The Divine Maternity of Mary (January 1st)
Historical Aspect
On the eighth day of Christmas, specifically January 1st, when the civil year begins, the renewed Roman Missal celebrates the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, thus resuming an ancient custom of the Church, both Eastern and Western.
Indeed, the Church honored and invoked the Virgin Mary as Mother of God even before the Council of Ephesus (431). In fact, the popular Christian devotion to Our Lady is explained precisely because she is the Mother of Lord Jesus. This privilege forms the fundamental characteristic of Mary’s person and stands at the basis of all the other graces bestowed upon her.Since ancient times, the liturgy celebrated the Virgin Mary as Mother of God, even without a dedicated day for this celebration. Consider that the phrase “the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God” is found in the Canon of the Mass as early as the 4th century, and thus, the Mother of the Lord was remembered at the most solemn moment of the Eucharistic celebration every day.Every Marian feast or celebration served as an occasion to exalt and highlight this singular and unique privilege of Our Lady: to have borne in her flesh the Son of the Eternal Father. For this reason, initially, little attention was given to establishing a proper feast for the Virgin Mary as Mother of God. All Marian liturgy, in fact, is a hymn of praise and exaltation of Mary’s divine motherhood, to which all other privileges preceding and following her existence are linked.Only in 1931 did Pope Pius XI, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus, extend the liturgical celebration of the Mother of God to the entire Church, setting the date on October 11th, as was already done in some places.However, this date of October 11th is recent and has little historical basis. Ancient liturgical texts, including the Sacramentary of Gregory, testify that on the eighth day of Christmas, the role and mission of the Mother of Lord Jesus were particularly remembered.Subsequently, Gallican liturgy influenced Roman liturgy, so that little by little, the eighth day of Christmas became the celebration of the memory of the Lord’s circumcision, although clear references to Our Lady, Mother of God, were never lacking. From this perspective, such a celebration was adopted in the liturgical reforms of St. Pius V after the Council of Trent, in the Missal and the Lectionary.The “New Missal” of the renewed liturgy, promoted by the Second Vatican Council, restored and “brought up to date” the original content of the Marian feast of divine motherhood on the eighth day of Christmas.Theological and Ascetic Reflections on Mary’s Divine Motherhood
Today, the liturgy celebrates Mary, Mother of Jesus, Man and God. The holy Gospel clearly attests to this. However, it was only with the Council of Ephesus (431) that the Magisterium made an explicit and solemn declaration on this matter. The faith in the incarnation of the Word and in the unity of the divine Person of Jesus Christ gradually led to the understanding of the doctrine on the divine motherhood of Mary.Today the Church does not celebrate something abstract or a mere idea, but a concrete fact in the history of salvation and a fundamental mystery of Christian faith: the birth of Jesus Christ, God and Man, from Mary, the humble Virgin of Nazareth. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, without ceasing to be God, becomes human through Mary, thus establishing salvation for humanity: a stupendous mystery by which the humanity of Christ is raised to divinity in the single Person of the Word, so that salvation is accomplished from within.The liturgical texts, in addition to Mary’s physical and spiritual motherhood, highlight her perpetual virginity. Indeed, in the Lady, these two privileges—maternity and virginity—are celebrated together and never separated, as they are integrated and reciprocally qualifying. The Gospels bear witness to this, and the Church has always held that the true mystery of the Mother of the Lord cannot be understood if these two privileges are separated: divine motherhood and perpetual virginity. Mary is, therefore, both Mother and Virgin, the Virgin Mother. She is virgin, but she is the Virgin Mother.To express the concept of divine motherhood at the Second Vatican Council, the bishops used three terms (in Chapter VIII of the document *Lumen Gentium*, entirely dedicated to the Lady): *Mater Dei* three times, *Dei Genitrix* three times, and *Theotòcos* [Theotókos] or *Deipara* six times: Mother of God, Genitrix of God, and Bearer or Generator of God, the latter being the most frequent.The term *Mater Dei*, used for the first time in the West by Saint Augustine, expresses the formal constitution of divine motherhood, that is, it indicates the two terms of the real relationship that binds the mother to her Son. The terms *Dei Genitrix* and *Geratrice Dei*, on the other hand, emphasize the foundation of this relationship: “Mary generated on earth the Son of God” (*Lumen Gentium* 63).These three terms complement each other and express technically the real relationship that binds the Most Holy Mary to God, her Son. Motherhood, considered in itself, is nothing other than the relationship between a mother and her son, and between the son and his mother, founded on generation.Parenthood must be referred to the person, not to nature, since paternity and motherhood are personal relations. Mary, being Mother of the human nature assumed by the Word, is rightly called Mother of the Person of the Word, to whom, by the hypostatic union, humanity received from Mary belongs.This motherhood is a real, stable, and special relation, founded not only in the moment of generation, but in a permanent relation. In Mary, we find everything that is human in motherhood and something more, for she generates a divine and pre-existent Person.This Son depends on his mother according to the flesh, but in ontological order, she depends on Him as her Creator. However, this motherhood does not destroy Mary’s psychology nor introduces violence, for God transfigures with grace the natural affections that He Himself created.In the psychological order, the divine motherhood was the fruit of a free and conscious consent (cf. Lk 1:28-30). This consent is an act of theology, faith, and love. Mary’s maternal love becomes adoration (St. Basil of Seleucia, *Om. V in PG* 85, 448 AB).Mary is called to be a Mother so that the Incarnation desired by God may be accomplished. The Word did not want to assume an adult body directly created (cf. Gn 2:7), but wanted to be born of a woman (Gal 4:4), as a bud from the stem to be saved (Is 11:1).Mary is not a passive means nor a simple instrument. It is not an abstract motherhood, but a conscious, free, and holy cooperation with God’s salvific action.Mary’s choice comes from God’s gratuitous benevolence, but it is consistent with the salvific plan. The angel greets her as full of grace (Lk 1:28), the Lord is with her (Lk 1:28), the Holy Spirit comes upon her (Lk 1:35). She is blessed among women (Lk 1:42) and proclaims herself blessed for having believed (Lk 1:48).Mary conceives Christ freely, by faith, even without fully understanding from the beginning (cf. Lk 2:50). Therefore, the Fathers affirm that she conceived first in her heart and then in her womb (St. Augustine, *Sermo* 315, 4; St. Leo the Great, *Sermo* I *In Nativitate*). The Second Vatican Council states: «The Blessed Virgin Mary, by her ‘fiat,’ welcomed the Word in her heart and in her body» (LG 64).Mary is chosen as the Daughter of Zion, inserted into the elected people. Her “yes” becomes the consent of humanity called to continue in the Church.In this perspective, the role of motherhood is highlighted (cf. *Lumen Gentium*).53 and 67), her character of service (cf. Lk 1:38; Lk 1:48), and her experience of poverty and humility (cf. Lk 2:24).
Choosing a mother is choosing a historical condition. Christ chooses to be born among the poor. In this choice, the “marvelous exchange” between Creator and creature is realized, by which humanity is exalted.
Finally, two pastoral accents: entrust the New Year to the maternal protection of Mary, and remember the World Day of Peace, established by Paul VI, as a concrete commitment of each believer to peace.
The dogmatic definition of Mary as Theotokos by the Council of Ephesus (431) is deeply analyzed in the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus by Paul VI, which establishes the feast of January 1st in the oldest liturgical tradition.
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