Happy Maryland Day! …9 Months till Christmas…

My Father, A Marylander through and through, sent the following email to the family this morning. He gave me his permission to put it in the blog.  

Just for some extra context, my father grew up on a farm in Southern Maryland, near the original Maryland capital, St. Mary’s City. The family farm is on the land of one of the original “Manors” set up by the first Governor of Maryland. The farm still proudly holds the name “St. Gabriel’s Manor.”

Now here’s Dad:

Most of you know that today is March 25. Some of you know that today is the religious Feast of the Annunciation, the celebration of the day that an Angel appeared to Mary and announced that she was to give birth to Christ.

Fewer of you may have done the math to determine that exactly 9 months later on December 25 Jesus was born. The math works out fine.

Some of you may also know that today is Maryland Day. The day two ships, the Ark and the Dove, landed on Maryland shores.

Now for another interesting piece of information: Leonard Calvert, the first governor of Maryland and the son of the first Lord Baltimore, determined that he would own three Manors and he named them St. Michael’s, Trinity and St. Gabriel’s (St .Gabriel’s Manor), which we all know and love.

Why did he choose the name St. Gabriel’s?

Well…what was the name of the angel who announced to Mary at The Annunciation that she was to give birth? The angel’s name was Gabriel.

How nicely things fall together sometimes!