The Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

 8 September

Did you know?

The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, nine months after the December 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne.

The circumstances of the Virgin Mary's infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the Bible, but other documents and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church.

Joachim and Anne (Mary’s parents) began to devote themselves extensively and rigorously to prayer and fasting, initially wondering whether their inability to conceive a child might signify God's displeasure with them.

As it turned out, however, the couple were to be blessed even more abundantly than Abraham and Sarah, as an angel revealed to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”

After Mary's birth, according to the Protoevangelium  (compound of two Greek words, protos meaning "first" and evangelion meaning "good news" or "gospel") of James, Anne “made a sanctuary” in the infant girl's room, and “allowed nothing common or unclean” on account of the special holiness of the child. The same writing records that when she was one year old, her father “made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel.”

“And Joachim brought the child to the priests,” the account continues, “and they blessed her, saying: 'O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations' . . . And he brought her to the chief priests, and they blessed her, saying: 'O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever.'”

The protoevangelium ( compound of two Greek words, protos meaning "first" and evangelion meaning "good news" or "gospel") goes on to describe how Mary's parents, along with the temple priests, subsequently decided that she would be offered to God as a consecrated Virgin for the rest of her life, and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.

Mini Vinnies

Earlier this term, the Mini Vinnies team held the annual St Vincent De Paul’s Winter Appeal where we raised over $400! Using that money and the generous donations of our school community we were able to make 34 care hampers and purchased 6 sleeping bags to support those people sleeping rough in our community. At our school assembly last week the Mini Vinnies team presented our donations on behalf of the school community to Kelly from St Vincent de Paul who was shocked at our generous donation and very grateful for GSFM’s continuous support. Thank you to our families for being so generous and helping those sleeping rough in our local community. 

Mrs Natalie Shelley 

Religious Education Coordinator