on account of the feast
and the solemnity of the Exaltation of the Cross, 13 and 14 Sept. The
Copts in Egypt and the Abyssinians celebrate Mary's Nativity on 1 May,
and continue the feast under the name of "Seed of Jacob" 33 days (Anal.
Juris Pont., xxi, 403); they also commemorate it on the first of every
month (priv. letter from P. Baeteman, C.M., Alikiena). The Catholic
Copts have adopted the Greek feast, but keep it 10 Sept. (Nilles, "Kal.
Man.", II, 696, 706).
Coincidence or providence that the Phoenix flooding—almost 3 in. of rain in one night, beating a record since 1933—occurred today? Maybe it'll force people will stay home and honor Our Blessed Virgin Mother by celebrating her birthday!
ReplyDelete(Also, my theory is that cloud-seeding, chemtrails, caused it. Cloud-seeding for causing clouds to rain is well-established science.)