"The hope of the entire world and the dawn of salvation."  (Lumen Gentium, 55)   Besides Christmas, only two birthdays are celebrated in the Church’s liturgical calendar, that of John the Baptist on June 24, and the birth of Our Lady, on September 8.   The reason for this is that these two saints, are figures of singular importance in Salvation History. Their coming into the world heralds the arrival of the Word’s dwelling among men and the redemption of the fallen human race.   “Mary's birth lies at the confluence of the two Testaments--bringing to an end the stage of expectation and the promises and inaugurating the new times of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ (LG, 55).”   “Mary, the Daughter of Zion and ideal personification of Israel, is the last and most worthy representative of the People of the Old Covenant but at the same time she is "the hope and the dawn of the whole world." With her, the elevated Daughter of Zion, after a long expectation of the promises, the times are fulfilled and a new economy is established. (LG, 55)   The feast of the Nativity of Mary originated in the Middle East in the sixth or seventh century and was included in the Roman calendar in the eighth. It is celebrated exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/catholicnewsagency/saintoftheday/~4/kmr6npWdUws" height="1" width="1"/>