Historical Background: The Feast

The exact dates of Christ’s conception and birth cannot be known with certainty. However, a tradition that Jesus was conceived and died on March 25th can be traced back to Hippolytus in the early third century. The more common view is that March 25th was chosen as the day to commemorate His birth because it falls nine months before Christmas, and that Christmas was chosen to overwrite and purify a pagan holiday. However, according to Benedict XIV, the date of March 25th was known to be the actual day based on ancient tradition. If true, it may have independently determined the dates of both Christmas and the feast for the birth of John the Baptist (June 24) based on the Bible’s assertion that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Christ was conceived.

Regardless of the dates’ authenticity, from a pro-life perspective the more important fact is that early in Christian history the dates of Christ’s conception and birth were set correctly relative to each other--separated by what we commonly recognize as a pregnancy-length interval (see Was Christ Really Conceived on March 25? in the home page Q&A). The feast probably dates back as far as the 5th century around the time of the council of Ephesus (c. 431). By the mid to late 600’s the tenth Synod of Toledo and Trullan Synod speak of the feast as universally celebrated in the Church.

The day has had various names throughout its history. Today we most often see Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the ancient title Annunciation of the Lord, which Pope Paul VI noted in a February 2nd 1974 document had been “deliberately restored.” A pro-life Apostolic Blessing of Pope John Paul II given on March 25, 2003 identified it as the “Solemnity of the Incarnation of The Divine Word.” Earlier Latin names included: Festum Incarnationis, Conceptio Christi, Initium Redemptionis, Annuntiatio Christi, and Annuntiatio Dominica.

It had been a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, and for the most part remained so until the early 20th century. The change began in France in 1802, and later for the United States in 1884 by the Third Council of Baltimore--mass attendance was no longer mandated on the feast day. However, in the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI, it is still an important feast of the first rank--a “solemnity.” When the feast of March 25th occurs in Holy or Easter Week, its celebration is moved to the Monday after the octave of Easter.

The name changes from the more explicit “Incarnation” or “Conception of Christ” to the more vague “Annunciation,” the practice of moving the feast (which obscures the nine-month interval), and the rescinding of its status as a holy day of obligation--all these factors play a role in veiling the vital truth at the heart of March 25th and the Incarnation--a truth so desperately needed in today’s culture of death.

But the reality of life beginning at conception is difficult to convey by its very nature--for outside the world of science it is a hidden reality. We can see the challenge of bringing this truth to light in examining the way the Annunciation has been depicted in art. According to some art historians it is the most frequently painted subject matter in Western art. Christian art had always been an effective means of educating a largely non-literate population. Bible stories and the mysteries of the Christian faith had been shown to the faithful through naturalistic paintings, iconography, stained glass, sculpture and other visual mediums. However, this proved difficult in the matter of the Annunciation. Indeed it may be the most challenging to depict, for the central event of the Incarnation takes place within the womb of Mary, hidden from the viewer's eye. To circumvent this dilemma some early Christian artists fell into the trap of showing the divine infant descending to Mary from heaven, which is visually compelling but gravely erroneous from a theological perspective. The John Brandi Company’s “Our Lady of the Millennium” chosen for this web site is a modern composition that succeeds both aesthetically and theologically--the halo around Mary's womb in this beautiful representation of the prenatal life of Christ, signifies the divinity of Christ from conception.

With both inherent and peripheral problems to overcome, clearly a new effort is required to rescue the life-affirming feast of March 25th from cultural obscurity and restore it as an annual reminder of a fundamental fact: that life begins at conception--for Christ and for all of us. This is what the “Day of the Unborn Child” is all about. To read more on the feast’s modern incarnation, read Recent Developments.

Sources include:

WLOF FM (newsletter & program schedule), Apr. 2002, published by Holy Family Communications, P.O. Box 745 Amherst, NY 14226