When was the Mother of God born? We can't know for certain, of
course, but for almost 15 centuries now, the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated on September 8. Those
who are quick with math have already figured out that September
8 is exactly nine months after December 8--the feast of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary. In earlier centuries, the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated with greater
fanfare. Now, most Catholics probably don't even realize that
the Church has a special feast day set aside to celebrate it.
But, like the Immaculate Conception, the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin Mary is an important date in our salvation history.
Christ needed a mother, and Mary's conception and birth,
therefore, are events without which Christ's own birth would
have been impossible. It's no surprise, then, that the
Christians of the second century A.D. recorded the details of
Mary's birth in such documents as the Protoevangelium of James
and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. While n