Celebrate the “Day of the Unborn Child”
on the March 25th Feast of the Annunciation
This site was developed to advance the movement toward international recognition of March 25th as the “Day of The Unborn Child,” and equally to promote among Christians the observance of this traditional feast day of the Incarnation honoring Christ’s conception which is currently named “The Feast of the Annunciation.” The date was chosen because it falls nine months before the most celebrated birth in Western civilization, known throughout the world as Christmas. Regardless of whether one emphasizes the secular or religious aspects of the March 25th memorial, the symbolic interval of a full-term pregnancy reminds us of the reality and dignity of life from conception.
List Your Event / Share a Suggestion
Free March 25 Cards--English & Español
Note on the Artwork (A Second Halo)
Missed the Day & Events?--Year-Round Ideas
Image
courtesy of: ©John Brandi, Co., Inc.
List Your Event / Share a Suggestion
Is there a March 25th event that you would like to see listed on our Local & National Events page? Would you like to share ideas and traditions for celebrating the day? Contact us at info@DayOfTheUnbornChild.com.
Questions & Answers
Why use a Christian feast to promote the universal cause of
unborn children?
Why is the Feast of the Annunciation so important
to the pro-life movement?
Why isn't this feast honoring Christ’s
conception more widely celebrated?
Was Christ conceived on March 25th?
If the Annunciation is the feast of the
Incarnation, how should we view Christmas?
Which denominations have the Annunciation feast
as part of their tradition?
Is the Annunciation a feast of Christ or
a feast of Mary?
Why use a Christian feast to promote the universal cause of unborn children? Why not choose a new date for a secular Day Of The Unborn Child?
It
would be hard to find a date that has more universal import in its symbolic
link to a historic birthday celebrated worldwide. Christmas is known around the world and its celebration
transcends cultural, racial, national and class divisions--therefore the feast
day that precedes it by the length of a pregnancy is an ideal choice. Clearly there is no absolutist line of
separation between the overlapping spheres of state and faith-influenced
culture based on the precedents we’ve already set in national holidays like
Christmas and the way we measure time.
Even the most secularized nations and governments use a calendar that
has the approximate date of Christ’s birth as its starting point. Atheist scholars accept the conventional
division of history into B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. or Anno Domini which
means “in the year of the Lord.” As
such, governments that officially adopt this date as a day of remembrance for
the unborn are well within the norms of what is already practiced in modern
democratic nations. Even if March 25
were not a Christian feast, it would make perfect sense to remember unborn
children on the day that falls nine months before the international celebration
of the most widely recognized birth in Western civilization. It should be obvious that the decision to
choose this day for a national observance reflects a common cultural language
and in no way approaches a “theocracy.”
In rightly affirming the protection of unborn children as a secular
cause, it should also be noted that much of what we take for granted as civil
human rights (i.e. laws against infanticide) and humanitarian progress
(governmental provision for the poor) grew out of 2000 years of Christian moral
philosophy and charitable works.
Why is the Feast of the Annunciation so important to the pro-life movement?
In
recent years perceptive pro-life parents began annual celebrations of their
children's "First Days" nine months before their
birthdays--recognizing that if everyday practices don’t reflect the reality of
their beliefs they send a destructively mixed message. Though many of them were faithful
Christians, few of them recognized that Christ's “first day” passed by every
year with no celebration, virtually unnoticed by the majority of
believers. And this was no ordinary
“first day”--this was what Christians call the Incarnation--the moment God
became man. As the word “incarnate” (to
be made flesh) implies, this was fully accomplished not when Jesus reached
adulthood, or was revealed to the world at his birth--it happened when he took
on human flesh at his conception in Mary’s womb. If the Christian community as a whole does not consistently
recognize and honor the conception and prenatal life of Christ who is God, then
it should come as no surprise that the secular world has so little regard for
the newly conceived life of an "unplanned" child, who is neither
divine nor anxiously awaited nor announced by angelic herald, but is simply
unwanted, like so many others. It
is essential for all Christians to not only remember but celebrate the fact
that the Word was made flesh in Nazareth nine months before Christ's birth in
Bethlehem. Fortunately it is not
necessary to wholly invent a “first day” tradition for Christ. Early in Christendom (probably the 400’s)
Christ’s first day was already memorialized.
Now known as the Feast of the Annunciation, officially it is still the
principal feast of the Incarnation, and was universally celebrated by the
600’s. In the past it had been named
Festum Incarnationis and Conceptio Christi--which made it clear that it was the
conception of Christ that was being commemorated. Celebrating March 25th in remembrance of this reality (and as The
Day of the Unborn Child as many nations are now doing) will be a wonderful
spiritual counterpart to the celebration of Christmas, which has unfortunately
become so commercialized and secularized.
