[Illustration: ~Nativity B. V. M.~]
This Roman catholic festival is in the church of England calendar and
almanacs.
According to Butler and other Romish writers, “the title of the mother
of God was confirmed to the virgin Mary” by the traditions of their
church; and her nativity has been kept “above a thousand years,” with
matins, masses, homilies, collects, processions, and other forms and
ceremonies ordained by that hierarchy. Some of its writers “attribute
the institution of this feast to certain revelations which a religious
contemplative had; who, they say, every year upon the 8th of
_September_, heard most sweet music in heaven, with great rejoicings of
the angels; and once asking one of them the cause, he answered him, that
upon that day was celebrated in heaven the nativity of the mother of
God; and upon the relation of this man, the church began to celebrate it
on earth.”[311]