http://katolikongpinoy.org/why-do-we-celebrate-mama-marys-birthday.html

From Saint Alphonsus Liguori's The Glories of Mary:

Discourse o the Birth of Mary 

Men usually celebrate the birth of their children with great feasts and rejoicings; but they should rather pity them, and show signs of mourning and grief on reflecting that they are born, not only deprived of grace and reason, but worse than this--they are infected with sin and are children of wrath, and therefore condemned to misery and death. It is indeed right, however, to celebrate with festivity and universal joy the birth of our infant Mary; for she first saw the light of this World a babe, it is true, in point of age, but great in merit and virtue. Mary was born a saint, and a great saint. But to form an idea of the greatness of her sanctity, even at this early period, we must consider, first, the greatness of the first grace with which God enriched her; and secondly, the greatness of her fidelity in immediately corresponding to it.
To begin with the first point, it is certain that Mary's soul was the most beautiful that God had ever created; nay more, after the work of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, this was the greatest and most worthy of Himself than an omnipotent God ever did in the world. St. Peter Damian calls it "a work only surpassed by God." Hence it follows that divine grace did not come into Mary by drops as in other saints, but like rain on the fleece, as it was foretold by David. The soul of Mary was like fleece, and imbibed the whole shower of grace, without losing a drop. St. Basil of Seleucia says, "that the holy Virgin was full of grace, because she was elected and pre-elected by God, and the Holy Spirit was about to take full possession of her." Hence she said, by the lips of Ecclesiasticus, My abode is in the full assembly of saints; that is, as St. Bonaventure explains it, "I hold in plenitude all that other saints have held in part." And St. Vincent Ferrer, speaking particularly of the sanctity of Mary before her birth, says "that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified" (surpassed in sanctity) "in her mother's womb above all saints and angels."

http://www.christorchaos.com/MariaBambina2006.htm
                               
 Prayer to Infant Mary

Sweet Child Mary, destined to be the Mother of God and our sovereign and loving Mother, by the prodigies of grace you lavish upon us, mercifully listen to my humble supplications. In the needs which press upon me from every side and especially in my present tribulation, I place all my trust in you.
O Holy Child, by the privileges granted to you alone and by the merits which you have acquired, be merciful to me this day. Show that the source of spiritual favours and the continuous benefits which you dispense are inexhaustible, because your power with the Heart of God is unlimited. Deign through the immense profusion of graces with which the Most High has enriched you from the first moment of your Immaculate Conception, grant me, O Celestial Child, my petition, and I shall eternally praise the goodness of your Heart.

Novena for the Nativity of Our Lady starts on August 31

                             http://catholicism.about.com/b/2013/09/08/the-virgin-marys-birthday.htm
Just a week remains to wish our Mother, "Happy Birthday". Mary, our Mother is "Cause of our Joy" 

SEPTEMBER 8th The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady,Mother of God, and Ever-Virgin Mary. 

Troparion, tone 4: Thy birth, O Mother of God, has brought joy to all the world; for from thee arose the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, Who, having dissolved the curse, has given His blessing, and having abolished death, has granted us life eternal.

Kontakion, tone 4: Joakim and Anna were freed from the reproach of childlessness and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, O Immaculate One, by thy holy nativity. And thy people, redeemed from the guilt of sin, celebrate thy birth by crying to thee: The barren woman gives birth to the Mother of God and the nurse of our life.
http://www.liturgies.net/Prayers/Orthodox/tropariaandkontakiafeastdays.htm

                    http://www.passionistnuns.org/Saints/BirthBVM/index.htm
 from The Divine Office – Matins (Morning Prayer)

Thy birth, O Virgin Mother of God,
heralded joy to all the world.
For from thou hast risen the Sun of justice,
Christ our God.
Destroying the curse, He gave blessing;
and damning death, He bestowed on us
life everlasting.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
For from thou hast risen the Sun of justice,
Christ our God.

