Maternity of the BVM

The feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was instituted in 1932 by Pius XI. The feast is a double of the second class and so is celebrated today, in white vestments, with a commemoration of the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The feast was instituted in honour of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus where Mary was defined as Mother of God. The Gospel is St. Luke's account of finding the young Christ in the Temple debating with the doctors of the law.

At Vespers yesterday the antiphons were proper to the feast and the psalms of the BVM were sung. A commemoration was sung of the Sunday. Hymns of Iambic metre, used at the Lesser Hours, have the Doxology Jesu, tibi sit gloria etc.

At Mattins the antiphons and psalms are from the Common of the BVM. The lessons in the first nocturn are from the Book of Ecclesiasticus. In the second nocturn the fourth and fifth lessons are from St. Leo and the sixth from the writings of Pius XI. In the third nocturn the lessons are from a homily by St. Bernard, the ninth lesson is of the commemorated Sunday.

At Lauds the antiphons from Vespers are sung. A commemoration of the Sunday is made.
At Prime the verse in the short responsory is Qui natus es and the short lesson In plateis. The antiphons used at Lauds are used for the Hours and Prime has the psalmody used on feasts (Ps.53, 118i, 118ii).

Mass is sung after Terce with the Asperges preceding as usual for Sundays. The Gloria is sung, the Sunday is commemorated. The Creed is sung, the preface that of the Blessed Virgin and the last Gospel is of the Sunday rather than In principio.

Vespers are of the feast with a commemoration of the Sunday.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Vespers on Saturday were of the Sunday without any commemoration of the feast. Mattins is cut down to one nocturn of three lessons. The feast is commemorated at Lauds and Low Mass. The Marian Doxology is not sung, Prime's psalms are as on Sundays, there is no Qui natus es. Vespers are of the Sunday without any commemoration of the feast.

The icon is taken from an interesting site of the Orthodox Church in China and is known as the Albazinian Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God.