The Presentation of Mary in the Temple is the feast the Church celebrates on November 21 in memory of the consecration the Virgin Mary is said to have made of herself to God from childhood. It is one of the obligatory memorials of the General Roman Calendar[1] and, in the Byzantine Church, one of the Twelve Great Feasts, under the title of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.[2]
The story behind the feast is found nowhere in the four canonical Gospels. It comes from the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal writing from the 2nd century at the latest, which tells how Anne and Joachim, Mary's parents, are said to have led their child to the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of three, in fulfilment of a vow.[3][4] The Church does not ask the faithful to see in it a historical fact of faith: she celebrates what the story expresses, Mary's readiness for the divine will, and the Eastern tradition that handed it down.[5][6]
"Despite its apocryphal content, this feast presents lofty and exemplary values, and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern churches." Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus, February 2, 1974[7]
The story told by the Protoevangelium of James
A childhood offered to God
The New Testament gives no detail about Mary's childhood. The Protoevangelium of James is what, from the earliest centuries, filled that silence with a story of devotion.[8] Anne and Joachim, barren in their old age, receive the promise of a child; at her birth, they consecrate her to God. Anne vows not to let her walk on the ground until she has been led to the Temple.[9]
The text places the scene when Mary is three years old. Joachim wants to go up sooner; Anne asks to wait until the third year, so that the child will no longer seek her parents:
"And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp; and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart may not be captivated from the temple of the Lord." Protoevangelium of James, ch. 7 (Ignispedia translation from the New Advent English version)[10]
The priest welcomes the child, blesses her, and sets her on the third step of the altar. The text adds that grace descended upon her, that she danced with her feet, and that all the house of Israel loved her.[11] Nominis sums up the scene by noting that the priest's words resemble the Magnificat.[12]
Twelve years in the Temple
Mary then remains in the Temple, likened to a dove dwelling there, fed from the hand of an angel.[13] At the age of twelve, a council of priests meets to decide her future; the high priest Zechariah prays, receives the sign of Joseph's rod, and the Virgin is entrusted to him.[14] Chapter 10 shows her among the virgins of the house of David summoned to weave the veil of the Temple, with the purple wool.[15] Jewish tradition indeed knew of young girls engaged to weave the hangings of the sanctuary (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 51b).[16]
What the story is, and what it is not
The Protoevangelium of James is an apocryphal writing: it does not belong to the canon of Scripture, and its story is not a matter of faith. The Marian Library of the University of Dayton says so plainly:
"This story is a legend with no foundation in history and the point of the story is to show that even in her childhood Mary was completely dedicated to God. However, it is from this very account that arose the feast of Mary's Presentation." Matthew R. Mauriello, Presentation of Mary: November 21, Marian Library, University of Dayton[17]
Here the Church holds a precise balance. On the one hand, she does not propose the story as a historical fact to be believed; on the other, she does not treat the Eastern tradition that carried it as mere folklore to be set aside. Marialis Cultus recognizes in the feast lofty and exemplary values, rooted in the liturgy of the Eastern Churches.[18] What the feast says of Mary is confirmed elsewhere by Marian devotion and theology: she who was prepared to be the living temple of the divinity gave herself to God before any visible mission.[19]
Birth and development of the feast
In the East: from Jerusalem to the whole Byzantine world
The feast is first of all Eastern. The Catholic Encyclopedia probably locates it in Syria, the homeland of the apocrypha, and mentions a great Greek canon composed by a certain "Georgios" in the 7th or 8th century.[20] It is still missing from the 8th-century Constantinopolitan menologion, but it appears in the liturgical documents of the 11th century, notably the Menologion of Basil II, under the title of Eisódia tès Panagías Theotókou, the Entrance of the most holy Mother of God.[21][22] The constitution of Manuel Comnenus (1166) mentions it as a fully recognized feast, during which the courts do not sit.[23]
The institution of the feast is linked to the dedication of the basilica of Saint Mary the New (the Nea) which Justinian had built near the Temple in Jerusalem, a dedication fixed on November 20, 543 according to Cyril of Scythopolis (Life of John the Hesychast, ch. 20).[24][25] Nominis thus explains the link between the two dates: on the day after the dedication of the Nea, the Church celebrates the consecration Mary made of herself to God from childhood.[26] The basilica was destroyed by the Sassanid Persians after the capture of Jerusalem in 614.[27]
