Ascension of Jesus to facilitate the obligation to attend Mass. Saint Jerome held that it was of Apostolic origin, but in fact the ascension was originally part of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit), and developed as a separate celebration only slowly from the late 4th century onward. In the Catholic tradition it begins with a three-day "rogation" to ask for God's mercy, and the feast itself includes a procession of torches and banners symbolising Christ's journey to the Mount of Olives and entry into heaven, the extinguishing of the Paschal candle, and an all-night vigil; white is the liturgical colour. The
Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem wall. On the floor, inside a stone frame, is a slab of stone called the "Ascension Rock". The octagonal ædicule surrounds the Ascension rock, said to contain the right footprint of Christ. The section bearing the left footprint having been taken to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Middle Ages. The faithful believe that the impression was made as Jesus ascended into Heaven and is venerated as the last point on earth touched by the incarnate Christ. The mosque that stands southwest of the former Church of the Ascension, known as the "zawiya" of Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, consists of two edifices: the