In the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord We remember the moment when in the city of Nazareth the angel of the Lord gave the announcement to Mary: “Here, you will conceive a son, you will give it to light and will be called the son of the Most High”, and Maria replied said: “Here is the servant of the Lord; It happens for me according to your word ». And so, the fullness of the times, the one who was before the centuries, the one -year -old Son of God, “for us men and for our salvation, was embodied in the breast of the Virgin Mary by the work of the Holy Spirit and made itself man”, as can be recited in the I believe.
Master of Seitentetten, Annunciation, about 1490
Why is it called Annunciation?
The name is given in reference At the Annex of the Angel Gabriele to Mary about the birth of the Messiah, According to the story of the Gospel of Luca.
Considering the importance of this Annunzio, which is placed at the center of the history of salvation, that is, in the “fullness of time”, The Virgin of Nazareth becomes the Annunziata.
This appellation then passes through various fields of history, faith and culture. From the Onomastic, where the name is declined to the female and male (Annunziata, Annunziato or Nunzio), to the designation of the members of some religious institutes, such as the Annunziate (or Annunziatine) of Lombardy organized in Pavia (1408), the Celestial or Turkey Annunziates, founded in Genoa in 1602 by Blessed Maria Vittoria Fornari. In numismatics there was the Annunziata, silver coin worth 14 money and the small or nunziatine Annunziata worth 7 money, both coined by Ferrante II Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla (died in 1630).
The chivalric order of the House of Savoy, established in 1364 by Amedeo VI, As an order of the collar, it was called by Charles III, in 1518, the order of the Annunciation, a distinguished honor, reserved for characters of high merit; The order is no longer recognized by the Italian Republic.
It is celebrated on March 25 (but not all years)
The nine months between the conception and birth of Jesus explain the date of March 25 compared to the solemnity of the Christmas of the Lord of December 25th.
Hyrudite calculations and mystical considerations also set the event of the first creation and renewal of the world in Easter for 25 March. However, falling in the period of Lent, the date of this solemnity in some years is transferred. This happens when March 25 falls in the Holy Week, in Easter week or coincides with a Sunday of Lent or Easter.
Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Annunciation, 1898
What are the historical origins of this party?
Historical research establishes that it has arisen within the celebration of Christmas, as a consequence or as a preparation. It is certain that “in the first half of the 6th century, the church of Constantinople celebrates solemnity theEuaggelismòs (Annunciation) On March 25 “, this will move to Rome and Spain in the following century, except in 656 the Council of Toledo established the Marian festival of 18 December.
In this way Chronological correlation with Christmas and with the idea that the incarnation, such as the creation of the world, is lost, it comes to coincide with the spring equinox.
In the Middle Ages, the day of the Annunciation is in many places the beginning of the civil year and a point of reference for the numbering of the years. Then Christmas took place as the beginning of the Christian era. In 1972 Paul VI’s Missal named the party as an announcement of the Lord and equipped the celebration of a rich form; but in apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus (1974) interprets it as “festivities of Christ and together of the Virgin”.
Simone Martini, Annunciation between the Saints Ansano and Margherita, 1333
What is the biblical and theological meaning?
From a biblical point of view, the Annunciation is interpreted by the exegetes according to some understanding patterns, which highlight their theological meaning:
1. Wonderful birth announcement which, in the wake of those offered by the Old Testament, highlights the Christological meaning of the announcement to Mary. Its central content is undoubtedly Christ, the subject of the whole Gospel, announced here in two stages: first of all as Messiah Davidico who will reign forever, then as a son of God generated virgically in the womb of Mary through the Spirit.
2. Vocation announcement, As it contains the structural elements of the mission stories in favor of the people of God (greeting, disturbance, first message, difficulty, second message, sign, consent) and highlights Mary’s person called to enter the dialogue between God and humanity through an exemplary faith response and maternal work for the birth of the Son of God in the human condition.
3. Alliance scheme, Advanced by the exegete A. Serra, as the story unfolds according to the literary model of the alliance ended between God and Israel on Mount Sinai. In fact, in Maria’s answer “I am the servant of the Lord: you do me according to your word” (Luke 1, 38), you feel the echo of the formula with which the people gave their assent to the alliance in the Old Testament: “We will serve the Lord” and “We will do everything that Jahvè told us”. From the theological point of view, the Annunciation is linked to the incarnation, which constitutes one of the two main mysteries of the Christian faith together with the Trinity.