Novena for the Nativity of Our Lady
The following Novena is prayed from August 31 through September 8, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Novena was approved well before Vatican II: Nihil Obstat: Iacobus P. King, I.C.D. Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur: Bryan Iosephus McEntegart, D.D., LL.D. Episcopus Bruklyniensis http://www.dailycatholic.org/sepdevo.htm#nativitybvm1

Day One: August 31

V. O God, come to my assistance
R. O Lord, make haste to help me Gloria Patri... Heavenly Child, lovable Mary, the Eternal Father delights in thy birth, for He beholds in thy coming into this world one of His creatures who is so perfect that she will become the worthy Mother of His divine Son. May thy birth give joy to my soul also, by obtaining for me from the heavenly Father, the pardon of my sins, and an abiding sorrow for them.
Hail Mary... Antiphon: Your Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, was the herald of joy to the whole world; since from thine arose the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, who, destroying the curse, bestowed the blessing, and confounding death, rewarded us with life everlasting.V. Let us celebrate with joy the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
R. That she may intercede for us with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray Grant to us Thy servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gift of Thy heavenly grace, that as our salvation was begun in the child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin, so from this solemn festival of her Nativity may we obtain an increase of peace. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

O Gloriosa Domina -The Favourite Hymn of St.Anthony

O Gloriosa Domina
O Heaven's Glorious Mistress

                                http://militiaimmaculatae.wordpress.com/tag/st-anthony-of-padua/

This hymn  was a favorite of St. Anthony of Padua. Tradition has it that it was sung by St. Anthony's mother when he was an infant. It was such a favorite of St. Anthony, that it was constantly on his lips during his life and he sang it at his death. Here is the English translation of the hymn.

O HEAVEN'S glorious mistress,
enthron'd above the starry sky!
thou feedest with thy sacred breast
thy own Creator, Lord most high.

What man had lost in hapless Eve,
thy sacred womb to man restores,
thou to the wretched here beneath
hast open'd Heaven's eternal doors.

Hail, O refulgent Hall of light!
Hail Gate august of Heaven's high King!
through thee redeem'd to endless life,
thy praise let all the nations sing.

To the Father and the Spirit
and to thy Son all glory be,
who with a wonderous garment
of graces encircled thee. Amen.

Translation by R. F. Littledale and others

.http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/BVM/OGloriosa.html

St.Francis Assissi's Prayer to Holy Mother

                 Prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi

                                 

http://sicsempertyrannisjmj.blogspot.in/2012/10/feast-of-saint-francis-of-assisi-3rd.html  http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2013/12/21/fresh-look-francesco-vanni-highlights-artist-naturalism-narrative-clarity-devotion/jatHCy4ugkUuyprzqCOR1L/story.html 

For St. Francis the Blessed Virgin Mary was Mother, Advocate and Queen. St. Bonaventure bears witness that St. Francis honored Her as Mother, when he says: "He loved with an unspeakable affection the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, forasmuch as that She had made the Lord of glory our Brother, and that through Her we have obtained mercy." (Leg. Mai. IX,3) For who can make the Lord our Brother, if She not also be our Mother? And again, this Doctor of the Church recounts that even before his perfect conversion the Seraphic Father had devotion for Her as Queen, for speaking of the Portiuncula, he says: "When the man of God beheld it thus abandoned, by reason of the ardent devotion that he had toward the Sovereign Lady of the world, he took up abode there, that he might diligently labor to repair it." (Leg. Mai II,8).http://www.franciscan-archive.org/patriarcha/mdevot.html

Holy Virgin Mary, there is none like you among women born in the world. Daughter and handmaid of the heavenly Father, the almighty King, Mother of our most high Lord Jesus Christ, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us to your most holy Son, our Lord and Master.
Hail holy Lady, most noble Queen, Mother of God, and Mary ever Virgin. You were chosen by the heavenly Father, who has been pleased to honor you with the presence of his most holy Son and the Divine Paraclete.
You were blessed with the fullness of grace and goodness. Hail, Temple of God, his dwelling place, his masterpiece, his handmaid. Hail, Mother of God, I venerate you for the holy virtues that -- through the grace and light of the Holy Spirit -- you bring into the hearts of your devoted ones to change them from unfaithful Christians to faithful children of God. Amen.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/prayers/marian-prayers/prayer-by-saint-francis-of-assisi/

Madonna with St Francis and St John the Evangelist, Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Lorenzetti

              

Sedes Sapientiae, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

                          Pope John Paul II in 2000 commissioned Jesuit artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik SJ to make the icon, the Sedes Sapientiae, entrusted to students around the globe to inspire them to bring Christianity to life in their universities. More recently, sedes sapientiae is for example the motto of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.       
Seal of the university

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universit%C3%A9_catholique_de_Louvain

  In Leuven, Belgium, one finds the Church of Saint Peter and in the left aisle of the church, among several art treasures, a wooden sculpture of the Madonna can be seen. This Madonna is called the'Sedes Sapientiae' (Seat of wisdom) and is the symbol of the University of Leuven. It was sculpted in 1442 by De Bruyne.   http://mcitl.blogspot.in/2008_12_01_archive.html                        

