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Biography
The Annunciation is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation. According to Luke 1:26 the Annunciation occurred in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist. Many Christians observe this event with the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, an approximation of the northern vernal equinox nine full months before Christmas, the traditional birthday of Jesus. The Annunciation is a key topic in Christian art in general, as well as in Marian art in the Catholic Church, having been especially prominent during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A work of art depicting the Annunciation is sometimes itself called an Annunciation. The Gospel of Luke recounts the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary: Various Bible translations also give Gabriel's salutation as a variation on: "Hail, full of grace" (Luke 1:28, DRV). In this variation, commonly used by Roman Catholics, the archangel Gabriel's greeting to Mary forms the first part of the prayer Hail Mary. Mary's response to the archangel also forms the second versicle and response of the Angelus prayer. The English word fiat, or permission, comes from the Latin let it be done of Mary's acceptance to the angel. A separate, briefer and different annunciation is that given to Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew: There is a different version contained in the apocryphal Gospel of James, which includes a first appearance of the archangel at the well.[n 1] Manuscript 4Q246 of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads: It has been suggested that the similarity in content is such that Luke's version may in some way be dependent on the Qumran text. Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches hold that the Annunciation took place at Nazareth, but differ slightly as to the precise location.
Prayers
Novena for the Annunciation
novenaI venerate and I admire thee, most holy Virgin Mary, as the humblest of all the creatures of God on the very day of thy Annunciation, when God Himself exalted thee to the most sublime dignity of his own Mother. O mighty Virgin, enable me, wretched sinner that I am, to know the depths of my own nothingness, and at once with all my heart to humble myself before all men. Ave Maria. Mary, most holy Virgin, when thou wast saluted by Gabriel the Archangel, and the message from God was conveyed to thee, and thou wast exalted by God above all the Choirs of the Angels, then thou didst humbly say, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Oh, obtain for me true humility and angelic purity, enabling me so to live on earth that I may ever be worthy of the blessing of God. Ave Maria. O Virgin ever blessed, I rejoice with thee because solely by thy humble fiat thou didst draw from the bosom of the Eternal Father the divine Word into thy own pure bosom. Draw then ever my heart to God; and with God draw grace into my heart, that I may ever bless thy fiat, and cry with devotion, "O mighty Fiat! O efficacious Fiat! O Fiat to be venerated above all Fiats" (St. Thomas of Villanova). Ave Maria. O Virgin Mary, on the day of thy Annunciation thou wast found by Gabriel the Archangel quick and ready to do God's will, when it pleased the most Holy Trinity to await thy consent in order to redeem the world. Enable me in every good and bad fortune to turn to God with resignation and say: Be it done unto me according to thy word. Ave Maria. Most holy Mary, I well understand that thy obedience made the union between thy God and thee more intimate than shall ever again be possible for any other creature ("No creature could be in closer union with God." B. Albertus Magnus). I am confounded to see how sin has separated me from God. Help me then, kind Mother, truly to do penance for my sins, that thy own loving Jesus may yet once more live in me and I in Him. Ave Maria. Most holy Mary, thou wast troubled by reason of thy modesty, when Gabriel the Archangel stood before thee in thy house; but I, when I come before thee, am troubled because of my great pride; wherefore do thou in thy incomparable humility, "which brought forth God for men, reopened Paradise, and set the captive souls free from hell beneath" (St. Augustine, Sermo de Sanctis), draw me, I pray thee, out of the deep pit of my sins, and enable me to save my soul. Ave Maria. Most holy Virgin, though I have an unhallowed tongue, I have the boldness to salute thee all hours of the day: "Hail, hail Mary, full of grace." I pray thee from my heart to replenish my soul with a little of that grace wherewith the Holy Spirit, when He overshadowed thee, filled thee to the full. Ave Maria. Most holy Mary, "The Lord is with thee"; I know by faith that the great God who has been ever with thee from thy Conception, is, by his Incarnation in thy purest womb, made still more closely one with thee; make it thy care, I pray thee, that I may ever be one in heart and soul with that same dear Lord Jesus, by means of his sanctifying grace. Ave Maria. Most holy Mary, "Blessed art thou amongst women"; pour out upon my heart and soul thy heavenly blessing, as thou thyself wast ever blessed of God among all women; for I have this sure hope, that if, my dear Mother, thou wilt bless me while I live, then when I die I shall be blessed of God in the everlasting glory of Heaven. Ave Maria. Then say the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, and then: V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. R. And she conceived of the Holy Ghost. Let us pray. O God, who by the message of an angel didst will that the divine Word should take flesh of the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant unto us thy suppliants that we, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee.
— The Raccolta, 1910 edition, pp. 185–187 (199. Five Novenas for the Principal Feasts of Our Lady — III. Novena for the Annunciation)
Patronages
No patronages on file. (See the documentation/patronage-data-plan.md for the gap-fill plan.)