The Season of Advent begins the end of this month. As we make ready to celebrate Christmas, I am adding a new page to The Coming of Christ Gallery of The Life of Christ section with text and five new images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, presenting the second act of the Incarnation drama, recounted in Luke 1:39-45, an event traditionally known as the Visitation. In announcing to the Virgin Mary that she has been chosen to be the Mother of the Messiah, the Angel Gabriel tells her of the pregnancy of her relative, Elizabeth, who was no longer able to conceive children. Mary hurries to visit Elizabeth to share her good news and confirm all she has just heard. The Infant John the Baptist moves in Elizabeth's womb. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she sings a song of praise to Mary, whose much-loved words have been incorporated into the Hail Mary prayer. There are no strict conventions in sacred art about placing Elizabeth to the right or the left of the Virgin Mary in Visitation imagery. Sometimes, as we see in the mixed media drawing by French Artist Michel Ciry (left) and a small linocut from Austrian-American Printmaker Helen Siegl, Elizabeth is shown with grey hair or a wrinkled face to single her out as the older of the two women. Mary is often given pride of place, glimpsed over Elizabeth's shoulder, as in German Artist Karl Caspar's lithograph of the Visitation. Dutch Artist Lodewijk leaves no doubt about the cast of characters. Elizabeth is the woman stepping out of the house in a typically North European village to welcome the haloed Mary. Only Japanese Printmaker Sadao Watanabe's depiction of the meeting in his stylized stencil print leaves me in some doubt about who is who. My choice for Mary is the woman in the more sumptuous kimono. (John Kohan)