Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

tells us that Joseph had not yet moved into the same house with the Virgin Mary, when, after the Incarnation, 

they journeyed to Hebron to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah (Lk 1:39, 56). 

     Mary's Annunciation took place  before Joseph's return. He had not yet settled at Nazareth when, with 

Mary, he started on the journey to Hebron. 

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     Some days after the Annunciation St. Joseph returned to Nazareth and made further arrangements for 

working at his craft in the house; he had never lived in Nazareth before and had not spent more than a few 

days there. 

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    In this way, Blessed Anne Catherine details what is also mentioned in Sacred Scripture, that the 

Annunciation and the Incarnation occurred soon after Joseph and the Virgin Mary were married, but before 

they came to live in the same house.  The Virgin Mary received Jesus, the Inheritance of Israel, after her 

marriage ceremony, but before Joseph had arrived at the house in Nazareth. 

    Why did the Incarnation take place after the marriage of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary, not before? 

because the Promise to the Israelites was that the Messiah would be born a descendent of David. Sacred 

Scripture tells us that Joseph was a descendent of David (Mt 1:6 16), as was the Virgin Mary (Lk 3:23 31).

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Even though Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, he was legally the father of Jesus (under Jewish 

religious law), because he was lawfully married to the Virgin Mary before the Incarnation occurred. In this 

way, the Promise that the Messiah would be a descendent of David was fulfilled both through Joseph's lineage 

(by the law) and through the Virgin Mary's lineage (by the flesh). And so it was important that the betrothal of 

Joseph and Mary take place before the Incarnation, so that the Promise would be doubly fulfilled, through 

Joseph by the law, and through the Virgin Mary by the flesh. 

The Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth 

     In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the 

house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in 

her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, `Blessed are you 

among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!'   (Lk  1:39 43). 

    Sacred Scripture does not say that the Virgin Mary left for the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth 

immediately after the Incarnation. The phrase  In those days  simply means `in that time period,' and does 

not imply immediate action. The phrase  went with haste  does not mean that Mary started her journey right 

away, but only that, when it was time to leave, she traveled quickly. 

     When the Blessed Virgin felt that the Word was made Flesh in her, she was conscious of a great desire to 

pay an immediate visit to her cousin Elisabeth at Jutta near Hebron, whom the angel had told her was now six 

months with child. As the time was now drawing near when Joseph wished to go up to Jerusalem for the 

Passover, Our Lady decided to accompany him in order to help Elisabeth in her pregnancy. 

296

    According to Blessed Anne Catherine, the Virgin Mary waited until the time of Passover to leave Nazareth. 

She and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem, attended the Passover feast, and then went to visit Zechariah and 

Elizabeth. The day before Mary and Elizabeth met, Zechariah returned from the Passover feast to Elizabeth. 

The following day, Joseph and the Virgin Mary arrived at Jutta, where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived.

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Joseph and Mary arrived after Zechariah, perhaps because they took a longer route in order to avoid the 

crowds.

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    On what day did the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth occur? The Passover of 15 

B.C.

 began with 

the Preparation Day on Nisan 14, which was April 11 and a Wednesday.

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 The first day of Passover is Nisan 

15 (a Thursday that year), so the seventh and last day of Passover would then have been the following 

Wednesday, April 18. The seventh day of Passover, Nisan 21, is a holy day on which devout Jews do no work 

(Ex 12:16 18). A devout Jew would not travel far on such a day. So Zechariah, a Jewish priest, could not have 

set out from the Passover to his home in Jutta, about 25 miles away, until Wednesday evening, April 18,  

when the day ended at sunset, at the earliest. 

    How long did it take to travel from Jerusalem to Jutta? This distance is about 25 miles, as a straight line on a 

map, but a traveler might have to take a somewhat longer route, in order to follow roads or avoid geographical 

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