Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This feast It highlights the holiness of Mary from the beginning of her life on earth that continued through her early childhood and beyond. This feast is celebrated both in the Roman and the Eastern Orthodox rites. It takes its origin from the dedication of the Church of Our Lady near the Temple area in Jerusalem which took place on 21st November 543. 

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The feast is found in the liturgical documents of the East in the 11th century and was brought to the papal chapel in Avignon in 1373. A year later King Charles V introduced it to the royal Chapel in Paris, from where it spread through Spain and Germany. It is now celebrated in the Roman Calendar on 21st November.

The feast is best linked with the other feasts of the birth of Mary (8th September) and of the Immaculate Conception (8th December). It highlights the holiness of Mary from the beginning of her life on earth that continued through her early childhood and beyond.