Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

    Sacred Scripture tells us that there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee on the third day. However, this cannot 

be the third day counting from the day of John's dispute with the Pharisees, for Jesus did not decide to go to 

Galilee until the fourth day:   

1.  John's dispute with the Pharisees 

2.  John sees Jesus:  Behold the Lamb of God  

3.  John sees Jesus again:  Behold the Lamb of God  

4.  Jesus decides to go to Galilee. 

The expression  the third day  could refer to the third day after Jesus arrived in Galilee, or the third day after 

the call of Nathanael, or it could even refer to the third day of the week, Tuesday. 

    According to Blessed Anne Catherine, the wedding at Cana lasted for 4 days.

435

 She describes the order of 

events as follows:  the feast of Hanukah began (on Tues. Dec. 24), then a Sabbath (Sat. Dec. 28), then the 

wedding for 4 days, then another Sabbath (Sat. Jan. 4).

436

 From her description of these events, it seems that 

the Sabbath followed immediately after the fourth day of the wedding celebration, so that the 4 days of the 

wedding at Cana would be Tuesday to Friday (Dec. 31 to Jan. 3). Dec. 31 of that year was also Tevet 2, the 

last day of Hanukah. Now Tuesday is the third day of the week, but there must be more to the statement in 

Sacred Scripture:  On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee .  (Jn 2:1). 

    Blessed Anne Catherine tells us that Jesus traveled to Cana on the day after the Sabbath; that Sabbath was 

the one following the start of Hanukah. Supposing that Jesus arrived in Cana that same day, Sunday, Dec. 29, 

then the wedding began on Tuesday, the third day after Jesus arrived at Cana in Galilee. This interpretation of 

these events fits the description given by Sacred Scripture. John 1:43 has Jesus deciding to go to Galilee; some 

events follow, including the call of Philip and Nathanael; then, on the third day that Jesus arrived at Cana in 

Galilee, a wedding ceremony began at Cana. Following the wedding and the subsequent Sabbath, Blessed 

Anne Catherine mentions a two day fast.

437

 This fast must be the fast of Tevet 10, which that year fell on 

Wednesday, Jan. 8. 

First Passover of Christ's Ministry 

     The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who 

were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers at their business. And making a whip of 

cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the 

money changers and overturned their tables.  (Jn 2:13 15). 

    This passage is the first description of a Passover in the Gospel of John and is found near the beginning of 

the Gospel. Many scholars consider this to be the first Passover of Christ's Ministry. Blessed Anne Catherine 

Emmerich confirms that this Passover was the first of Christ's Ministry. She also tells us that Jesus drove the 

buyers and sellers out of the Temple on the first day of this Passover (Nisan 15). She describes the sacrifice of 

the Paschal lambs as occurring on the previous day, then the Passover supper in the evening, followed by the 

conflict in the Temple the next morning.

438

 That evening (after the conflict), the first fruits of the grain harvest 

were cut, in preparation for the offering of the first fruits the next morning (Nisan 16; the morning after the 

first Sabbath of the Passover, cf. Lev 23:15 17). 

    This first day of Passover (Nisan 15) coincided with the Sabbath in that year, 

A.D.

 16. Blessed Anne 

Catherine describes the first day of Nisan (earlier that month) as both the feast of the New Moon (Rosh 

Hodesh) and the Sabbath.

439

 In 

A.D.

 16, the new moon of March occurred on March 27 at 06:00 Jerusalem 

Standard Time.

440

 Ordinarily, when the start of the month is determined by calculation, this would make 

March 27 as Nisan 1. However, in 

A.D.

 16, March 27 was a Friday and so Nisan 1 was delayed until Saturday 

in order to prevent the first holy day of Passover (Nisan 15) from falling also on a Friday and interfering with 

the preparation day of the Sabbath. Thus, the day when Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple 

was also a Saturday, Nisan 15 and April 11 of 

A.D.

 16. 

    Blessed Anne Catherine correctly indicates that the first day of Nisan was a Sabbath. In 

A.D.

 16, this could 

only have occurred if Jewish calendar months during that period of time were determined by calculation and 

with modifications from a set of rules. If the calendar was determined by observation, or by observation 

modified by a set of rules, the crescent new moon would not have been seen until the evening of March 28, 

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