Gabriel announced the births of Jesus and John the Baptist.
In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel first appears to Zechariah in the Temple, announcing that his wife Elizabeth will have a son, John. Gabriel then visits Mary in Nazareth and tells her that she will conceive Jesus, the Son of God. Luke places the two announcements in the same narrative and notes that Elizabeth is already six months pregnant when Mary receives her message.
The wording is sometimes simplified as Gabriel announcing “the births,” although the Gospel scenes actually announce the pregnancies, future births, and missions of the two children. Gabriel is therefore associated with both announcements, not Raphael or Michael. In Matthew’s account, an angel also appears to Joseph in a dream, but that passage does not name the angel as Gabriel.
The Annunciation to Mary became one of Christianity’s best-known subjects in medieval and Renaissance art. Western Christianity traditionally celebrates it on March 25, nine months before Christmas.