promissory note, that is, a written promise that he will pay at a
certain time. Now, those who died before Our Lord was born had the Holy
Scripture promising that Christ would pay for them and for their sins
when He would come. So God saved them on account of this promise and
kept them free from suffering till Our Lord came. If any died when they
were little infants, their parents answered for them as godfathers and
godmothers do now for infants at Baptism.

74 Q. On what day was the Son of God conceived and made man?
A. The Son of God was conceived and made man on Annunciation Day--the
day on which the Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that
she was to be the Mother of God.

"Annunciation Day" is the 25th of March. You can easily remember that
feast. Everybody knows that St. Patrick's Day is on the 17th of March,
and therefore eight days after it comes Annunciation day. There is
another feast coming in between them, the feast of St. Joseph, on the
19th of March. Therefore it is easy to remember these three feasts
coming all in March and almost together. Annunciation is the name given
to that day after the angel came, but it was not called so before.
Annunciation means to tell or make known, and this is the day the angel
made known to the Blessed Virgin that she was selected for the high
office of Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin was expecting the Messias,
and was probably praying for His speedy arrival, as were the rest of her
people, when suddenly the angel came and said: Hail, full of grace. (See
Hail Mary Expl.).

75 Q. On what day was Christ born?
A. Christ was born on Christmas Day in a stable at Bethlehem, over
nineteen hundred years ago.

"Christmas Day" is the 25th of December, one week before the New Year.
It is called Christmas Day since the time Our Lord was born, over
nineteen hundred years ago. "In a stable at Bethlehem." The story of Our
Lord's birth is in every way a very sad one. The Blessed Virgin and St.
Joseph lived in Palestine--called also the Holy Land since Our Lord
lived there. Palestine was the country where God's people, the Jews,
lived, and at the time we are speaking of, it was under the power of the
Roman Emperor, who had his soldiers and governor there. He wished to
find out how many people were there, and so he ordered a census or count
of the people to be made. (Luke 2). We take the census very differently
now from what they did then. We in the United States, by or