In the West: from Avignon to the Roman calendar
Its entry into the West came through the 14th century and a servant of the Eastern Church. Philip of Mézières, chancellor of the king of Cyprus, presented the feast to the pontifical court at Avignon. It was celebrated there in the presence of the cardinals in 1372, under the pontificate of Gregory XI, with an office adapted from the Greek office.[28][29] The Avignon tradition places the first celebration on November 21, 1372.[30] Philip of Mézières also wrote an Office of the Presentation of the Virgin of a theatrical character; he is not the one who composed the liturgical office itself.[31]
The feast then took root: 1373 at the royal chapel in Paris, 1418 at Metz, 1420 at Cologne; yet it remained absent from many calendars at the end of the Middle Ages.[32] Sixtus IV received it into the Roman Breviary; Pius V removed it from the calendar; Sixtus V restored it on September 1, 1585.[33] Modern sources further specify its entry into the Roman Missal in 1472, its suppression by Pius V in 1568 (hence its absence from the Tridentine calendar), its restoration by Sixtus V in 1585, and its rank of double major fixed by Clement VIII in 1597.[34] In the current Roman calendar, it keeps an obligatory memorial on November 21.[35][36]
A place in the cycle of Marian feasts
The Marian calendar overlays the calendar of the Lord. The Nativity of Mary (September 8) answers Christmas; the Holy Name of Mary answers the Holy Name of Jesus; and the Presentation of Mary answers the Presentation of the Lord of February 2.[37] It is a way of saying that the liturgy does not celebrate two parallel stories, but a single plan: God long prepares the one he sends, and he first prepares the one who will bear him.
What the Church celebrates
A memorial of consecration
The collect of the day sums up the object of the feast: the consecration Mary made of herself to God from childhood, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, whose grace had filled her from her Immaculate Conception.[38] The Church thus proclaims there no episode of chronology, but a mystery of readiness: Mary is given to God before salvation passes through her.
This is the emphasis of the Liturgy of the Hours for the day: "we celebrate that dedication of herself which Mary made to God from her very childhood under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who filled her with grace".[39] The feast falls in Ordinary Time, after All Saints and the dedication of the basilicas, a few days before the end of the liturgical year and Christ the King: a way of restating, on the threshold of Advent, that waiting for the Messiah begins in the heart of a child.
Mary, model of consecrated life
The Churches of East and West commemorate the offering Mary made of herself at the dawn of her conscious life. Christians recognize in it the model of consecrated life: virginity, prayer, service of the Temple, total readiness.[40] That is why November 21 has become, since 1997, the day of Pro Orantibus, the day of prayer for contemplative nuns and monks, "wholly given to God in prayer, silence and seclusion".[41]
Along the same lines, Marian spirituality sees in it the figure of the Church receiving herself from God before bearing him to the world.[42] None of this depends on the historical accuracy of the apocryphal story: the feast does not canonize a text, it celebrates an offering received by tradition, which the life of the Church has never ceased to ponder anew.
Iconography
Western art readily keeps to a single motif: little Mary climbing the steps of the Temple alone, her parents left below, the high priest and the Levites waiting for her at the top of the stairs.[43][44] This is the choice of Cima da Conegliano (about 1500), Vittore Carpaccio (1504-1508), Titian (1534-1538), Tintoretto (about 1552-1553) or Pietro Testa (about 1641-1643).[45]
Orthodox iconography often prefers the procession: Anne, Joachim, the virgins bearing lamps, and the child advancing toward the sanctuary, in direct memory of the Protoevangelium.[46] Both languages say the same thing. One isolates the child on the steps, making her the image of consecration; the other keeps the liturgy of family and people, recalling that this offering had witnesses.
The scene belongs to the great cycles of the Life of the Virgin; it is rarer in books of hours.[47] Several Italian cathedrals bear it on their facades, as at Orvieto.[48]
A note on sources
The dated facts in this article are limited to what the consulted sources make it possible to establish: the liturgical date (November 21), the current rank (obligatory memorial in the West, great feast in the East), the apocryphal nature and approximate dating of the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century at the latest), the Western stages of the feast (1372, 1585) and the dedication of the Nea (November 20, 543). The details of the childhood story are presented as what they are: the content of an ancient devotional text, not an established historical fact.
