Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
{{Short description|Catholic feast, 18 December}}
File:Virgen de la Expectación, Museo de Santa Cruz (Toledo).jpg
The Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ({{langx|es|Nuestra Señora de la Expectación}}) was a Catholic Feast that was originally celebrated in Spain, but started to be celebrated in other Catholic countries.{{CathEncy|wstitle=Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary}} It is not on the universal calendar, but is still commemorated on December 18 in some places such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland as well as in a few religious orders. The Dominicans honor Mary under the title of "Our Lady of the Expectation".[https://www.dominicanajournal.org/our-lady-of-the-expectation/ Davenport, Thomas. "Our Lady of the Expectation", Dominicana, December 18, 2015]
History
The feast owes its origin to the bishops of the tenth Council of Toledo, in 656.[http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/12/feast-of-the-expectation-of-th-1/ "Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary", Silverstream Priory] The accompanying of the expectant mother of Jesus became a prominent theme that spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Italy during the Middle Ages.[http://www.pastoralliturgy.org/resources/1209DeepeningAdventWideningTheCircle.php Manalo, Ricky. "Deepening Advent, Widening the Circle: Celebrating Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi", Pastoral Liturgy] A High Mass was sung at a very early hour each morning during the octave, and it became customary that all who were with child would attend, that they might honor Our Lady's Maternity, and seek a blessing upon themselves.[http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/O_Antiphons/Gueranger-Antiphons/expectation_of_the_blessed_v.htm Guéranger, O.S.B., Prosper Louis Paschal. The Liturgical Year, Vol. 1, Advent. (Trans. by Laurence Shepherd), Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1948, pp. 488-90] "The feast heightens the anticipation of Christmas and makes the last few days of Advent unique opportunities to meditate on what Mary must have been pondering in her heart."[https://aleteia.org/2017/12/18/a-feast-that-ponders-what-mary-felt-in-the-final-days-before-christs-birth/ Kosloski, Philip. "A feast that ponders what Mary felt in the final days before Christ’s birth", Aleteia, December 17, 2017] It is sometimes joined with a novena beginning on December 16 and ending on Christmas Eve.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
- {{catholic|wstitle=Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary}}
External links
- [https://brightonoratory.org/2017/12/18/carissimi-todays-mass-feast-of-the-expectation-of-the-bvm/ Liturgical readings for the feast - The Brighton Oratory]
{{Subject bar |portal1= Bible |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Christianity}}