 Father Marko Ivan Rupnik SJ Sedes Sapientiae  2000Mosaic: marble and ceramic with gilt
http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.in/2011/10/sedes-sapientiae.html


                                             http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/991819.Love_Of_Eternal_Wisdom

"The greatest means of all, and the most wonderful of all secrets for obtaining and preserving divine Wisdom is a loving and genuine devotion to the Blessed Virgin."
THE LOVE OF ETERNAL WISDOM St. Louis de Montfort 

According to St. Louis de Montfort we need to acquire knowledge of Divine Wisdom in order to obtain everlasting life. "The Saint explains 4 means by which we can attain Wisdom:

1. Ardent desire, fostered by keeping of the Commandments;
2. Persevering prayer;
3. Universal mortification;
4. The last and greatest means of all, the most wonderful of all secrets for obtaining and keeping of Divine Wisdom, a tender and true devotion to the Blessed Mary.

In the Loreto Litany we invoke Mary as the Seat of Wisdom.Our Lady is the Seat of Wisdom because She was the only crated being, who knew and loved God most. The Gospel tells us: She pondered all things and kept them in Her Heart.                

 http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/prayers/sedessapientiae.html

 “Mary is,” St. Louis says, “the secret magnet."...“Wherever she is, she draws Eternal Wisdom so powerfully that He cannot resist. …Once we possess Mary we shall easily and in a short time possess Divine Wisdom through her intercession. Of all the means to possess Jesus Christ, Mary is the surest, the easiest, the shortest way and the holiest.
“And the best way to belong entirely to Mary is, so to speak, to take Mary into our house by consecrating ourselves unreservedly to her as her servants and slaves. To surrender into her hands all we possess. And then, this good Mistress, who never allows herself to be outdone in liberality, will give herself to us, in an incomprehensible but real manner, and then Eternal Wisdom will come to dwell in her as in His glorious throne room.”

 Christ, Wisdom Incarnate,  is seated on the lap of His Blessed Mother.Hence Mary is the throne from which Christ rules the universe.
She is also the “Lady Wisdom” prefigured in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Proverb..  She is Lady Wisdom by virtue of her role as Theotokos; she bore Christ in her womb and upon her lap.

 Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

http://www.stpeterslist.com/9744/the-24-theses-of-st-thomas-aquinas-with-citations-and-commentary/     

Student's Prayer to OUR LADY OF STUDIES (By St. Thomas Aquinas) http://www.seatofwisdom.net/prayer10.htm

O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, so many persons of common intellect have made through your intercession admirable progress in their studies. I hereby choose you as my guardian and patron of my studies. I humbly ask you to obtain for me the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that from now on I can understand more quickly, retain more readily, and express myself more fluently. May the example of my life serve to honor you and your Son, Jesus. Amen.                                 -St. Thomas Aquinas prayer taken from Pure Faith Jason Evert 107

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicolas_Froment_003.jpg

God spoke to the Prophets: we have His communications to them in Scripture. But He spoke to them in figure and parable. There was one, viz., Moses, to whom He vouchsafed to speak face to face. "If there be among you a prophet of the Lord," God says, "I will appear to him in a vision, and I will speak to him in a dream. But it is not so with my servant Moses. . . For I will speak to him mouth to mouth, and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord." This was the great privilege of the inspired Lawgiver of the Jews; but how much was it below that of Mary! Moses had the privilege only now and then, from time to time; but Mary for thirty continuous years saw and heard Him, being all through that time face to face with Him, and being able to ask Him any question which she wished explained, and knowing that the answers she received were from the Eternal God, who neither deceives nor can be deceived.
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom; pray for us.
Taken from the book "The Mystical Rose" (Thoughts on the Blessed Virgin from the writings of Cardinal J. H. Newman) St. Paul Publications 1955 http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/SEATWISD.HTM

                                      

The feast of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, our patronal feast, is observed on June 8th.  The title of Mary as ‘Seat of Wisdom’ is an ancient one, traced back liturgically to the twelfth century, when we find prayers to the Virgin as the ‘Mother of Wisdom’, the ‘fountain of Wisdom’ and, of course, the ‘Seat of Wisdom’.  She is seen not only as the Mother of Christ, Who is Wisdom Incarnate, but also as the prototypical ‘wise Virgin’ herself, who ‘kept all these words in her heart’, in order to ‘teach, recount, and proclaim them to the world’ (cf.,Sacramentary for Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary).http://www.seatofwisdom.org/lady-seat-wisdom-pray-us/

St. Ignatius of Loyola, Knight of Mary

   

"Mary's sorrow was less when she saw her only Son crucified, than it is now at the sight of men offending Him by sin."- St.Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Ignatius Loyola constantly wore an image of the Sorrowful Mother on his bosom, and venerated her with tender devotion.
 http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/sorrows1a.htm

                              

Sanctuary of Loyola, in Azpeitia, built over St. Ignatius' birthplace in Spain.    http://www.ignatiusofloyola.net/

    Ignatius had his conversion vision of Mary in a Hospital near the family castle in Loyola.   

