St. Alban the Martyr

Anna Sees Jesus Presented in the Temple

This page is part of our project "Revealing St Alban's Hidden Heritage" supported by a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to players of The National Lottery.

In this panel we see Mary presenting the infant Jesus to Simeon in the Temple at Jerusalem, while the aged prophetess Anna enters at the same moment, as related in Luke's Gospel. The quotations from chapter 2 verse 37, describing Anna, reads: "And she was a widow of about four-score and four years (84), which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day."

If you have not already done so, now look at the central panel, showing mothers weeping over dead children after the Massacre of the Holy Innocents.