Saint of the Day, January 1

The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, celebrated on January 1, is the oldest and highest Marian feast of the Roman Rite. It proclaims the dogma defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431, which declared Mary to be Theotokos — God-bearer — against the Nestorian heresy that would have divided the one Christ into two persons. To call Mary Mother of God is to confess that her Son is true God and true man, one divine Person in two natures.