  T
The great Spanish knight Ignatius of Loyola underwent a spectacular conversion to God while he was recuperating from wounds received in battle.      http://iveignatianexercises.org/site/dbpage.asp?page_id=180000188&sec_id=180000384      

Vision of Mary (diorama)1521

                              http://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/jesuit-a-z/Mary,-the-Hidden-Catalyst-Reflections-from-an-Ignatian-Pilgrimage-to-Spain-and-Rome.cfm

Recuperating from war wound
"He saw clearly a likeness of Our Lady with the Holy Child Jesus... (from which) he received a very extraordinary consolation."

 Eventually, completely converted from his old desires and plans of romance and worldly conquests, and recovered from his wounds enough to travel, he left Loyola in March of 1522.
He had decided to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent His life on earth. His journey led him first to Barcelona. He first proceeded to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, made a general confession, and knelt all night in vigil before Our Lady's altar, following the rites of chivalry. He left his sword and knife at the altar, went out and gave away all his fine clothes to a poor man, and dressed himself in rough clothes with sandals and a staff.

                          
http://www.catholictradition.org/ignatius.htm          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_Montserrat

The miraculous statue of the Black Madonna (La Moreneta) the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat.

Since the 12th century, pilgrims have been drawn to the mountain to venerate this image.The thirty-eight inch statue shows evidence of Byzantine conventional and stylized form, and is painted in polychrome. The art historical designation for this type of pose is called "Throne of Wisdom". The body is thin, the face elongated. She holds an orb of the earth in her right hand. The Child's hand is raised in a formalized and traditional Eastern blessing

MANRESA
He continued on to Barcelona, stopping along the river Cardoner at a town called Manresa. He stayed in a cave outside the town, intending to linger only a few days, but he remained for ten months. He spent hours each day in prayer and also worked in a hospice. It was while here that the ideas for what are now known as the Spiritual Exercises began to take shape.

At Manresa God treated Ignatius as a schoolboy and stamped indelible mystical visions of the Trinity and Jesus’ humanity and Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist into Ignatius.

 

Ignatius writing the Spiritual Exercises in the cave at Manresa with the Manresa bridge and the Montserrat mountains in the background. 

http://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/jesuit-a-z/Mary,-the-Hidden-Catalyst-Reflections-from-an-Ignatian-Pilgrimage-to-Spain-and-Rome.cfm

He spent part of 1523 and 1524 in the Holy Land.

Ignatius went to Paris to study. During these student days Ignatius gathered a body of mystical men around him who were united by love of Christ and each other.On August 15th 1534 in Paris, Ignatius and his first companions took private vows of poverty and chastity.
             http://norprov.org/spirituality/lifeofignatius.htm 

It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students (Xavier was the hardest nut to crack, interested as he was mainly in worldly success and honors), directing them all at one time or another for thirty days in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises.

 On June 24th1537 Ignatius and other companions were ordained though they did not celebrate their First Mass for a long time afterwards. During his time preparing for priesthood he received many spiritual visions and supernatural visitations and deep assurances from God about certain matters.

 
St. Ignatius,Vision at the Chapel of La Storta

Icon by William McNichols.http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/andre/ignatius_trinity.html

Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, "I will be favorable to you in Rome" and that He would place him (Ignatius) with His Son.

 In the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome during Christmas 1538 he celebrated his First Mass. In Rome he taught the Spiritual Exercises. During his time in Rome his mystical life reached its maturity.

Madonna Della Strada or Santa Maria Della Strada — the Italian for Our Lady of the Way, or Our Lady of the Road — is the name of a late 15th or 16th century image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.This was the image before which Ignatius prayed at the church of Our Lady of the Way in Rome. It is now in the Church of the Gesù. The feast of Our Lady of the Way (24th May) was restored to the Jesuit liturgical calendar in 2014.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome) - statue of the Holy Mary 'Ave Regina Pacis' 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SM_Maggiore,_Roma_fc06.jpg

Our Lady of the Angels, Santa Maria degli Angeli Portiuncula /Porziuncola

                                              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Santa_Maria_degli_Angeli

The Portiuncula (Porziuncola) is an ancient church dedicated to Mary under the title Our Lady of the Angels and is located in Assisi, Italy.The Porziuncola is the place where Franciscanism developed, and where Saint Francis lived and died .Shrine of the Porziuncola is situated now inside the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in the town of the same name around 5 km from Assisi.

