History of Annunciation Day
Annunciation, by Leonardo da Vinci. Image: Wikipedia
History of Annunciation Day
Annunciation Day or the Feast of the Annunciation is a commemoration of the visit by the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
March 25 marks the celebration, unless it falls on either:
- Holy Week (the week starting with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday) or
- Easter Week, sometimes used interchangeably with Holy Week, but more precisely, the week that includes Easter Sunday.
Otherwise, Annunciation Day, or Lady Day, is postponed to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.
Who observes this holiday, what’s the biblical origin, and how is it related to a famous prayer?
Worldwide Observance
The Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated universally across Christianity. Catholic and some of the more liturgical Protestant churches (Lutheran, Anglican) observe it.
The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox churches also celebrate it, though not on a floating date.
Biblical Origin
Annunciation, by Fra Filippo Lippi. Image: Wikipedia
The salutation by Gabriel, one of three angels mentioned in the New Testament, as I discussed in my article on angels, is found in the Gospel of Luke, starting in Chapter 1, verse 28, as found in the King James Version:
“Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women.”
This holiday is also called Conceptio Christi, Latin for “Christ’s Conception.”
Significantly, this feast falls precisely 9 months before the birth of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated on December 25, Christmas Day.
Historical Observance
The observance of the Feast of the Annunciation goes back to the fifth or sixth century. Indeed, the 692 Council of Constantinople, under Justinian II, decreed that no other feast could be celebrated during Lent except Sunday and Annunciation Day.
Before the Roman calendar reform of two millennia ago, the beginning of the year was celebrated in March. Both the Babylonian and Roman calendars began around the Spring Equinox. As a result of the Babylonian Captivity, even the Hebrew calendar shifted its beginning to this time, with the Passover festival.
As I’ve written about before, in early modern England, the divisions of the fiscal year are marked by four “quarter days.”
- March 25: Annunciation Day
- June 24: Midsummer Day / St. John the Baptist Day
- September 29: Michaelmas Day
- December 25: Christmas Day
Hail Mary
Angelico Annunciation, in the San Marco North Corridor. Image: Wikipedia
Not to be confused with the current blockbuster movie at the time of this writing, Project Hail Mary, the term “Hail Mary” is the first line of the “Hail Mary” prayer.
The Western Church began to use Latin after the Common Greek used since the time of Alexander the Great fell into disuse. Around the late 4th Century, Jerome compiled the Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible.
You may know this line from the Vulgate Bible:
Ave Maria, gratia plena
…usually translated as “Hail Mary, full of grace.”
However, the original Greek version of the New Testament is
χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη
which gives a different sense when translated into English:
Greetings, O favored one. (or God’s grace is upon you.)
This was the salutation by Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth, announcing that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ:
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33)
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
