The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, our Lady's greatest title. This feast is the octave of Christmas. In the modern Roman Calendar only Christmas and Easter enjoy the privilege of an octave. Before the Calendar was reformed this was the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord.
Like the Churches of the East, Rome wished to honor the Virgin Mother of God during the days after Christmas. As a result the ("Anniversary of St. Mary") made its appearance on January 1 in the seventh century; it has accurately been called "the first Marian feast of the Roman liturgy." — The Church at Prayer
The old liturgy celebrated three feasts in one. The first was that which the old Roman sacramentaries called "the octave of the Lord", and indeed the greater part of the Mass was of the octave of Christmas with many extracts from the Masses of Christmas. Various portions of the Mass and Office celebrated the divine maternity of Mary. The third feast was that of the Circumcision which has been celebrated since the sixth century.
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In the last part of the 5th Century, after the Council of Ephesus (431) the feast of the Mother of God, appeared in many places. Although its date varied, Rome celebrated the feast on January 1, eight days (octave) after Christmas. This feast celebrated Mary being the Mother of God. It was not until the middle of the 7th century that this feast appeared in the West.
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