The Feast of the Annunciaton, which commemorates the appearance of St Gabriel the Archangel to the Virgin Mary announcing that she would conceive a son, Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, occurs on 25 March.

The Annunciation has been depicted in paintings and stained glass many, many times, and in the western tradition, madonna lilies, Lilium candidum, symbols of the Virgin’s purity, are nearly always present.  The image here is of a mural painted by Vanessa Bell in the early 1940s, in St Michael and All Angels church, Berwick, East Sussex.