The feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates the visit of the Mother of God, with the child Jesus in her womb, to her cousin Elizabeth, who was herself six months’ pregnant with the forerunner of Christ, Saint John the Baptist. At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel, in response to Mary’s question “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” (Luke 1:34 ), had told her that “thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God” (Luke 1:36-27). The evidence of Elizabeth’s own near-miraculous conception had called forth Mary’s fiat: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” It is thus appropriate that the very next action that Saint Luke the Evangelist records is the Blessed Virgin “making haste” to visit her cousin.
Quick Facts
- Date:May 31.
- Type of Feast: FEAST
- Readings:Zephaniah 3:14-18a or Romans 12:9-16; Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6; Luke 1:39-56 (full text here)
- Prayers:The Hail Mary; The Magnificat; the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
- Other Names for the Feast:The Visitation
The Significance of the Visitation
Arriving at the house of Zachary (or Zacharias) and Elizabeth, Mary greets her cousin, and something wonderful happens: John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb Luke 1:41). As the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 puts it in its entry on the Visitation, Mary’s “presence Continue reading
The Magnificat, taken from Luke’s Gospel (1:46-55), is the Blessed Virgin Mary’s hymn of praise to the Lord. It is also known as the Canticle of Mary in the Liturgy of the Hours, a special collection of scripture readings, psalms, and hymns that constitute what is known as the prayer of the church. (Priests and other religious are required to pray sections from the Liturgy of the Hours each day.)
