Mary, the Holy Mother of God
Feast day: January 1
On this Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, we honor Mary as the “Mother of God,” and we celebrate her role in God’s plan of salvation. The feast was first introduced near the end of the fourth century and is the oldest Marian feast in the Roman liturgical calendar. Mary was called “Theotokos,” or “God-bearer,” at the Council of Ephesus in 431. From that time until about 650, the divine maternity of Mary was celebrated near Christmas and concluded the Christmas octave in the Roman calendar. But, as other Marian feasts were added, it was replaced by the feast of the Circumcision of Christ. The 1969 revision of the Roman calendar restored it as a solemnity, concluding the Christmas octave.
Collect
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary
bestowed on the human race
the grace of eternal salvation,
grant, we pray,
that we may experience the intercession of her,
through whom we were found worthy
to receive the author of life,
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