Keep in mind also that the Annunciation is not only one of the most
frequently depicted events in art, but is also the most frequently depicted
conception. It is quite remarkable that
an event that takes place unseen inside the human body should become one of the
most popular iconic themes for a visual medium like painting. Wouldn’t it be tragic if such potentially
powerful pro-life imagery were lost on even the most faithful Christians
because they were never taught the significance of the Annunciation as the
occasion of Christ’s Incarnation and therefore don’t see its powerful pro-life
implications. (For more on the
Annunciation in art, read A Note On The Artwork). In sum, raising awareness of the meaning of
the Christian feast whose date has been adopted for a secular pro-life day of
remembrance complements that cause, just as Christian clergy assisted secular
civil rights workers in the 1960’s. The
participation of an ordained Christian minister like the Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr. (who frequently referenced God in his civil rights speeches) did not
limit his movement, or make voting rights an exclusively religious issue. Likewise Christian understanding of the
Annunciation will not interfere with but may actually be a necessary step on
the way to establishing the Day Of The Unborn Child as an annual secular
memorial.
Why isn’t the feast of Christ’s conception more widely celebrated? What could be more central to Christianity than the Incarnation?
The
most important event of your life is your conception--for that is what makes
all the rest possible, including your salvation. Likewise, if not for the Incarnation of Christ at His conception,
there would be no atonement on the cross, and no resurrection from the
dead. First of all, the varying
titles for the feast have been problematic. Earlier names made it clear what was being commemorated
(Conception of Christ; Feast of the Incarnation). Had these been retained the day’s significance might be more well
known. Secondly, without a determined
effort to highlight its importance, the feast is often lost among the Holy
Week observances leading up to Easter.
Thirdly, efforts at avoiding these Easter week conflicts by moving
the feast several days back or forward obscured the nine-month interval
before December 25 that would hint at the day’s significance. Unless the pastor takes pains to explain
these facts, the feast and its pro-life implications will go unrecognized. Fourth, the feast of the Annunciation is no
longer a universal holy day of obligation for Catholics. Fifth, adding to the confusion is the fact
that many people mistakenly believe the day Jesus was conceived is already
being celebrated on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when in truth
this is the Catholic feast for the day Mary was conceived; understandably, in
not seeing any clearly titled feast for an event as important as Christ’s
conception, they simply assume it must be the feast of the “Immaculate
Conception”--which indeed is a term some Protestant denominations use for the
conception of Jesus complicating matters even further. Clearly there is much need for education and
clarification on these matters--and thus, the need for a website.
Was Christ conceived on March 25th?
There
is an early tradition of March 25th as the possible date for Christ's
conception--see
Historical Background for details.
As with the date of Christ’s birth, it cannot be verified by the
standards of modern historians. But it
is important to remember that even today with modern biological knowledge, the
date of a conception is almost always an educated guess. That doesn’t dissuade pro-life parents from
celebrating their children’s “First Days” nine months before their
birthdays. The conventional wisdom is
that the Feast of the Nativity (later known as Christmas) was set on December
25th to purify the pagan practices of the winter solstice, and that the March
25th feast was chosen based on this date.
What matters is this relative date of March 25 occurring nine months
before the celebration of His birth on December 25--it is here that we find the
consistent reflection of the reality that Christ’s Incarnation was accomplished
at his conception in Nazareth, and that conception is the beginning of every
human life.
We
should neither be surprised nor disturbed that the precise date of Christ’s
birth would not have been seen as essential information in the New Testament
era. The modern celebration of
birthdays and need for documentation puts an emphasis on recording exact birth
dates that had not been the norm throughout history and across cultures. Indeed it is not the norm in some countries
today. Even if the exact date of
Christ’s birth and conception could be determined, such absolute dates would
have no more pro-life significance than the feast dates that were chosen. For in the early centuries of Christian
history the date to celebrate Christ’s conception was wisely set at a
pregnancy-length interval before Christmas--a prescient decision reflecting the
reality of prenatal life one-and-a-half millennia before the biologic facts
were fully understood. The first date
can be chosen randomly as long as the second date is placed consistently in
relation to it. The symbolic pregnancy
interval can also be seen in the Catholic Marian feast dates--the feast
established in 1477 honoring the Virgin Mary’s conception (Dec. 8) was set nine
months before the feast day of her birth (Sept. 8). It is the relationship between the two dates that is
important.
If the Annunciation is the feast of the Incarnation, how should we view Christmas?
Keep in mind that both the Annunciation and Christmas are feasts of the Incarnation, but the Annunciation is the primary feast. A correct understanding and celebration of the Annunciation as the moment of the Incarnation will deepen the appreciation of Christmas as the occasion on which this awe-inspiring event was announced to the world. Christmas has become so commercialized and secularized that Christians forced to fight for the display of a Nativity scene can be distracted from the Incarnational reality behind it. In remembering the birth of the baby Jesus in the manger, we must also reflect on the meaning of the Incarnation that was accomplished nine months before. Incarnation (the root of which means “to be made flesh”) obviously did not take place at the divine infant’s birth, but at His conception. The Incarnation (God made man--the Word made flesh) is the most awesome event of history, yet all through Mary’s pregnancy it was a private mystery known only to the Holy Family and those closest to them. This changed dramatically at Christ’s birth, when the good news of the savior was publicly and joyously proclaimed by angelic herald. The first Christmas in Bethlehem was not a beginning for Christ the Eternal Word whose human life began nine months earlier in Nazareth. The reason Christmas is so important is because it was a new beginning for us--the day the Incarnation was revealed to the world--the first time we could see Him face to face--and this is how we must understand and celebrate the feast of December 25th.
