Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

History

The feast owes its origin to the bishops of the tenth Council of Toledo, in 656. The accompanying of the expectant mother of Jesus became a prominent theme that spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Italy during the Middle Ages. 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. "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." It is sometimes joined with a novena beginning on December 16 and ending on Christmas Eve.

References

References

1. {{CathEncy
2. [https://www.dominicanajournal.org/our-lady-of-the-expectation/ Davenport, Thomas. "Our Lady of the Expectation", ''Dominicana'', December 18, 2015]
3. [http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/12/feast-of-the-expectation-of-th-1/ "Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary", Silverstream Priory]
4. [http://www.pastoralliturgy.org/resources/1209DeepeningAdventWideningTheCircle.php Manalo, Ricky. "Deepening Advent, Widening the Circle: Celebrating Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi", ''Pastoral Liturgy'']
5. [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]
6. [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]