Silence, Annunciation, Incarnation

 
 On March 25, we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, commemorating the event where Archangel Gabriel "declared unto Mary" and she "conceived by the Holy Spirit".

The propers for today's Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be found at Usus Antiquior here.

The Annunciation was the moment when the Incarnation occurred.  That is, it was nine months before the Nativity, at the moment of Mary's response to Gabriel, "Be it done to me according to thy word," that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

This moment has inspired many artists and writers. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) wrote a cycle of poems on the life of the Virgin Mary, one of which was about the Annunciation. The poem suggests an intense silence at the first moment of the encounter between the Archangel and Mary, before Gabriel greeted Mary and revealed his purpose.

While Rilke's theology is often unorthodox, his description of this silence before the Annunciation is compelling. Both the Archangel and Mary are entirely present to one another and, at that moment, in a state of holy fear. Perhaps Mary is in awe because she instantly recognizes Gabriel as a messenger of God, and perhaps Gabriel is in awe because he instantly recognizes Mary's profound purity.

The last lines of the poem, in rough translation, are as follows:

"She and he,
seeing and seen,
nowhere other than where they were.
Such sight frightens, and both were scared . . .
Then the angel sang his song."

When composing the poem, Rilke might well have meditated on the above image of The Annunciation (1333) by Simone Martini (ca. 1284 to ca. 1344). There, Gabriel and Mary gaze upon one another, their eyes meeting.

Although many paintings of the Annunciation show the Archangel giving Our Lady a lily, in Martini's portrayal, the lilies -- symbol of Mary's purity -- are in a vase. Gabriel instead presents Mary with an olive branch, symbol of peace. Gabriel also wears a crown of olive, which is the crown of the Holy Ghost.

The Ave Maria Prayer

Ave, Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et en hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.

(Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.)

The Annunciation Lily

 

March 24 is the traditional feast day of St Gabriel, Archangel.*  The Archangel Gabriel's encounter with Our Lady at the time of her fiat has inspired countless works of art.  In an Annunciation painting by Giovanni Bellini, a detail of which is shown above, Gabriel presents Mary with a lilium candidum, commonly known as the Madonna Lily -- and also as the Annunciation Lily.

Many sources describe the lily as signifying the Virgin's freedom from sin and so it does.  But, interestingly,  some see the lily as also standing for Our Lord's purity, such that the Archangel is symbolically giving Our Lord to the Blessed Mother when he presents her with the flower.

One should also note that in Bellini's lovely painting Archangel Gabriel is wearing a crown of olive.  Olive branches signify peace -- in this instance, the peace initiated by Our Lord's incarnation.  And, as noted in the post Silence, Annunciation, Incarnation, which features a painting by Simone Martini, the crown of olives can be seen as the crown of the Holy Ghost.

 

*This was the feast date set by the 1921 calendar.  In 1969 it was moved to September 29, merging it with the feast of other archangels.

Image:  Detail from Bellini's Annunciation.  From Wikimedia Commons.  In the public domain.

The Archangel Gabriel and The Lily

In the traditional Roman Catholic calendar, March 24 is the feast day of the Archangel Gabriel, the angel of the Annunciation.* Gabriel is often depicted as presenting a lily to the Virgin Mary on that occasion. For this reason, the Lilium Candidum is called the Annunciation Lily. It is also known by other names related to Mary, such as the Madonna Lily.

Solomon's Canticle of Canticles, 2:2, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters," can be understood as referring to the Virgin Mary as well as to the Church.

While his role as the angel of the Annunciation is likely the most prominent in the minds of the faithful, it was not his only mention in sacred scripture.  New Advent has an interesting entry about this.

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*This was the feast date set by the 1921 calendar.  In 1969, it was moved to September 29, merging it with the feast of other archangels.

The image above is The Annunciation (ca. 1489) by Pietro Perugino.
Scripture from the Douay-Rheims version.   For another lovely image of Archangel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation, see the post Silence, Annunciation, Incarnation.