Saint Of The Day For November 21: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a liturgical memorial of the Catholic Church of devotional origin.
It’s also celebrated by the Byzantine Rite as the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, recalling the presentation of Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Story:
Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century.
A church was built there in honor of this mystery.
The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century.
Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.
As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature.
In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was 3 years old.
This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.
The Theological Purpose
Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose.
It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary.
It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond.
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