The Christophers: Honoring Jesus’ Beloved Mother

Fr. Ed Dougherty, M.M.,

he Christophers’ Board of Directors

_______

September 8th is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addition to Christmas and the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Nativity of Mary is the only other birth honored in the Church Calendar with a feast day. Saint Andrew of Crete gave his first recorded sermon on this feast day, saying, “Let there now be one common festal celebration in both heaven and on earth. Let everything now celebrate, that which is in the world and that beyond the world. Now is made the created temple for the Creator of all; and creation is readied into a new Divine habitation for the Creator.”

Saint Andrew was Archbishop of Crete in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. Mary’s birth had been celebrated as a feast day as early as the 6th century in Syria or Palestine, but its celebration had just reached Rome around the time of Saint Andrew of Crete’s ministry. So this was a relatively new feast, and Saint Andrew’s words highlight the theological importance Church leaders placed on honoring Mary in this special way.

The Feast of the Nativity of Mary began with the identification of the house in Jerusalem where Mary was born to Joachim and Anne, a devout couple who had been married for a long time without having a child. Tradition holds that Joachim withdrew to the desert to fast and pray, and it was during this time that angels appeared to both Joachim and Anne announcing they would conceive a child. The house where they lived and where Mary was born was near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem and also near a pagan shrine for healing, where infirm people would gather to bathe in the Pools of Bethesda, a place Christ visited to heal a man, as recounted in the Gospel of John.

It was in that place that a basilica was built in the 5th century. The basilica was partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 6th century, at which point it was dedicated to Mary in the first liturgical celebration commemorating her birth. Today, it is the site of the Church of Saint Anne, built in the 12th century and named after Anne in honor of Mary’s birth.

For a time, the Church of Saint Anne fell out of Christian control and was converted to a Muslim educational institution, but the building was gifted to France in 1856 and returned to its function as a Catholic church.

Adding to the geographical significance of the structure’s situation in the city, the Church of Saint Anne is very near the start of the Via Dolorosa, and its presence seems to recall the pain borne by both Mary and Jesus in His sacrifice for the world.

The Church of Saint Anne rose in honor of Christ and the birth of His mother, Mary, then fell into obscurity and disrepair only to be reborn in its current state, reflecting the mystery of the Resurrection at work in the world today. The sheep gate that was near the house where Anne gave birth to Mary foreshadows the many pilgrims who would pass through to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, the true shepherd, who fulfills the hope for healing once sought at the nearby pools in pagan times.

In being returned to its original function, the Church of Saint Anne serves as a reminder that all things will be restored in Christ, who answers the deepest longings of the human heart and will always see His beloved mother honored.

---

For free copies of the Christopher News Note THE SEVEN HEAVENLY VIRTUES, write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, NY 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org