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MARY, LITURGICAL VENERATION
OF
. Although they all originated in the East and were instituted in Rome in the course of the
7th century, the four great Marian feasts of the church year were well on their way to
being firmly established by the late 8th century in what is now modern France: the Feast
of the Purification, February 2; the Annunciation, March 25; the Assumption, August 15;
and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, September 8. January 1, the Feast of the
Circumcision and the Octave of Christmas, was also a day for Marian veneration.
Already by the 8th century, Ordines romani XV and XX testify that an elaborate
procession for the Purification was known north of the Alps. Processional antiphons sung
at the three other major feasts in manuscripts from the 9th and 10th centuries prove that
these feasts had processions, as well as a repertory of chant texts, prayers, and readings.
The series of four seasonal Marian antiphons sung regularly at Compline from the 13th
century were taken from the repertory of elaborate antiphons composed to frame the
performance of of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55), sung at Vespers to a series of tones.
Increasing Marian devotion from the 9th century led also to a greater number of
celebrations in her honor: major Marian feasts came to be celebrated with Vigils and
Octaves, and a votive Mass for the Virgin was instituted in most places for Saturdays
throughout the year. With the founding of Cluny and the establishment of an ever larger
network of affiliated houses during the 10th century, it became traditional to celebrate a
commemorative Office of the Virgin on Saturdays, in conjunction with her Mass, so that
Saturday, from first Vespers on Friday until Compline on Saturday evening, was
consecrated to the Blessed Virgin in monasteries throughout France. Ordinals and
customaries from the 11th century reveal the adoption of the “Little Office of the Virgin”
as well, which included a full cycle of hours and was said each day, alongside the opus
Dei. During this same period, great numbers of hymns, tropes, and sequences were
composed for upgraded Marian feasts, embodying a history of the rise of Mary’s cult in
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