Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Butler's Lives of the Saints states,
"The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary announced joy and the near approach of salvation to the lost world. Mary was brought forth in the world not like other children of Adam, infected with the loathsome contagion of sin, but pure, holy, beautiful, and glorious, adorned with all the most precious graces which became her who was chosen to be the Mother of God. She appeared indeed in the weak state of our mortality; but in the eyes of Heaven she already transcended the highest seraph in purity, brightness, and the richest ornaments of grace. If we celebrate the birthdays of the great ones of this earth, how ought we to rejoice in that of the Virgin Mary, presenting to God the best homage of our praises and thanksgiving for the great mercies He has shown in her, and imploring her mediation with her Son in our behalf! Christ will not reject the supplications of His mother, whom He was pleased to obey whilst on earth. Her love, care, and tenderness for Him, the title and qualities which she bears, the charity and graces with which she is adorned, and the crown of glory with which she is honored, must incline Him readily to receive her recommendations and petitions."
In honor of such a great feast, Our Lady's birth, the following novena may be recited from August 30 through September 7, the vigil of her birthday.
+ + + + +
Novena to Maria Bambina (Child Mary)
Queen of the angels, Mother of grace and love,
I greet thee with all my heart.
Obtain for me the grace to love the Lord faithfully during
all the days of my life. Obtain for me, too, a great devotion
to thee, who are the first creature of God's love.
(Hail Mary)
O heavenly Child Mary, who like a pure dove was born
immaculate and beautiful, true prodigy of the wisdom of
God, my soul rejoices in thee. Oh! Do help me to preserve
the angelic virtue of purity at the cost of any sacrifice.
(Hail Mary)
Hail, lovely and holy Child, spiritual garden of delight, where,
on the day of the Incarnation, the tree of life was planted,
assist me to avoid the poisonous fruit of vanity and pleasures of the world.
Help me to engraft into my soul the thoughts, feelings,
and virtues of thy Divine Son.
(Hail Mary)
Hail, admirable Child Mary, Mystical Rose, closed garden,
open only to the heavenly Spouse. O Lily of paradise,
make me love the humble and hidden life;
let the heavenly Spouse find the gate of my heart always open
to the loving calls of His graces and inspiration.
(Hail Mary)
Holy Child Mary, mystical dawn, gate of heaven,
thou art my trust and hope.
O powerful advocate, from thy cradle stretch out thy hand,
support me on the path of life.
Make me serve God with ardor and
constancy until death and so reach an eternity with thee.
(Hail Mary)
Blessed Child Mary, destined to be the Mother of God and our loving Mother,
by the heavenly graces thou dost lavish upon us, mercifully listen to my supplications.
In the needs which press upon me from every side and especially in my present tribulation,
I place all my trust in thee.
O holy Child, by the privileges granted to thee alone and by the merits which thou hast acquired,
show that the source of spiritual favors and the continuous benefits which thou dispense are inexhaustible, because thy power with the Heart of God is unlimited.
Deign through the immense profusion of graces with which the Most High
has enriched thee from the first moment of thy Immaculate Conception,
grant me, O Celestial Child, my petition, and I shall eternally praise the goodness of thy Immaculate Heart. Amen.
In addition to the beautiful novena above, the following prayer, penned by St. Anselm, provides a fitting devotion to Our Lady on the Feast of her Nativity.
In Honor of Mary's Nativity
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies, and against the enemy of the whole human race.Give me strength humbly to pray to thee. Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers, through the merits of thy most sacred nativity, which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.
When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin, then was the world made light.
Happy is thy stock, holy thy root, and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit, didst merit to conceive thy God, as a virgin to bear Thy God, as a virgin to bring Him forth, and after His birth to remain a virgin.
Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner, and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity, glorious from the seed of Abraham, sprung from the tribe of Juda, illustrious from the stock of David, didst announce joy to the entire world, so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.
Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.
O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily, pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner. Amen.
--St. Anselm
God bless!
+JMJ+