Leonardo, Annunciation, about 1472-75
In the history of art, how was the Annunciation depicted?
The type of the Annunciation is made famous by a painting by Antonello da Messina (1474), which runs all centuries in infinite variations. We can say that it is the theme preferred by Christian artists, starting with the unknown painter of the Priscilla catacombs which depicts the Virgin sitting on the throne and the messenger standing (III century).
In the triumphal arch of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (432-440) the mosaicist represents the Virgin dressed as a princess, while however the purple thread works according to the story of the apocryphals; Above the angel in flight towards her is depicted as a Nike Annunator of Vittoria. In the 6th century, changes occur: Mary passes from left to the right, being emphasized because the point of arrival of the movement of the eye, also from the session begins to be depicted standing in the act of speaking, for example, in the miniature of the Rabbula code (6th century).
In the Middle Ages, the Virgin turns into Orante and instead of the spindle holds up the book of the Psalter or the Word of God, or – as happens in the Scrovegni chapel frescoed by Giotto (1305) – both Mary and the Angel are on their knees. Furthermore, the people of the Trinity begin to appear: The Father, the spirit and the verb in the form of a small child.
In the mosaic of Pietro Cavallini in Santa Maria in Trastevere (1291) at the top of the scene you can see the face of the father and in a trail that starts from him the dove the symbol of the spirit emerges.
The iconography expressed the freedom of the girl of Nazareth through the gesture of the hands of Mary in front of the angel, which addressed with the palm outwards, indicate the initial disturbance; If, on the contrary, they are folded on the chest, they express consent. The reason for the arms crossed in the act of prayer, already present in Giotto and Bernardo Daddi (1330), becomes usual in the various intensely mystical depictions of the Blessed Angelico (1455 m).
With the succession of the centuries, the environment of the scene also changes: If Jan Van Eyck places it inside a Gothic church in full sacred atmosphere (first half of the fifteenth century), Leonardo located in a wonderful Renaissance garden, where there is no lack of a capital of classical Romanity (ca. 1472). With Crivelli, the Annunciation takes on a public dimension, with the presence next to the Angel of Sant’Emidio, which supports the city of Ascoli which has recently risen to autonomous cities by granting Sixtus IV (1482).
In the Renaissance, the “Travel stick” or “Scepter of Gabriele” is transformed into symbolic plant elements: an olive twig in the famous Annunciation by Simone Martini (1333) or a lily in the Miniato code of Chantilly (1411-16), which many rear artists will prefer, Like Filippo Lippi (1445) and Botticelli (1489). Sometimes the angel bears a palm in his hand, as can be seen in a panel of the majesty of Duccio (1308-11), but then it is the last announcement made to Maria three days before her sleep.
After the flood of light of the lived of the Virgin with the entry of Gabriele accompanied by a host of angels, which characterizes theAnnunciation of Tintoretto (1583-87), by El Greco (1596-1600) and Guido Reni (1631-32), the Pre-Sets with Dante Gabriele Rossetti (1850) They report Mary on Earth, indeed in her bed where the heavenly messenger surprises her, or they place it white on a mat and an oriental carpet (James Tissot, 1895). Finally, abstractionism represents the event with the only combination of colors (Gerhard Richter in 1973 and Brice Marden in 1978).
The Holy House kept in the Basilica of Loreto
Is there the House of the Annunciation?
An ancient tradition identifies the house of Maria, in which the Annunciation took place, with the cave that today is in the crypt of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
The house was made up of a part carved into the rock (the cave) and a part built in masonry. The latter remained in Nazareth until the end of the thirteenth century, then it was transferred first to Tersatto (Trsat, Croatia) and after Loreto, in the Marche, as the re -occupation of the terrasant by Muslims made fear for its conservation.
According to tradition, It was miraculously brought in flight by some angels (therefore the Madonna di Loreto is venerated as the patron of the aviators). From the documents of the time it appears that in reality the transport, which took place by ship between 1291 and 1294, was the work of the Angeli Comneno family, a branch of the Byzantine imperial family.
The Holy House, as it is called, is still located inside the Basilica of Loreto, and is continually visited by numerous pilgrims.