Not verified or not established: the historical reality of the episode itself; the exact date of composition of the Protoevangelium; the date of the first Eastern celebration (the Catholic Encyclopedia proposes Syria, without decisive evidence); the identity of "Georgios," author of the Greek canon; the detail of the successive offices. The date variants (543 for the dedication, November 21 for the feast) are given as the sources state them.
To go further
- Presentation of the Lord (February 2): the corresponding feast in the cycle of Jesus, forty days after Christmas.
- Assumption of the Virgin Mary (August 15): the other great mystery of Mary, at the end of her earthly life.
- Holy Mary, Mother of God (January 1): the divine motherhood for which the Virgin had prepared herself.
Notes and References
Nominis (Conférence des évêques de France), "Présentation de la Vierge Marie", notice for November 21: nominis.cef.fr. Full notice consulted on October 11, 2026: the episode is not found in the four Gospels but in the Protevangelium of James; Anne and Joachim thank God and consecrate the child; at three years old Mary is led to the Temple; the priest welcomes her with words resembling the Magnificat; the child sits on the steps of the altar; "Tout le peuple d'Israël l'aima"; the feast is attested from the 6th century; "Au lendemain de la dédicace de la basilique Sainte-Marie-la-Neuve près du mur du Temple de Jérusalem, l'Église célèbre la consécration que fit d'elle-même à Dieu dès son enfance la future mère de Dieu, sous l'action de l'Esprit Saint, dont la grâce l'avait comblée dès sa conception immaculée." Feast dates: November 21, obligatory memorial; reference to the Roman Martyrology.
1 5 12 19 25 26 35 38Wikipedia (EN), "Presentation of Mary": en.wikipedia.org. Encyclopedic notice consulted on October 11, 2026: feast celebrated on November 21 by the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and some Anglo-Catholic Churches; story of the Protoevangelium of James, dated by historians to before the year 200; parallel with the offering of Samuel by Hannah (1 Sam 1-2); Mary remains in the Temple until her twelfth year, Joseph is given to her as guardian; Coptic tradition: Joachim died when Mary was six, her mother when she was eight; the feast arises from the dedication of the New Church of the Theotokos built in 543 by Justinian I near the ruins of the Temple; destruction of the basilica by the Sassanid Persians of Khosrow II after the capture of Jerusalem in 614; first documented mention in the Menologion of Basil II (11th century); celebration in the monasteries of southern Italy from the 9th century; introduction to the pontifical chapel at Avignon in 1372 by decree of Gregory XI; inclusion in the Roman Missal in 1472; suppression by Pius V in 1568; absence from the Tridentine calendar; restoration by Sixtus V in 1585; rank of double major fixed by Clement VIII in 1597; memorial in the Roman calendar of 1969; the Orthodox Church makes it one of its twelve Great Feasts, during the Nativity Fast, with relaxation of the fast (fish, wine, oil); Marian cycle corresponding to the first three feasts of Jesus (Nativity of Mary / Christmas, Holy Name of Mary / Holy Name of Jesus, Presentation / Presentation of Jesus); Pro Orantibus day; Western iconography: the child climbs the steps of the Temple alone, the high priest waits for her at the top; Orthodox iconography: procession of virgins.
2 22 27 34 36 37 43 46 47Holweck, F. G., "Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12, New York, Robert Appleton, 1911: newadvent.org/cathen/12400a.htm. Article consulted on October 11, 2026: the story comes from the Protoevangel of James, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary; Mary is led to the Temple at three years old to fulfil a vow and to be educated there; the feast originates in the East, probably in Syria; Greek canon by "Georgios" in the 7th-8th centuries; absence from the 8th-century Constantinopolitan menologion; presence in the 11th-century documents and in the constitution of Manuel Comnenus (1166); introduction in the West by Philip of Mazieres, chancellor of the king of Cyprus, at Avignon under Gregory XI; celebration before the cardinals in 1372 with an office adapted from the Greek; 1373 royal chapel of Paris, 1418 Metz, 1420 Cologne; Sixtus IV welcomes it into the Roman Breviary, Pius V removes it, Sixtus V restores it on September 1, 1585; in the Roman calendar of 1911, it is a double major; the Greeks celebrate it for five days. Sources of the article: Kellner, Heortologie, Freiburg, 1901; Nilles, Kal. Man., Innsbruck, 1897; Holweck, Fasti Mariani, Freiburg, 1892.
