annunciation (a nuns i ash on)

[ With the complete establishment of the new religion [Christianity] and the annunciation of her circle of dogmas arises an activity, great and intense, within the strict limits she has set. Jour. Spec. Philos., XIX. 49. Specifically-2. The announcement to Mary, Christ. 3. [ cap.] Eccles., the festival insti by angel Gabriel, of the incarnation of tuted by the church in memory of the announcement to Mary that she should bring forth a son who should be the Me iah. It is solemnized on the 25th of March. Order of the Annunciation, ( a ) The highest order of knighthood ( Ordine supremо dell' Annunziata: see Annunciade ) of the ducal house of Savoy, now the royal house of Italy, dating under its present name from 1518, when it superseded the Order of the Collar, said to have been founded by Count A made us VI. of Savoy in 1362, but probably older. The medal of the order bears a representation of the annunciation; its collar is decorated with alternate golden knots and enameled roses, the latter bearing the letters F. E. R. T., making the Latin word fert (he bears), an ancient motto of the house of Savoy, but variously otherwise interpreted. The king is the grand master of the order. See knot of Savoy, under knot. (b) An order of nuns founded about 1500 at Bourges, France, by Queen Jeanne of Valois, after her divorce from Louis XII. (c) An order of nuns founded about 1604 at Genoa, Italy, by Maria Vittoria Fornari.