Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. According to the apocryphal Protoevangelium, Anna and Joachim, an infertile couple, prayed for a child. In answer to their prayer, they were promised a child who would advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Saint Augustine said of Mary: “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.”