One of the oldest Marian Feasts, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to be connected with a sixth century feast of the dedication of the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem. According to tradition, the church was erected near the site believed by the Crusaders to be the childhood home of the Virgin Mary. The Gospels do not give the names of Mary’s parents, but, based on a tradition that stems from the second century Protoevangelium of James, their names were Joachim and Anna. The story is that Anna and Joachim were infertile but prayed for a child and received the promise of a child who would advance God’s plan of salvation for the world.
Saint Augustin said this of Mary: “Didn't the Virgin Mary do the will of the Father? I mean, she believed by faith, she conceived by faith, she was chosen to be the one from whom salvation in the very midst of the human race would be born for us, she was created by Christ before Christ was created in her. Yes, of course, holy Mary did the will of the Father. And therefore it means more for Mary to have been a disciple of Christ than to have been the mother of Christ. It means more for her, an altogether greater blessing, to have been Christ's disciple than to have been Christ's mother. That is why Mary was blessed, because even before she gave him birth, she bore her teacher in her womb” (Sermon 72/A, 7).