The Feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God, was the first Marian feast to be celebrated in the Western Church, beginning in the fourth century.
Newsroom (03/01/2023 11:12 PM, Gaudium Press ). On 1 January, along with the Feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God, the World Day of Peace was also celebrated, instituted by Pope St. Paul VI in 1967.
The baby is born and the mother cannot help looking at him, amazed: there is no doubt that her child is quite simply the most perfect and most beautiful child in the world! By the time he is a week old, you can recognize his cries, know his sleeping habits, know when he is hungry and when other things are bothering him. This is the great gift given to women: maternity. The mother generates a child in her womb, carries that little one for nine months, and then receives in her arms that tiny creature that will depend completely on her care during the first months of life, or even the first years.
If this is so for an ordinary mother, who looks at that frail creature in her arms and imagines that in the future he or she will become a great man, a great woman, what must those first days have been like for the Mother of God? With the Child Jesus in her arms: small, delicate, totally dependent on Her, She looked at Him, embraced Him and knew that She was cradling God Himself!
Origin of the Feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God
On the first day of the New Year, the Calendar of Saints opens with the Feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God, the celebration of the mystery of divine maternity: a Mother who is Daughter of her Son and Mother of her Father. Mary, the humblest and most sublime of all creatures, is the only one who can call God her Son, in all her maternal tenderness, and who has the unique and incomparable privilege of hearing God himself call Her ‘Mother’.
The feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God was the first Marian feast to appear in the Western Church, beginning in the fourth century. The Feast Day began in Rome, replacing the pagan custom of the gifts, whose rites did not match the holiness of Christian celebrations.
It is thought that this feast began with the dedication of one of the first Marian churches in Rome: the Church of St. Mary the Ancient, in the Roman Forum. Its liturgy is linked to the Liturgy of Christmas and occurs in what we call the Octave of Christmas, which means eight days after the Nativity, recalling the rite that was fulfilled eight days after the birth of Jesus, with the ceremony of circumcision. “When the eight days for circumcising the child were completed, he was given the name Jesus, as the angel had called him before he was conceived in his mother’s womb”. (Lk 2:21).
Mary Most Holy and the Universal Day of Peace
On 1 January, in addition to the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, the World Day of Peace is also celebrated, a fortunate coincidence, because no one represents the concept of peace, faith, love and charity better than Mary Most Holy. She represents the fertile ground in which the Word of God came to dwell, but She is also the Mother of us all and the Mediatrix of all graces, the Queen of Peace.
The World Day of Peace was proclaimed on 8 December 1967 by Pope St. Paul VI, establishing the first day of the year for this commemoration. Together with the devotion of the divine motherhood of Mary and the Most Holy Name of Jesus, the aim was to promote a sense of peace throughout the world.
In this way, the Feast of Holy Mary, Mother of God, invites all Catholics to begin the New Year asking for the protection of the Blessed Virgin, since She represents the bridge between Heaven and Earth; the one who unites people to God, who directs all requests to Him and pours out all the heavenly graces on Earth. Mary is the Mother of each one of us and the perfect model of holiness and adoration of God.
Theotokos: Mother of God
The entire Christian tradition, from apostolic times onwards, is a continuous proclamation of this fundamental truth: the divine maternity. In the first two centuries, the Fathers taught that Holy Mary conceived and gave birth to God. In the third century, they began to use the term that has become ‘classic: Theotokos, which means Mother of God in Greek.
In the fourth century, even before the Council of Ephesus, the expression
‘Mother of God’ had become common among Christians, a fact that bothered the Emperor, although many authorities of the Roman Empire recognized that the expression ‘Mother of God’ had been in use among Christians for a long time.
The exultation that the faithful showed when the divine maternity was solemnly defined as a dogma of faith proves how deeply this truth was rooted in the soul of those ancient Christians.
The latest reform of the calendar transferred to 1 January the feast that, until 1931, was celebrated on 11 October, in remembrance of the Council of Ephesus, which instituted the Dogma of Divine Motherhood.
Another undeniable aspect of Mary, Mother of God, is her enormous contribution to the union of the Apostles and the formation of the Holy Catholic Church. In this regard, St. Paul VI highlighted the extent of Mary’s service very well when he affirmed that “Mary will be presented as the woman who by her action fostered the apostolic community’s faith in Christ and whose maternal role was extended to assume universal dimensions on Calvary”.
United in 2023
May we, on this last day of the year that is ending, and at the dawn of the year that is beginning, turn to Mary, entrust ourselves to Her, consecrate ourselves to her love. Life will continue to be difficult and challenges will continue to arise, but with Mary as model, refuge and strength, everything will be easier to bear until the day when we can truly know peace.
Our thanks to all of you who have accompanied us during the year 2022 and our wish that we remain together in 2023, following the news of the Church and the Catholic world.
Happy New Year!
Gaudium Press Team
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm