Author: Nancy Condee (condee@pitt.edu)
Maintained by: David J. Birnbaum (djbpitt@gmail.com)
Last modified:
2015-01-02T20:18:05+0000
Festivals
- Annunciation
- the announcement by the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive
a Son of the Holy Spirit to be called Jesus
- Nativity (Christmas)
- the birth of Jesus Christ
- Presentation of Christ (Purification of the Virgin)
- the occasion when the Virgin Mary, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in
Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the birth of her son and to present
Jesus to God as her firstborn
- Baptism
- Jesus is baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist
- Resurrection of Lazarus
- Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, after being entombed for four days, is raised
from the dead by Jesus
- Transfiguration
- the occasion upon which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and
John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured,
his face and clothes becoming white and shining as light
- Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)
- the Sunday (preceding Easter) on which Jesus made a triumphal entry into
Jerusalem
- Crucifixion
- Jesus Christ crucified
- Resurrection (Easter)
- on the third day after being entombed, Jesus Christ rises from the dead
- Ascension
- the ascent of Jesus Christ into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection.
According to The Acts of the Apostles, after appearing to the Apostles on various
occasions during a period of 40 days, Jesus was taken up in their presence and was
then hidden from them by a cloud, a frequent biblical image signifying the presence
of God
- Pentecost
- the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, which occurred on the Jewish
Pentecost, after the death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ, marking the
beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world
- Assumption (Dormition) of the Virgin
- the belief that, after her death, Mary was taken (assumed) into heaven, body and
soul (the episode does not figure in the New Testament)