3 20 21 23 28 32 33Protoevangelium of James, ch. 6-10, English translation published by New Advent (Church Fathers: Protoevangelium of James): newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm. Full text consulted on October 11, 2026. Passages quoted in this article: ch. 7, the child at three years old, the lamps of the daughters of the Hebrews, the blessing of the priest ("The Lord has magnified your name in all generations. In you, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel"), the third step of the altar, the dancing of the child and "all the house of Israel loved her"; ch. 8, Mary in the Temple "as if she were a dove", fed "from the hand of an angel", council of the priests at twelve years old, high priest Zechariah, sign of Joseph's rod; ch. 10, the veil of the Temple and the purple wool. The French quotations in the FR version of this article are Ignispedia translations of this English version.
4 9 10 11 13 14 15Paul VI, apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus, February 2, 1974, on the veneration of the Virgin Mary. Passage quoted: despite its apocryphal content, the feast of the Presentation "presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern churches" (Ignispedia translation). Text quoted from the EN Wikipedia notice "Presentation of Mary", which refers to the exhortation.
6 7 18Wikipédia (FR), "Présentation de Marie au Temple": fr.wikipedia.org. Encyclopedic notice consulted on October 11, 2026: Catholic feast (obligatory memorial) and Orthodox feast (Twelve Great Feasts), celebrated on November 21; silence of the New Testament on Mary's childhood; Protévangile de Jacques, ch. 6-10; miraculous birth of Mary to Joachim and Anne; presentation at three years old; "dansa ce jour-là, et ne se retourna pas en arrière"; fed by an angel until twelve years old; betrothal to Joseph; weaving of the veil of the Temple with purple wool; Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 51b, Ket. 106a, Shek. 1; institution linked to Justinian, dedication of the Nea on November 20, 543 according to Cyril of Scythopolis (Vie de Jean l'Hésychaste, ch. 20); spread in the West through the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the De Nativitate Mariae; Philip of Mézières, author of a theatrical Office de la Présentation de la Vierge; presentation to Pope Gregory XI at Avignon on November 21, 1372; solemn extension to the whole Church in 1585 by Sixtus V; Mary, model of consecrated life; iconography: Cima da Conegliano (1496-1497), Carpaccio (1504-1508), Titian (1534-1538), Lavinia Fontana, Jacques Stella, Lubin Baugin, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Tintoretto; facade of Orvieto cathedral.
8 16 24 29 30 31 40 42 45 48Mauriello, Matthew R., "Presentation of Mary: November 21", Marian Library, University of Dayton: udayton.edu. Passage quoted: "This story is a legend with no foundation in history and the point of the story is to show that even in her childhood Mary was completely dedicated to God. However, it is from this very account that arose the feast of Mary's Presentation." (Ignispedia translation in the body of the FR article). Page pointed out by the EN Wikipedia notice "Presentation of Mary".
17Liturgy of the Hours, office for November 21, Presentation of the Virgin Mary. Formula quoted, Ignispedia translation from the English: "we celebrate that dedication of herself which Mary made to God from her very childhood under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who filled her with grace". Text noted in the EN Wikipedia notice "Presentation of Mary", which quotes it from The Divine Office (editions of Australia, England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland), for November 21. Direct verification against missal or breviary not carried out in this session.
39Benedict XVI, Angelus address of November 19, 2006: vatican.va. November 21 is Pro Orantibus Day, the day of prayer for contemplative nuns and monks, "wholly given to God in prayer, silence and seclusion" (Ignispedia translation). Page pointed out by the EN Wikipedia notice "Presentation of Mary".
41National Gallery of Art, "Andrea di Bartolo: The Presentation of the Virgin": nga.gov. Museum notice quoted for the Western iconographic motif: the child alone climbing the steps of the Temple, her parents left below, the high priest and the ministers waiting for her at the top.
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