It is often difficult to reconstruct the lives of the saints, even though documents and sources that help us are often available; it is almost impossible to reconstruct the exact history of Jesus, the Madonna, and other figures in the Gospel. Although the Gospels themselves provide us with valuable information for reconstructing events, some parts of these figures’ lives are completely or almost completely omitted. Consider the hidden years of Jesus’ life, his childhood and youth, before he began preaching.
The Madonna’s Birthday
Even in the case of the Virgin Mary, it is difficult to reconstruct the events of her life after the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus, up to the foot of the cross on Calvary. Have you ever wondered when the Madonna’s birthday is? We know the figures of Saint Anne, Mary’s mother, and Saint Joachim, her father, but it is important to reflect on the Nativity of the Madonna herself, traditionally celebrated on September 8, because she was and remains over time the symbol of a renewed covenant between God and humanity, a new Eve who came to wash away original sin and carry Salvation for all in her own womb. This day also coincides with the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, built in the 4th century AD on the site where Mary’s parents’ home once stood. Here, even today, every year on September 8, the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land, the religious order that has overseen the promotion and spread of pilgrimages to the Holy Places since the beginning of the 13th century, celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Why August 5?
Why, then, do we sometimes hear August 5 referred to as the Madonna's birthday? For example, the Madonna della Neve is celebrated on August 5; she appeared on the night of August 4, 352 AD, to a Roman patrician named Giovanni and his wife and asked them to have a basilica built in her name at the place where it would snow the following day. Snow really did fall on the Esquiline Hill, and there, faithful to the promise they had made, Giovanni and his wife built what would become the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
The date of the Madonna's birthday revealed at Medjugorje
At Medjugorje, moreover, it was supposedly the Virgin herself who indicated August 5 to the visionaries as the date of her nativity, during the apparition of August 1, 1984, asking that three days of prayer and fasting be offered to her on that occasion: “On the coming August 5, let the second millennium of my birth be celebrated. On that day God allows me to grant you special graces and to give the world a special blessing. I ask you to prepare yourselves intensely with three days dedicated exclusively to me. Do not work during those days. Take your rosary and pray, fast on bread and water. Throughout all these centuries I have devoted myself completely to you: is it too much if I now ask you to dedicate at least three days to me?”
Always and only Jesus
So, when was Mary actually born? There is no certainty about the date and, in the end, knowing it is not all that decisive. What matters, rather, is remembering that, in Catholic tradition, Mary always leads us back to Jesus, and that the Virgin was born and lived to be his Mother. What matters is looking to Mary's example, turning to her with trust, and learning to savor the tenderness of a Mother who listens to and stays beside all her children, especially the poorest and most forgotten.
