Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

John the Baptist began:  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar .  (Lk 3:1). Therefore, the 

Ministry of Jesus Christ also began later that same calendar year. 

Christ's Age at His Death 

    The age of Jesus Christ at His Crucifixion can be determined from Sacred Scripture, though not precisely. 

The Gospel of Luke reveals that Jesus was about 30 years old when He began His Ministry (Lk 3:23). (More 

on this point is found in chapter 7 of this book.) And, as stated above, there are several clear indications in 

Sacred Scripture that Christ's Ministry lasted about 3  years. Therefore, according to Sacred Scripture, Jesus 

was approximately 33 years old when He died and rose from the dead. 

    The exact age of Christ Jesus on the day of His Crucifixion was explained to Blessed Anne Catherine 

Emmerich in a vision she received from God.  Christ reached the age of thirty three years and three times six 

weeks. I say three times six, because that figure was in that moment shown to me three times one after the 

other. 

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 She interprets her vision to mean that Jesus died when He was 33 years and 18 weeks old. However, 

this is not the correct interpretation of the vision. 

    God showed Blessed Anne Catherine the numbers 33 and 6, because Jesus was 33 years and 6 weeks old at 

the time of His death. Her error in interpreting the vision comes from her expectation that the age of Jesus 

Christ would be calculated from His birth to His death. Instead, the true age of Jesus Christ must be 

determined beginning with His Holy Conception, the Incarnation of God. When we think about the age of 

Jesus Christ, we cannot forget about the nine months that Jesus was in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Human 

life begins at conception. Christ's human life began at the Incarnation. 

    Also, Blessed Anne Catherine was shown her vision of the length of the life of Jesus Christ during the time 

that God was giving her visions of the Incarnation, not the birth, of Christ.  That night, as I contemplated the 

Mystery of the Incarnation, I was taught many things. 

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 God gave Blessed Anne Catherine the vision of 

numbers 33 and 6 at that time, because the age of Jesus is counted from the first moment of His life as a 

human being, as God made man, at the Incarnation. Therefore, the age of Jesus Christ at the time of His death 

was 33 years and 6 weeks, but this is counted from His conception, not His birth.

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    Blessed Anne Catherine herself admitted that she sometimes misunderstood the visions which God gave to 

her. For example, she describes a vision about the Virgin Mary, which she had once thought was a vision of 

the Annunciation, but later realized was a vision of an earlier event.  This was not the Annunciation, for I saw 

that happen later in Nazareth. I must, however, once have thought that I saw the appearance of an angel here 

too, for in my youth I often confused this vision with the Annunciation and thought that I saw the latter 

happening in the Temple. 

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    Counting from the Incarnation then, Jesus Christ was  33 years and 6 weeks old on the day of the 

Crucifixion. His Ministry lasted about 3  years. Therefore, counting from conception, Jesus was just over 

29  years old, was closer to 30 years of age than to 29, and was in His 30th year of life, at the beginning of His 

Ministry. 

The Day and Month of the Crucifixion 

    Sacred Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday, the 14th of Nisan, (the day on which 

Passover begins at sunset). Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich's visions from God tell us that the length of 

Christ's life, from His Holy Conception to His Crucifixion, was 33 years and six weeks. We can therefore 

determine the day of the month on which Jesus died, if we know the day and month of His Holy Conception. 

     [On March 25th, 1821, Sister Emmerich said:] Last night I saw the Annunciation as a Feast of the Church, 

and was once more definitely informed that at this moment the Blessed Virgin had already been with child for 

four weeks. This was expressly told me because I had already seen the Annunciation on the 25th of February, 

but had rejected the vision and had not related it. 

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    Blessed Anne Catherine often received visions on the actual day of the month that the event in the vision 

occurred. She also received visions of the same events on the day of the month that the Church celebrates the 

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