Is the Feast of the Annunciation celebrated outside the Catholic Church? Which denominations have the feast on their official calendar?
The answer is yes. Although actual practice in individual congregations will vary, Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Orthodox, Catholics and others that follow a traditional liturgical calendar already observe this feast with the other major Christian celebrations. If your church is among these, you need only to renew and revive an established tradition and bring out its Incarnational and pro-life significance. Those churches that do not have the feast on their official calendar can establish a tradition of celebrating March 25th--the day that falls nine months before Christmas--in honor of the first day of Christ’s life in the womb, and as a general Day of the Unborn Child; an older name for the feast (Incarnation/Conception of Christ) can be used to clearly indicate that it is the commemoration of the beginning of Christ’s earthly life--the moment that God became man in the flesh.
Is the Annunciation a Feast of Christ or a Feast of Mary?
Historically it has been regarded both as a feast of Christ and Mary. From the various titles the day has been given over the years, we can see that some of the earliest (Feast of the Incarnation, Conception of Christ) and the recent Annunciation of the Lord put the emphasis on Jesus, while other titles like the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and England’s Lady’s Day highlighted the role of Mary in assenting to God's will. The artwork on the opening page vividly illustrates how difficult and unnatural it would be to speak of the Unborn Christ without mentioning Mary. Whether or not one's spirituality encompasses a special love and respect for the Blessed Mother, all Christians can agree that for both Jesus and Mary, and the whole human race, the moment when God became man in the womb of a virgin in Nazareth is the most awe inspiring event of history and should be commemorated, especially today when prenatal life is under attack.
What can I do the rest of the year if the day has already passed?
If you’ve missed the feast day you can still participate in several ways. For example, you might propose or offer to help with an event for next year by contacting a local church or pro-life group. If the holiday season is approaching see "Highlighting the Christmas Connection" in our Ideas page for suggestions on using cards, gifts, and all your December mailings to promote awareness of the feast that falls nine months before Christmas. You can also join the 9-month "Spiritual Adoption" in progress--a gestational period of prayer for an unborn child ending at Christmas. For example, if the day has only recently passed, you might begin praying for unborn children in the embryonic stage whose mothers may not yet know they are pregnant, for those targeted by the abortion pill, and especially for embryos in the vulnerable but oft forgotten pre-implantation phase whether conceived naturally in a woman's body or by IVF. If the feast was two or more months ago, pray for those endangered by the methods of surgical abortion. If you begin in the second half of the 9-month period following the feast (Aug.-Dec.), pray for those targeted for late term abortion, including those children in parts of the world that practice abortion/infanticide during and after the birth process. You might pray for a specific intention for the child that changes every 25th of the month. Click here for more on “Spiritual Adoption.”
A Note on the Artwork (A Second Halo)
The
image on the home page was used by permission and is the property of John
Brandi Company--it appears on their "Our
Lady of The Millennium" prayer cards and art prints. With its simplicity of form, understated
colors, and light emanating from Mary’s womb signifying the hidden Christ, it
is a beautifully poignant and thought-provoking depiction of the mystery of the
Incarnation. Artistic renderings of
this event are usually given the more broad title of “Annunciation” which
encompasses the three events of the angel’s announcement, Mary’s consent, and
the conception of Christ in her womb.
The last of these, for obvious reasons, is the hardest to
represent. The dramatic form of the
archangel could easily detract from the unseen but all-important culmination in
the Word made flesh. Unfortunately some
early attempts to avoid this misplaced emphasis showed the infant Christ
descending to Mary’s womb--which is theologically erroneous and aesthetically
awkward. By contrast the illustration
chosen for this site beautifully blends both the natural and supernatural
elements of the scene. The artist
Barham’s use of drapery conceals from us the stage of Mary’s pregnancy. Therefore it can represent the whole span
of Christ’s prenatal life in addition to the specific moment of the Incarnation
when Christ was conceived. This quietly
elegant minimalist composition is both reverent and modern in style. As such it is a perfectly fitting emblem of
the Incarnation and its pro-life implications, as well as a potent reminder of
the centrality of the maternal-infant bond exemplified in history’s most
contemplated and intriguing mother-and-child relationship. [NOTE:
There are many paintings that have the title “Our Lady of the
Millennium.” To find a retailer that
carries the version used on this site see Further
Reading and Instructional Materials.]
Last revised: 2/06