Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Season: Passiontide
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Rank: Double of the First Class
Color: white
Quote for the day
Our Lady
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.”
Luke 1:38, Douay-Rheims
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - March 25
The Annunciation of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. — At Rome, St. Quirinus, martyr, who after losing his goods, suffering imprisonment in a dark dungeon, and being severely scourged, was put to death with the sword, and thrown into the Tiber. The Christians found his body in the island of St. Bartholomew and buried it in the Pontian cemetery. — In the same city, two hundred and sixty-two holy martyrs. — At Sirmium, the martyrdom of St. Irenaeus, bishop. In the time of the emperor Maximian, under the governor Probus, after undergoing bitter torments, and a painful imprisonment for many days, he was beheaded. — At Nicomedia, St. Dula, the servant of a soldier, who was killed for the preservation of her chastity, and deserved the crown of martyrdom. — At Jerusalem, the commemoration of the good Thief, who confessed Christ on the cross, and deserved to hear from Him these words: "This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." — At Laodicea, St. Pelagius, bishop, who having endured exile and other afflictions for the Catholic faith under Valens, rested in the Lord. — At Pistoja, the holy confessors Barontius and Desiderius. — In Indre, an island of the Loire, the abbot St. Hermelandus, whose glorious life is attested by signal miracles.
Highlighted saint
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The fiat by which the Word was made flesh.
At the Annunciation, Our Lady receives the message of the angel and consents in faith to the Incarnation.
Her witness teaches perfect obedience, humility, and surrender to God's will. The life of grace begins not in self-assertion, but in fiat.
Virtue to practice
Obedient fiat.
Error to resist
The modern claim that freedom means self-rule rather than joyful obedience to God.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not measure fidelity by visibility. A quiet fiat, made before God and kept through the day, may carry hidden grace.
Imitate today
- Say yes to God's will without delay.
- Practice humility before mysteries greater than yourself.
- Receive Christ through obedient faith.
Sources
- Luke 1:26-38, Douay-Rheims.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, March 25.
From Matins
The Word takes flesh at Mary's lowly Fiat.
Matins - Second Nocturn - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Pope St. Leo the Great and St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Sermon for Christmas and Commentary on St. Luke
“The Immortal laid Himself under the laws of death.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary sets the Annunciation under Isaias, Gabriel, Mary's virginity, and the mystery of the Word made flesh.
- Pope St. Leo teaches that the promised Seed of the woman is Christ, God and man in one Person, born of a Virgin to overthrow the serpent and heal the poisoned race of Adam.
- St. Ambrose teaches Mary's modesty, faith, and humility: though chosen to be Mother of God, she declares herself the handmaid of the Lord.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let Mary's Fiat teach the whole soul: chastity, listening, fear of God, humble obedience, and exact confession that God truly became man for our salvation.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. II, Spring, Second and Third Nocturns for the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lessons iv-viii.
- Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.
Breviary Witness
The fiat by which the Word was made flesh.
Matins - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Breviary witness
- The Breviary office of the Annunciation contemplates the angel's message and Our Lady's obedient consent.
- The mystery teaches that the Incarnation enters history through humility, faith, and fiat.
For the pilgrim in exile
Say yes where God asks today. A hidden fiat may bear more fruit than many visible works.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for March 25, Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Luke 1:26-38, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
Be it done to me according to thy word.
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Luke 1:26-38
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.”
What Our Lord teaches
- The Incarnation begins in Mary's obedient consent, not in the noise of human power.
- Grace does not destroy humility; it makes humility fruitful beyond all measure.
Virtue to practice
Say yes to God's will promptly, especially when the duty is hidden and costly.
Error to resist
The modern claim that freedom means self-rule rather than joyful obedience to God.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not measure your fidelity by how visible it is. A quiet fiat, made before God and kept through the day, may carry more grace than a thousand admired works.
Sources
- Luke 1:26-38, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the Annunciation.
Meditation
The Cross in Exile
The day teaches the soul that humiliation, contradiction, and penance do not mean God has lost His rule. The Cross is the form by which fidelity is purified. The Church in exile must learn to suffer without surrendering truth and to repent without losing hope.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, place this day beneath Thy Providence. Keep my mind in truth, my heart in charity, and my work in obedience until evening.
Thought for the pilgrim
The faithful soul receives the day before it spends it.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Make one deliberate act of recollection before beginning ordinary labor.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.