Many celebrations honoring Mary began in the Eastern church in the early centuries of Christianity. A church in Jerusalem was dedicated to Mary on this day in the year 543. In the fifteenth century the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary was brought to the West.

That title came from an ancient legend that Mary’s parents, Ann and Joachim, had offered her to God when she was three years old. They brought her to the Temple to consecrate her to God’s service.

For Christians in the East, this day is an important holiday, and it is called the “Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.” Mary herself is called God’s temple, the place where God came to live. The feast turns our thoughts to Advent. When Christ comes in glory, all of us will be God’s temple.

From Companion to the Calendar, M.E.Hynes