Presentation of Mary, November 21: Story, Meaning and Prayer

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, kept on November 21, celebrates the ancient tradition that Mary’s parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, brought her as a small child to the Temple in Jerusalem and offered her to God. The event is not in the Bible; it comes from a second-century writing, the Protoevangelium of James. But the Church has long celebrated what it means: Mary belonged entirely to God from her earliest years, preparing to become the living temple of his Son. In 2026 the feast falls on Saturday, November 21. Below are the story, the history and meaning of the feast, and its prayer.

The story of Mary’s presentation

The Protoevangelium of James, written in the second century, tells the story of Mary’s birth and childhood. Joachim and Anne had long been childless and had vowed to give their child to the Lord. This is its account of how they kept the vow:

And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us, and our offering be not received. And Anna said: Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father or mother. And Joachim said: So let us wait. 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 be captivated from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.

And her parents went down marvelling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel.

The Protoevangelium is not Scripture, and the Church does not vouch for its details. What the feast honors is the truth behind the story: that Mary, conceived without sin, gave herself wholly to God from the beginning of her life.

History of the feast

In the East. The feast grew out of the dedication in 543 of the New Church of St. Mary near the Temple site in Jerusalem. The Eastern Churches count the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple among their twelve great feasts.
In the West. Pope Gregory XI celebrated it at the papal court in Avignon in 1372, and it spread through the West. Pope Pius V removed it from the calendar in his reform of 1568, and Pope Sixtus V restored it in 1585.
Today. It is an obligatory memorial in the Roman calendar on November 21.

The 1916 daily missal summed it up: the feast was kept in the East as early as the seventh century and, though not recorded in the West before the eleventh, was celebrated there with a solemnity that suggests a much older origin.

What the feast means

A life given to God from the start. Mary’s presentation is a picture of her total consecration. Everything she would later say at the Annunciation, “Be it done to me according to thy word,” was already present in the child brought to the Temple.
Mary, the new temple. The child who enters the Temple will herself become the dwelling place of God when the Word is made flesh in her womb. The old Collect calls her “the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost.”
Parents who keep their promises. Joachim and Anne offer back to God the child they had begged from him. See the prayer to St. Anne.
A day for those who pray. The Church also keeps November 21 as Pro Orantibus Day, a day of prayer for cloistered monks and nuns who, like the young Mary in the Temple, give their whole lives to prayer.

The prayer of the feast

The Collect for the Presentation in the traditional Roman Missal:

O God, who didst ordain that blessed Mary ever Virgin, the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost, should this day be presented in the temple, grant, we beseech thee, that through her intercession we may deserve to be presented in the temple of thy glory. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.

A prayer on the Presentation of Mary

Written for this page:

Holy Mary, as a little child you were brought to the house of God
and you gave yourself to him with all your heart.
Help me to give myself to God as completely as you did,
not only once, but every day of my life.
Pray for children, that they may come to know and love God early,
and for all who have consecrated their lives to him in prayer.
Amen.

To give yourself to Jesus through Mary, see the total consecration to Mary.

Presentation of Mary or Presentation of the Lord?

They are different feasts. The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas) on February 2 celebrates the infant Jesus presented in the Temple forty days after his birth, as told in Luke 2:22–40. See the Presentation of the Lord. The Presentation of Mary on November 21 celebrates Mary herself brought to the Temple as a child.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

November 21. In 2026 it falls on a Saturday.

Is the Presentation of Mary in the Bible?

No. The story comes from the Protoevangelium of James, an early Christian writing that is not part of Scripture. The Church celebrates the feast for its meaning, Mary’s complete dedication to God, rather than for the details of the story.

How old was Mary when she was presented in the Temple?

According to the Protoevangelium, she was three years old.

Is the Presentation of Mary a holy day of obligation?

No. It is an obligatory memorial in the liturgy, but there is no obligation to attend Mass. See holy days of obligation.

More Marian feasts and prayers

Texts and sources

Protoevangelium of James, chapters 7–8, translated by Alexander Walker, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8 (1886), public domain (Wikisource).
Collect and historical note: The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916 daily missal), November 21, public domain (archive.org). OCR errors corrected.
Luke 1:38 (Douay-Rheims).