The Nativity of Mary celebrates the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is celebrated nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception, when she was conceived.
Read the full Nativity of Mary novena on the novena page. You can also learn more about novenas here.
What Is the Significance of the Nativity of Mary?
Only three birthdays are celebrated in the liturgical year: Jesus’ birthday on Christmas, St. John the Baptist’s birthday, and Our Lady’s.
Sts Joachim and Anne were infertile, but God miraculously answered their prayers, and they conceived the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Immaculate Conception.
After the Council of Ephesus, devotion to Our Lady grew, and an early sixth century hymn commemorates Marymas, which is this same feast.
Devotion to Our Lady’s birth increased in the Church, especially in the East, over the next century, and eventually became widespread.