Mary, the Mother of God

1 January  ·  Solemnity  ·  White

She sits enthroned with the Child on her knee and a cloth of honour behind her, in a room so quiet the water in the basin does not move. The octave day of Christmas is older than any title it has carried: the seventh-century Roman sacramentaries call it simply in octabas Domini, the eighth day of the Lord, and on it the Gospel records the circumcision and the naming of Jesus. In Gaul it was kept as the feast of the Circumcision from the sixth century, the Council of Tours in 567 prescribing its Mass. In the reform of the calendar after the Second Vatican Council the day became the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, which Paul VI described as a feast meant to commemorate the part Mary played in the mystery of salvation and to exalt the singular dignity of the holy Mother through whom we received the Author of life. The year begins with her, holding Him.

John Tierney, “Feast of the Circumcision”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (1908): newadvent.org

Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, 5 (1974).

The Gospel of the feast

¹⁶And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. ¹⁷And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. ²¹And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called JESUS, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2:16–21, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)

In painting

The feasts of the year  ·  The Rosary