It was a spot very dear to the heart of Saint Francis.St. Francis repaired three chapels. The third was popularly called the Portiuncula or the Little Portion.

The chapel, of antique construction and venerated for the apparition of Angels within it, belonged to the Benedictine monks of Subasio. It was on a piece of land called "Portiuncula" and later, the name of the land passed to the little church itself.It was abandoned for a long time and was restored by Saint Francis. It was here that he understood his vocation clearly and here that he founded the Order of the Friars Minor (1209) "establishing here his home", St. Bonaventure tells us, "because of his reverence for the angels, and of his great love of the Mother of Christ" to whom the little church was dedicated. The land and the Chapel were gifted to him by the Benedictines for making it the centre of his new religious family.

On 28 March, 1211 Clare, daughter of Favarone di Offreduccio received her religious habit here from the hands of Saint Francis and so initiated the Order of the Poor Clares.
In 1216, in a vision, St Francis obtained from Jesus himself the Indulgence of the Pardon of Assisi that was approved by Pope Honorius III. This plenary indulgence may ordinarily be gained on August 2 and 15; pilgrims may gain it once a year on any day of the year.

 http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/archive/stfrancis/stf_portuncula_lady_of_the_angels.htm

And, in 1216, Francis had a vision in the little chapel in which he was granted the "Pardon of Assisi." As he prayed, a light filled the chapel and he saw above the altar Christ, the Virgin Mary and a company of angels. They asked him what he wanted for the salvation of souls, and Francis replied:
The request was granted based on Francis' worthiness, and the indulgence was officially approved by Pope Honorius III.
Nearby, in the humble cell now known as the Cappella del Transito, St. Francis died October 3, 1226.

  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/assisi-santa-maria-degli-angeli

The following is an excerpt from the Major Life of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure.)

" The Portiuncula was an old church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God which was abandoned . Francis had great devotion to the Queen of the world and when he saw that the church was deserted, he began to live there constantly in order to repair it. He heard that the Angels often visited it, so that it was called Saint Mary of the Angels, and he decided to stay there permanently out of reverence for the angels and love for the Mother of Christ.

He loved this spot more than any other in the world. It was here he began his religious life in a very small way; it is here he came to a happy end. When he was dying, he commended this spot above all others to the friars, because it was most dear to the Blessed Virgin.

This was the place where Saint Francis founded his Order by divine inspiration and it was divine providence which led him to repair three churches before he founded the Order and began to preach the Gospel.

This meant that he progressed from material things to more spiritual achievements, from lesser to greater, in due order, and it gave a prophetic indication of what he would accomplish later.

As he was living there by the church of Our Lady, Francis prayed to her who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently and with tears to become his advocate. Then he was granted the true spirit of the Gospel by the intercession of the Mother of mercy and he brought it to fruition.

He embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of majesty our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his friars."

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels

In the middle of the large Basilica, the little Porziuncola shines with simplicity. Francis repaired it with his own hands in 1207. A little later, on February 24th, 1208, Mass was celebrated there and Francis heard a decisive call during the reading of the Gospel.

                                                   http://www.psalmos.com/english/html/porziuncola.html
                                                  
 Prayer to Our Lady of the Angels

You are fair, O Mary,
And the stain of original sin is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem;
You are the joy of Israel;
You are the honor of our people;
You are the advocate of sinners, O Mary
Our Lady of the Angels,
Virgin most prudent,
Mother Most loving,
Pray for us,
Intercede for us with Jesus Christ our Lord.
(mention your request)
AMEN.

Salutation Of The Blessed Virgin
( by Saint Francis of Assisi )
Hail Holy Lady most holy Queen,
Mary Mother of God.
Chosen by the Father in heaven
consecrated by Him.
With His most beloved Son and
Holy Spirit comforter,
On you descended and still remains
fullness of grace
And every good.
Hail His palace and His robe,
Mary Mother of God.
Hail His handmaid lowely and pure,
Loving servant of the Lord.
Hail holy virtues given by God
to all the faithful in the world,
So that no longer we faithless be,
And may become the
servants of the Lord. - AMEN