That memorable night …

Montreal, May 23 2025 –  Montreal neighbourhoods as well as throughout the world, the Bahá’ís and their friends celebrated this auspicious occasion with joy and happiness.

In Saint-Laurent neighbourhood a celebration gathering took place via videoconference with a dozen of friends including friends from “Coeur de l’Est” and Anjou. A befitting program including videos portraying the event of that memorable night, 182 years ago, which took place in the upper chamber of a modest house in an obscure corner of the city of Shiráz in southern Iran!

In the “Tablet of visitation” revealed by the author of the Bahá’í Faith (Bahá’u’lláh) and is recited during such events, He affirms: “I testify, moreover, that with but a movement of Thy Pen Thine injunction “Be Thou” hath been enforced, and God’s hidden Secret hath been divulged, and all created things have been called into being, and all the Revelations have been sent down.”1

The event of that memorable night of May 23, was indeed a “trail-breakers of the New Day, … to so much intrigue, ignorance, depravity, cruelty, superstition and cowardice opposed a spirit exalted, unquenchable and awe-inspiring, a knowledge surprisingly profound, an eloquence sweeping in its force, a piety unexcelled in fervour, a courage leonine in its fierceness, a self-abnegation saintly in its purity, a resolve granite-like in its firmness, a vision stupendous in its range, … a standard of faith and a code of conduct that challenged and revolutionized the lives of their countrymen.”2

The year of the Báb’s declaration in 1844 is the beginning of the Bahá’í calendar, known as the Badí‘ calendar, confirmed and adopted by Bahá’u’lláh.

“The adoption of a new calendar in each dispensation is a symbol of the power of Divine Revelation to reshape human perception of material, social, and spiritual reality. Through it, sacred moments are distinguished, humanity’s place in time and space reimagined, and the rhythm of life recast.”3

With this historic Declaration the dawn of an Age that signalizes the consummation of all ages had broken.

Sources:

1. Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet of Visitation

2. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By

3. The Universal House of Justice