Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

    The number of days from the Resurrection to the Ascension of Jesus Christ was 40 days. Sacred Scripture 

tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples after His Resurrection over the course of 40 days. Jesus certainly 

appeared to His disciples on the day of the Resurrection and on the day of the Ascension. Therefore, the 40 

days is to be counted inclusively, so that the day of the Resurrection is counted as day 1 and the day of the 

Ascension is counted as day 40. 

    Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. Counting inclusively 40 days from any Sunday will bring us to a 

Thursday, so that Jesus must have ascended to Heaven on a Thursday. And it is on Thursday that the Church 

celebrates the Ascension of Jesus Christ, sometimes called  Ascension Thursday.  

    Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 7 of 

A.D.

 19, and He rose from the dead on Sunday, April 9 of 

A.D.

 19. 

The Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven, on the 40th day of the Resurrection, must then have occurred on 

Thursday, May 18 of 

A.D.

 19. 

The Time of Day of the Ascension 

    Sacred Scripture does not tell us at what time of day the Ascension of Jesus to Heaven occurred. Blessed 

Anne Catherine Emmerich, based on her visions from God, indicates that the Ascension happened sometime 

in late morning, but she does not give an exact time. 

    First,  Jesus and the Eleven Apostles, the Virgin Mary, and other disciples left the house of the Last Supper 

at dawn on the day of the Ascension. Jesus walked through the streets of Jerusalem, retracing the path He 

traveled during His Passion, and teaching the disciples at some length. The crowd grew, and Jesus and the 

disciples left the city and went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus stopped along the way and continued to teach the 

crowd for some time. Jesus then continued up the Mount, towards its summit.

147

     The crowd followed as in a procession, ascending by the different paths that encircled the mount . Jesus 

at each instant shone more brightly and His motions became more rapid. The disciples hastened after Him, but 

it was impossible to overtake Him. When He reached the top of the mountain, He was resplendent as a beam 

of white sunlight. A shining circle, glancing in all the colors of the rainbow, fell from Heaven around Him . 

Jesus Himself shone still more brightly than the glory about Him. He laid the left hand on His breast and, 

raising the right, turned slowly around, blessing the whole world. 

148

     And now the rays of light from above united with  the glory emanating from Jesus, and I saw Him 

disappearing, dissolving as it were in the light from Heaven, vanishing as He rose . He disappeared as it were 

in a cloud of light. 

149

    After Jesus ascended to Heaven, two angels appeared and spoke to the disciples (Acts 1:10 11). The 

disciples remained on the Mount of Olives for some time, talking with one another and wondering at the 

miraculous event that had just occurred.

150

  It was past noon before the crowd entirely dispersed. 

151

 Here 

Blessed Anne Catherine gives us an indication that the Ascension occurred before noontime, and that the 

crowd remained until sometime in the afternoon. If the Ascension had occurred at or after noon, she would 

have had no reason to remark that the crowd remained on the Mount of Olives until after noontime they 

would not have had to remain any additional length of time to disperse after noontime. 

    Jesus and the disciples began their walk to the Mount of Olives at about dawn, and according to Blessed 

Anne Catherine's description, they spent a considerable time retracing part of the Way of the Cross, and 

additional time listening to Jesus teach on the Mount of Olives.

152

 All these events must have filled up the early 

morning hours. Therefore, the Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven occurred sometime in mid to late morning, 

but before noontime. 

Between the Ascension and Pentecost 

     And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of 

the Father, which, he said, `you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall 

be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'   (Acts 1:4 5). 

54