January 1
Mary, Mother of God, Roman Catholic Church
The Church upheld this title of Mary at the Council of Ephesus in 431, where St. Cyril proclaimed in Greek, "Emmanuel is
very God, and ... therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Θεοτóκος,
Theotokos, God-Bearer)" to
condemn the teachings of Nestorius, who held that Mary bore Jesus' human body only, not his divinity. As usual, Church decrees lag far behind popular practice; the fact that
Christians already did revere the Virgin as Mother of God was part of Cyril's argument. But as yet there was no Christian feast day to honor her thus. Julius Caesar's calendar
reform of 46 BC had set January 1 as the start of the civil year. A commemoration of Natale Sanctae Mariae (Anniversary of Mary), celebrated August 15 in
Jerusalem around 650, is said to have been observed on January 1 in Rome around that time. The Catholic church year begins with Advent, four weeks before Christmas. January 1 is a week after
Christmas, its "octave" in liturgy and the day the child Jesus would have been circumcised and named in accordance with Jewish custom. Roman Catholics observed January 1
as the Octave of Christmas or the Feast of the Circumcision until the reforms of Vatican II, which took effect January 1, 1970, Solemnity of the Mother of God and World Day of
Peace.
Icon of the Mother of God by Ada Bethune, silkscreen on wood, c1964, from The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery exhibit Women - Liturgical & Religious Art, www.stkate.edu/gallery/
Also celebrated this date:
 | Madonna della Divina Provvidenza, Kabul, Afghanistan. Chapel at Italian Embassy inaugurated January 1, 1933. |
| Virgen del Amparo, Chinavita, Boyacá, Colombia (Virgin of Refuge). Romería. |
| Virgen de la Nube, Azogues, Cañar, Ecuador (Virgin of the Cloud). Annual two-mile procession. |
| Virgen de La Merced, Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala (January 1-6). Fiesta. |
| Our Lady of the Milk, Bethlehem, Palestine. Mass and procession with icon at Milk Grotto, where Mary is said to have nursed Jesus. |