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Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
1 January 2012
Dear Friends in Christ,
The ancient Romans celebrated the beginning of the New Year on March 1. Christian nations had different traditions as to when the new year started: some celebrated the Annunciation or Christmas as the New Year according to a calendar which, by the sixteenth century, had become erroneous. Pope Gregory XIII proposed a more accurate calendar in 1582 by papal bull. January 1 became New Year’s by default, since the liturgical calendar attached to the bull began with the feast celebrated on that day, the Feast of the Circumcision. Even though this so-called Gregorian Calendar was more accurate, many nations refused to adopt it since it had been imposed by the Pope. The last to adopt it were England in 1752, Russia in 1918 and Greece in 1923.
This day proposed as the beginning of the Civil Year was almost never considered the beginning of the Liturgical Year. The First Sunday of Advent has been considered the beginning of the liturgical year in the Roman Church only since the seventeenth century; in the Eastern Church it has been September 1 since 325.
The liturgical celebration of January 1 has an interesting history. The Gospel of the day has always been from the second chapter of Luke which describes the naming of Jesus at His circumcision. This day was called the Feast of the Circumcision by the sixth century in Spain and France, but was not officially added by that name to the Roman Calendar until 1570. The Roman liturgy has actually always celebrated it as the Eighth Day after Christmas, the Octave. The most important celebrations of the Church Calendar, Easter and Christmas, are actually eight days long, so that the Church can linger over the mystery and contemplate it in her prayer. The most salient element in the ancient Roman celebration of this day was not actually Christ, but Mary. In Rome, two masses were celebrated by the Pope, one for the Octave of Christmas, and one for the Mother of God in the Church of Saint Mary-across-the-Tiber. As the Marian character of the feast faded, a Feast of the Divine Maternity began to be celebrated. John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on this day in 1962, but Pope Paul VI proceeded to abolish it and reconstitute January 1 as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In his encyclical Marialis Cultus he writes, “This celebration, assigned to January 1 in conformity with the ancient liturgy of the city of Rome, is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the holy Mother . . . through whom we were found worthy . . . to receive the Author of life.”
Father Newman