Chapter 9 

The Virgin Birth of the Virgin Mary 

The Virgin Mary's Real Birthday 

     Do you know my real birthday is August fifth? 

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    The Virgin Mary has appeared and spoken many times to the visionaries of Medjugorje. On one occasion 

she told them that her real birthday is August 5th. By this, she meant that she was actually born on August 5, 

even though the Church currently celebrates her birthday on September 8. At Medjugorje, the Virgin Mary 

also asked Christians to celebrate her birthday on August 5, and to fast for three days at that time.

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 It doesn't 

take a long and complex argument to determine the month and day of the Virgin Mary's birthday. I believe her 

own words, given at Medjugorje; Mary was born August 5. 

    Why does the Church currently celebrate the Virgin Mary's birthday on September 8? The Sept. 8 

celebration of Mary's birthday is placed 9 months after our celebration of her Immaculate Conception, in the 

current liturgical calendar. And the celebration of her Immaculate Conception, on Dec. 8, is the correct 

number of days from our celebration of Jesus' Birth, on Dec. 25. The current liturgical calendar places these 

holy days about the correct number of days apart from one another, but also about 1 month earlier than the 

events actually occurred. 

    Why are the dates in the liturgical calendar off from the true dates by about a month? Blessed Anne 

Catherine explains the answer this way:   The reason why the Church keeps the feast exactly a month later 

than the actual event is because at one time, when an alteration in the calendar was made, some days and 

seasons were completely omitted. 

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 Here she refers to the Birth of Christ, but she plainly states that other 

events, such as the Incarnation, also occurred one month earlier than their celebration in the liturgical 

calendar.

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    On which three days should Christians fast at the time of the Virgin Mary's birthday? At Lent, we fast to 

prepare our souls for the celebration of Christ s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We also fast on Good Friday 

in union with the sufferings of Christ on the Cross. We should fast before the Virgin Mary's birthday, so as to 

prepare our souls by self denial for that holy celebration. We should also fast on the day of the Virgin Mary's 

birthday, because self sacrifice is a holy offering presented to God through the Virgin Mary. The three days of 

fasting does not include the day after the Virgin's birthday, because that day is the Feast of the Transfiguration 

of the Lord in the Church's liturgical calendar. Therefore, the three days of fasting for the Virgin Mary's 

birthday should be August 3, 4, and 5. 

    August 5 is also the day celebrating the dedication of a basilica in Rome, Saint Mary Major Basilica (also 

called  Santa Maria Maggiore or Great St. Mary's). This basilica was founded in the fourth century, and 

restored in the fifth century, at which time it was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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 By the Providence 

of God and the guidance of God's Grace within the Church, the day given to us to celebrate the Virgin Mary's 

basilica in Rome is also the day on which the Virgin Mary was born, August 5. In this way, God brings the 

faithful to reflect upon the Virgin Mary on the true date of her birth. 

The Year of Mary's Birth 

    At Medjugorje, the Virgin Mary has appeared and spoken to six visionaries. The Virgin Mary told one of 

them, Ivan Dragicevic, that her 2000th birthday would occur on August 5 of 1984.

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 This day was celebrated 

with much joy, fasting, and conversion.

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 Does this mean that we can find the year of Mary's birth by 

counting back 2000 years (inclusive) from 1984?  No, the Virgin Mary was referring to the current liturgical 

calendar when she said that 1984 was her 2000th birthday. In the same way, when Christians talk about the 

year 2000 as the 2000th anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ, they do not necessarily think that Jesus was 

born in 1 

B.C.

 it is the 2000th anniversary according to the liturgical calendar. 

    The number system used for the years in the current Christian liturgical calendar was devised in the sixth 

century by an abbot named Dionysius Exiguus. He was a theologian with additional expertise in astronomy 

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