On February 2, forty days after Christmas, the Church keeps the Presentation of the Lord — the moment when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem "to present him to the Lord" (Luke 2:22-38). The old man Simeon took the child in his arms and sang the Nunc dimittis: "Lord, now you let your servant go in peace… for my eyes have seen your salvation." The feast is also called Candlemas, because Simeon's prophecy calls Christ "a light for revelation to the Gentiles," and the candles for the year are blessed on this day.
The feast is one of processions: the faithful carry candles into the church, the candles are blessed, and the procession enters. The practice is attested in Rome by the fifth century and has spread to every Catholic country. In Lourdes the candlelight procession is held every evening of the year — the candles carried by the sick around the Rosary Square are the same candles of February 2, kept every night.
The Presentation is also the World Day of Consecrated Life, instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1997. Religious men and women renew their vows on this day, and the feast that honours the child presented in the Temple honours those who have presented their whole lives to God.
