Verbum care factum- The Word became flesh

Verbum care factum est et habitavit in nobis, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). With these words splashed across the Church of the Annunciation our pilgrimage in  Israel began. We had crossed the border from Jordan to Israel via the King Hussein Bridge (Allenby) Terminal, which runs over the very narrow Jordan River.

The current Church is a two-story building constructed in 1969 over the site of an earlier Byzantine-era Church going back to the  4th or 5th century. Prior to this, the first shrine was probably built sometime in the middle of the 4th century and  comprised of an altar in the cave in which Mary lived. A larger structure was commissioned by Emperor Constantine, who had directed his mother, Saint Helena, to found churches commemorating important events in Jesus Christ’s life. The Church of the Annunciation was founded around the same time as the Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem).