The Blessed Virgin Mary |
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God. |
In general, the theology and history of Mary the Mother of God follow the |
chronological order of their respective sources, i.e. the Old Testament, the New |
Testament, the early Christian and Jewish witnesses. |
I. MARY PROPHESIED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT |
The Old Testament refers to Our Blessed Lady both in its prophecies and its |
types or figures. |
Genesis 3:15 |
The first prophecy referring to Mary is found in the very opening chapters of the |
Book of Genesis (3:15): "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and |
thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her |
heel." This rendering appears to differ in two respects from the original Hebrew |
text: |
(1) First, the Hebrew text employs the same verb for the two renderings "she |
shall crush" and "thou shalt lie in wait"; the Septuagint renders the verb both |
times by terein, to lie in wait; Aquila, Symmachus, the Syriac and the Samaritan |
translators, interpret the Hebrew verb by expressions which mean to crush, to |
bruise; the Itala renders the terein employed in the Septuagint by the Latin |
"servare", to guard; St. Jerome [1] maintains that the Hebrew verb has the |
meaning of "crushing" or "bruising" rather than of "lying in wait", "guarding". Still |
in his own work, which became the Latin Vulgate, the saint employs the verb "to |
crush" (conterere) in the first place, and "to lie in wait" (insidiari) in the second. |
Hence the punishment inflicted on the serpent and the serpent's retaliation are |
expressed by the same verb: but the wound of the serpent is mortal, since it |
affects his head, while the wound inflicted by the serpent is not mortal, being |
inflicted on the heel. |
(2) The second point of difference between the Hebrew text and our version |
concerns the agent who is to inflict the mortal wound on the servant: our version |
agrees with the present Vulgate text in reading "she" (ipsa) which refers to the |
woman, while the Hebrew text reads hu' (autos, ipse) which refers to the seed of |
the woman. According to our version, and the Vulgate reading, the woman herself |
will win the victory; according to the Hebrew text, she will be victorious through |
her seed. In this sense does the Bull "Ineffabilis" ascribe the victory to Our |
Blessed Lady. The reading "she" (ipsa) is neither an intentional corruption of the |
original text, nor is it an accidental error; it is rather an explanatory version |
expressing explicitly the fact of Our Lady's part in the victory over the serpent, |
which is contained implicitly in the Hebrew original. The strength of the Christian |
tradition as to Mary's share in this victory may be inferred from the retention of |
"she" in St. Jerome's version in spite of his acquaintance with the original text |
and with the reading "he" (ipse) in the old Latin version. |
As it is quite commonly admitted that the Divine judgment is directed not so |
much against the serpent as against the originator of sin, the seed of the serpent |
denotes the followers of the serpent, the "brood of vipers", the "generation of |
vipers", those whose father is the Devil, the children of evil, imitando, non |
nascendo (Augustine). [2] One may be tempted to understand the seed of the |
woman in a similar collective sense, embracing all who are born of God. But |
seed not only may denote a particular person, but has such a meaning usually, if |
the context allows it. St. Paul (Galatians 3:16) gives this explanation of the word |
"seed" as it occurs in the patriarchal promises: "To Abraham were the promises |
made and to his seed. He saith not, and to his seeds, as of many; but as of one, |
and to his seed, which is Christ". Finally the expression "the woman" in the |
clause "I will put enmities between thee and the woman" is a literal version of the |
Hebrew text. The Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius-Kautzsch [3] establishes the |
rule: Peculiar to the Hebrew is the use of the article in order to indicate a person |
or thing, not yet known and not yet to be more clearly described, either as |
present or as to be taken into account under the contextual conditions. Since our |
indefinite article serves this purpose, we may translate: "I will put enmities |
between you and a woman". Hence the prophecy promises a woman, Our |
Blessed Lady, who will be the enemy of the serpent to a marked degree; |
besides, the same woman will be victorious over the Devil, at least through her |
offspring. The completeness of the victory is emphasized by the contextual |
phrase "earth shall thou eat", which is according to Winckler [4] a common |
old-oriental expression denoting the deepest humiliation [5]. |
Isaias 7:1-17 |
The second prophecy referring to Mary is found in Isaias 7:1-17. Critics have |
endeavoured to represent this passage as a combination of occurrences and |
sayings from the life of the prophet written down by an unknown hand [6]. The |
credibility of the contents is not necessarily affected by this theory, since |
prophetic traditions may be recorded by any writer without losing their credibility. |
But even Duhm considers the theory as an apparent attempt on the part of the |
critics to find out what the readers are willing to bear patiently; he believes it is a |
real misfortune for criticism itself that it has found a mere compilation in a |
passage which so graphically describes the birth-hour of faith. |
According to IV Kings 16:1-4, and II Paralipomenon 27:1-8, Achaz, who began |
his reign 736 B.C., openly professed idolatry, so that God gave him into the |
hands of the kings of Syria and Israel. It appears that an alliance had been |
concluded between Phacee, King of Israel, and Rasin, King of Damascus, for the |
purpose of opposing a barrier to the Assyrian aggressions. Achaz, who |
cherished Assyrian proclivities, did not join the coalition; the allies invaded his |
territory, intending to substitute for Achaz a more subservient ruler, a certain son |
of Tabeel. While Rasin was occupied in reconquering the maritime city Elath, |
Phacee alone proceeded against Juda, "but they could not prevail". After Elath |
had fallen, Rasin joined his forces with those of Phacee; "Syria hath rested upon |
Ephraim", whereupon "his (Achaz') heart was moved, and the heart of his people, |
as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind". Immediate preparations |
must be made for a protracted siege, and Achaz is busily engaged near the |
upper pool from which the city received the greater part of its water supply. |
Hence the Lord says to Isaias: "Go forth to meet Achaz. . .at the end of the |
conduit of the upper pool". The prophet's commission is of an extremely |
consoling nature: "See thou be quiet; hear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of |
the two tails of these firebrands". The scheme of the enemies shall not succeed: |
"it shall not stand, and this shall not be." What is to be the particular fate of the |
enemies? |
Syria will gain nothing, it will remain as it has been in the past: "the head |
of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin". |
Ephraim too will remain in the immediate future as it has been hitherto: |
"the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria the son of |
Romelia"; but after sixty-five years it will be destroyed, "within threescore |
and five years Ephraim shall cease to be a people". |
Achaz had abandoned the Lord for Moloch, and put his trust in an alliance with |
Assyria; hence the conditional prophecy concerning Juda, "if you will not believe, |
you shall not continue". The test of belief follows immediately: "ask thee a sign of |
the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of hell or unto the height above". Achaz |
hypocritically answers: "I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord", thus refusing |
to express his belief in God, and preferring his Assyrian policy. The king prefers |
Assyria to God, and Assyria will come: "the Lord shall bring upon thee and upon |
thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the |
time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians." The |
house of David has been grievous not merely to men, but to God also by its |
unbelief; hence it "shall not continue", and, by an irony of Divine punishment, it |
will be destroyed by those very men whom it preferred to God. |
Still the general Messianic promises made to the house of David cannot be |
frustrated: "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, |
and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and |
honey, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before |
the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou |
abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings." Without answering a |
number of questions connected with the explanation of the prophecy, we must |
confine ourselves here to the bare proof that the virgin mentioned by the prophet |
is Mary the Mother of Christ. The argument is based on the premises that the |
prophet's virgin is the mother of Emmanuel, and that Emmanuel is Christ. The |
relation of the virgin to Emmanuel is clearly expressed in the inspired words; the |
same indicate also the identity of Emmanuel with the Christ. |
The connection of Emmanuel with the extraordinary Divine sign which was to be |
given to Achaz predisposes one to see in the child more than a common boy. In |
8:8, the prophet ascribes to him the ownership of the land of Juda: "the |
stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel". In 9:6, |
the government of the house of David is said to be upon his shoulders, and he is |
described as being endowed with more than human qualities: "a child is born to |
us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulders, and his |
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the |
World to Come, and the Prince of Peace". Finally, the prophet calls Emmanuel |
"a rod out of the root of Jesse" endowed with "the spirit of the Lord. . .the spirit of |
wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of |
knowledge and of godliness"; his advent shall be followed by the general signs of |
the Messianic era, and the remnant of the chosen people shall be again the |
people of God (11:1-16). |
Whatever obscurity or ambiguity there may be in the prophetic text itself is |
removed by St. Matthew (1:18-25). After narrating the doubt of St. Joseph and |
the angel's assurance, "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost", the |
Evangelist proceeds: "now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the |
Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring |
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." We need not repeat the |
exposition of the passage given by Catholic commentators who answer the |
exceptions raised against the obvious meaning of the Evangelist. We may infer |
from all this that Mary is mentioned in the prophecy of Isaias as mother of Jesus |
Christ; in the light of St. Matthew's reference to the prophecy, we may add that |
the prophecy predicted also Mary's virginity untarnished by the conception of the |
Emmanuel [7]. |
Micheas 5:2-3 |
A third prophecy referring to Our Blessed Lady is contained in Micheas 5:2-3: |
"And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out |
of thee shall be come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel, and his going |
forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore will he give them |
up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth, and the remnant of his |
brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel." Though the prophet (about |
750-660 B.C.) was a contemporary of Isaias, his prophetic activity began a little |
later and ended a little earlier than that of Isaias. There can be no doubt that the |
Jews regarded the foregoing prediction as referring to the Messias. According to |
St. Matthew (2:6) the chief priests and scribes, when asked where the Messias |
was to be born, answered Herod in the words of the prophecy, "And thou |
Bethlehem the land of Juda. . ." According to St. John (7:42), the Jewish |
populace gathered at Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast asked the |
rhetorical question: "Doth not the Scripture say that Christ cometh of the seed of |
David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David was?" The Chaldee paraphrase |
of Mich. 5:2, confirms the same view: "Out of thee shall come forth unto me the |
Messias, that he may exercise dominion in Israel". The very words of the |
prophecy admit of hardly any other explanation; for "his going forth is from the |
beginning, from the days of eternity". |
But how does the prophecy refer to the Virgin Mary? Our Blessed Lady is |
denoted by the phrase, "till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth". |
It is true that "she that travaileth" has been referred to the Church (St. Jerome, |
Theodoret), or to the collection of the Gentiles united with Christ (Ribera, |
Mariana), or again to Babylon (Calmet); but, on the one hand, there is hardly a |
sufficient connection between any of these events and the promised redeemer, |
on the other hand, the passage ought to read "till the time wherein she that is |
barren shall bring forth" if any of these events were referred to by the prophet. Nor |
can "she that travaileth" be referred to Sion: Sion is spoken of without figure |
before and after the present passage so that we cannot expect the prophet to |
lapse suddenly into figurative language. Moreover, the prophecy thus explained |
would not give a satisfactory sense. The contextual phrases "the ruler in Israel", |
"his going forth", which in Hebrew implies birth, and "his brethren" denote an |
individual, not a nation; hence we infer that the bringing forth must refer to the |
same person. It has been shown that the person of the ruler is the Messias; |
hence "she that travaileth" must denote the mother of Christ, or Our Blessed |
Lady. Thus explained the whole passage becomes clear: the Messias must be |
born in Bethlehem, an insignificant village in Juda: his family must be reduced to |
poverty and obscurity before the time of his birth; as this cannot happen if the |
theocracy remains intact, if David's house continues to flourish, "therefore will he |
give them up till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth" the |
Messias. [8] |
Jeremias 21:22 |
A fourth prophecy referring to Mary is found in Jeremias 21:22; "The Lord has |
created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man". The text of |
the prophet Jeremias offers no small difficulties for the scientific interpreter; we |
shall follow the Vulgate version of the Hebrew original. But even this rendering |
has been explained in several different ways: Rosenmuller and several |
conservative Protestant interpreters defend the meaning, "a woman shall protect |
a man"; but such a motive would hardly induce the men of Israel to return to God. |
The explanation "a woman shall seek a man" hardly agrees with the text; |
besides, such an inversion of the natural order is presented in Isaias 4:1, as a |
sign of the greatest calamity. Ewald's rendering, "a woman shall change into a |
man", is hardly faithful to the original text. Other commentators see in the |
woman a type of the Synagogue or of the Church, in man the type of God, so |
that they explain the prophecy as meaning, "God will dwell again in the midst of |
the Synagogue (of the people of Israel)" or "the Church will protect the earth with |
its valiant men". But the Hebrew text hardly suggests such a meaning; besides, |
such an explanation renders the passage tautological: "Israel shall return to its |
God, for Israel will love its God". Some recent writers render the Hebrew original: |
"God creates a new thing upon the earth: the woman (wife) returns to the man |
(her husband)". According to the old law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Jeremias 3:1) the |
husband could not take back the wife once repudiated by him; but the Lord will |
do something new by allowing the faithless wife, i.e. the guilty nation, to return to |
the friendship of God. This explanation rests upon a conjectural correction of the |
text; besides, it does not necessarily bear the Messianic meaning which we |
expect in the passage. |
The Greek Fathers generally follow the Septuagint version, "The Lord has created |
salvation in a new plantation, men shall go about in safety"; but St. Athanasius |
twice [9] combines Aquila's version "God has created a new thing in woman" with |
that of the Septuagint, saying that the new plantation is Jesus Christ, and that |
the new thing created in woman is the body of the Lord, conceived within the |
virgin without the co-operation of man. St. Jerome too [10] understands the |
prophetic text of the virgin conceiving the Messias. This meaning of the passage |
satisfies the text and the context. As the Word Incarnate possessed from the |
first moment of His conception all His perfections excepting those connected |
with His bodily development, His mother is rightly said to "compass a man". No |
need to point out that such a condition of a newly conceived child is rightly called |
"a new thing upon earth". The context of the prophecy describes after a short |
general introduction (30:1-3) Israel's future freedom and restoration in four |
stanzas: 30:4-11, 12-22; 30:23; 31:14, 15-26; the first three stanzas end with the |
hope of the Messianic time. The fourth stanza, too, must be expected to have a |
similar ending. Moreover, the prophecy of Jeremias, uttered about 589 B.C. and |
understood in the sense just explained, agrees with the contemporary Messianic |
expectations based on Isaias 7:14; 9:6; Mich. 5:3. According to Jeremias, the |
mother of Christ is to differ from other mothers in this, that her child, even while |
within her womb, shall possess all those properties which constitute real |
manhood [11]. The Old Testament refers indirectly to Mary in those prophecies |
which predict the incarnation of the Word of God. |
II. OLD TESTAMENT TYPES AND FIGURES OF MARY |
In order to be sure of the typical sense, it must be revealed, i.e. it must come |
down to us through Scripture or tradition. Individual pious writers have developed |
copious analogies between certain data of the Old Testament and corresponding |
data of the New; however ingenious these developments may be, they do not |
prove that God really intended to convey the corresponding truths in the inspired |
text of the Old Testament. On the other hand, it must be kept in mind that not all |
truths contained in either Scripture or tradition have been explicitly proposed to |
the faithful as matters of belief by the explicit definition of the Church. According |
to the principle "Lex orandi est lex credenti" we must treat at least with reverence |
the numberless suggestions contained in the official prayers and liturgies of the |
Church. In this sense we must regard many of the titles bestowed on Our |
Blessed Lady in her litany and in the "Ave maris stella". The Antiphons and |
Responses found in the Offices recited on the various feasts of Our Blessed Lady |
suggest a number of types of Mary that hardly could have been brought so vividly |
to the notice of the Church's ministers in any other way. The third antiphon of |
Lauds of the Feast of the Circumcision sees in "the bush that was not burnt" |
(Exodus 3:2) a figure of Mary conceiving her Son without the loss of her virginity. |
The second antiphon of Lauds of the same Office sees in Gideon's fleece wet |
with dew while all the ground beside had remained dry (Judges 6:37-38) a type of |
Mary receiving in her womb the Word Incarnate [12]. The Office of the Blessed |
Virgin applies to Mary many passages concerning the spouse in the Canticle of |
Canticles [13] and also concerning Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, 8:22-31 |
[14]. The application to Mary of a "garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up" |
mentioned in Canticles 4:12 is only a particular instance of what has been said |
above. [15] Besides, Sara, Debbora, Judith, and Esther are variously used as |
figures of Mary; the ark of the Covenant, over which the presence of God |
manifested itself, is used as the figure of Mary carrying God Incarnate within her |
womb. But especially Eve, the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), is |
considered as a type of Mary who is the mother of all the living in the order of |
grace [16]. |
III. MARY IN THE GOSPELS |
The reader of the Gospels is at first surprised to find so little about Mary; but this |
obscurity of Mary in the Gospels has been studied at length by Blessed Peter |
Canisius [17], Auguste Nicolas [18], Cardinal Newman [19], and Very Rev. J. |
Spencer Northcote [20]. In the commentary on the "Magnificat", published 1518, |
even Luther expresses the belief that the Gospels praise Mary sufficiently by |
calling her (eight times) the Mother of Jesus. In the following paragraphs we shall |
briefly group together what we know of Our Blessed Lady's life before the birth of |
her Divine Son, during the hidden life of Our Lord, during His public life and after |
His resurrection. |
Mary's Davidic descent |
St. Luke (2:4) says that St. Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be |
enrolled, "because he was of the house and Family of David". As if to exclude all |
doubt concerning the Davidic descent of Mary, the Evangelist (1:32, 69) states |
that the child born of Mary without the intervention of man shall be given "the |
throne of David His father", and that the Lord God has "raised up an horn of |
salvation to us in the house of David his servant". [21] St. Paul too testifies that |
Jesus Christ "was made to him [God] of the seed of David, according to the |
flesh" (Romans 1:3). If Mary were not of Davidic descent, her Son conceived by |
the Holy Ghost could not be said to be "of the seed of David". Hence |
commentators tell us that in the text "in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was |
sent from God. . .to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the |
house of David" (Luke 1:26-27); the last clause "of the house of David" does not |
refer to Joseph, but to the virgin who is the principal person in the narrative; thus |
we have a direct inspired testimony to Mary's Davidic descent. [22] |
While commentators generally agree that the genealogy found at the beginning of |
the first Gospel is that of St. Joseph, Annius of Viterbo proposes the opinion, |
already alluded to by St. Augustine, that St. Luke's genealogy gives the pedigree |
of Mary. The text of the third Gospel (3:23) may be explained so as to make Heli |
the father of Mary: "Jesus. . .being the son (as it was supposed of Joseph) of |
Heli", or "Jesus. . .being the son of Joseph, as it was supposed, the son of Heli" |
(Lightfoot, Bengel, etc.), or again "Jesus. . .being as it was supposed the son of |
Joseph, who was [the son-in-law] of Heli" [23]. In these explanations the name of |
Mary is not mentioned explicitly, but it is implied; for Jesus is the Son of Heli |
through Mary. |
Her parents |
Though few commentators adhere to this view of St. Luke's genealogy, the name |
of Mary's father, Heli, agrees with the name given to Or Lady's father in a tradition |
founded upon the report of the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal Gospel |
which dates from the end of the second century. According to this document the |
parents of Mary are Joachim and Anna. Now, the name Joachim is only a |
variation of Heli or Eliachim, substituting one Divine name (Yahweh) for the other |
(Eli, Elohim). The tradition as to the parents of Mary, found in the Gospel of |
James, is reproduced by St. John Damascene [24], St. Gregory of Nyssa [25], |
St. Germanus of Constantinople [26], pseudo-Epiphan. [27], pseudo-Hilar. [28], |
and St. Fulbert of Chartres [29]. Some of these writers add that the birth of Mary |
was obtained by the fervent prayers of Joachim and Anna in their advanced age. |
As Joachim belonged to the royal family of David, so Anna is supposed to have |
been a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron; thus Christ the Eternal King |
and Priest sprang from both a royal and priestly family [30]. |
The hometown of Mary's parents |
According to Luke 1:26, Mary lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, at the time of |
the Annunciation. A certain tradition maintains that she was conceived and born |
in the same house in which the Word became flesh [31]. Another tradition based |
on the Gospel of James regards Sephoris as the earliest home of Joachim and |
Anna, though they are said to have lived later on in Jerusalem, in a house called |
by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem [32] Probatica. Probatica, a name probably |
derived from the sanctuary's nearness to the pond called Probatica or Bethsaida |
in John 5:2. It was here that Mary was born. About a century later, about A.D. |
750, St. John Damascene [33] repeats the statement that Mary was born in the |
Probatica. |
It is said that, as early as in the fifth century the empress Eudoxia built a church |
over the place where Mary was born, and where her parents lived in their old age. |
The present Church of St. Anna stands at a distance of only about 100 Feet from |
the pool Probatica. In 1889, 18 March, was discovered the crypt which encloses |
the supposed burying-place of St. Anna. Probably this place was originally a |
garden in which both Joachim and Anna were laid to rest. At their time it was still |
outside of the city walls, about 400 feet north of the Temple. Another crypt near |
St. Anna's tomb is the supposed birthplace of the Blessed Virgin; hence it is that |
in early times the church was called St. Mary of the Nativity [34]. In the Cedron |
Valley, near the road leading to the Church of the Assumption, is a little |
sanctuary containing two altars which are said to stand over the burying-places |
of Sts. Joachim and Anna; but these graves belong to the time of the Crusades |
[35]. In Sephoris too the Crusaders replaced by a large church an ancient |
sanctuary which stood over the legendary house of Sts. Joachim and Anna. After |
1788 part of this church was restored by the Franciscan Fathers. |
Her Immaculate Conception |
The Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady has been treated in a special |
article. |
The birth of Mary |
As to the place of the birth of Our Blessed Lady, there are three different |
traditions to be considered. |
First, the event has been placed in Bethlehem. This opinion rests on the |
authority of the following witnesses: it is expressed in a writing entitled "De nativ. |
S. Mariae" [36] inserted after the works of St. Jerome; it is more or less vaguely |
supposed by the Pilgrim of Piacenza, erroneously called Antoninus Martyr, who |
wrote about A.D. 580 [37]; finally the popes Paul II (1471), Julius II (1507), Leo X |
(1519), Paul III (1535), Pius IV (1565), Sixtus V (1586), and Innocent XII (1698) in |
their Bulls concerning the Holy House of Loreto say that the Blessed Virgin was |
born, educated, and greeted by the angel in the Holy House. But these pontiffs |
hardly wish to decide an historical question; they merely express the opinion of |
their respective times. |
A second tradition placed the birth of Our Blessed Lady in Sephoris, about three |
miles north of Bethlehem, the Roman Diocaesarea, and the residence of Herod |
Antipas till late in the life of Our Lord. The antiquity of this opinion may be |
inferred from the fact that under Constantine a church was erected in Sephoris to |
commemorate the residence of Joachim and Anna in that place [38]. St. |
Epiphanius speaks of this sanctuary [39]. But this merely shows that Our |
Blessed Lady may have lived in Sephoris for a time with her parents, without |
forcing us to believe that she had been born there. |
The third tradition, that Mary was born in Jerusalem, is the most probable one. |
We have seen that it rests upon the testimony of St. Sophronius, St. John |
Damascene, and upon the evidence of the recent finds in the Probatica. The |
Feast of Our Lady's Nativity was not celebrated in Rome till toward the end of the |
seventh century; but two sermons found among the writings of St. Andrew of |
Crete (d. 680) suppose the existence of this feat, and lead one to suspect that it |
was introduced at an earlier date into some other churches [40]. In 799 the 10th |
canon of the Synod of Salzburg prescribes four feasts in honor of the Mother of |
God: the Purification, 2 February; the Annunciation, 25 March; the Assumption, |
15 August; the Nativity, 8 September. |
The Presentation of Mary |
According to Exodus 13:2 and 13:12, all the Hebrew first-born male children had |
to be presented in the Temple. Such a law would lead pious Jewish parents to |
observe the same religious rite with regard to other favourite children. This |
inclines one to believe that Joachim and Anna presented in the Temple their |
child, which they had obtained by their long, fervent prayers. |
As to Mary, St. Luke (1:34) tells us that she answered the angel announcing the |
birth of Jesus Christ: "how shall this be done, because I know not man". These |
words can hardly be understood, unless we assume that Mary had made a vow |
of virginity; for, when she spoke them, she was betrothed to St. Joseph. [41] The |
most opportune occasion for such a vow was her presentation in the Temple. As |
some of the Fathers admit that the faculties of St. John the Baptist were |
prematurely developed by a special intervention of God's power, we may admit a |
similar grace for the child of Joachim and Anna. [42] |
But what has been said does not exceed the certainty of antecedently probable |
pious conjectures. The consideration that Our Lord could not have refused His |
Blessed Mother any favours which depended merely on His munificence does not |
exceed the value of an a priori argument. Certainty in this question must depend |
on external testimony and the teaching of the Church. |
Now, the Protoevangelium of James (7-8), and the writing entitled "De nativit. |
Mariae" (7-8), [43] state that Joachim and Anna, faithful to a vow they had made, |
presented the child Mary in the Temple when she was three years old; that the |
child herself mounted the Temple steps, and that she made her vow of virginity |
on this occasion. St. Gregory of Nyssa [44] and St. Germanus of Constantinople |
[45] adopt this report; it is also followed by pseudo-Gregory of Naz. in his |
"Christus patiens". [46] Moreover, the Church celebrates the Feast of the |
Presentation, though it does not specify at what age the child Mary was |
presented in the Temple, when she made her vow of virginity, and what were the |
special natural and supernatural gifts with which God endowed her. The feast is |
mentioned for the first time in a document of Manuel Commenus, in 1166; from |
Constantinople the feast must have been introduced into the western Church, |
where we find it at the papal court at Avignon in 1371; about a century later, |
Pope Sixtus IV introduced the Office of the Presentation, and in 1585 Pope |
Sixtus V extended the Feast of the Presentation to the whole Church. |
Her betrothal to Joseph |
The apocryphal writings to which we referred in the last paragraph state that |
Mary remained in the Temple after her presentation in order to be educated with |
other Jewish children. There she enjoyed ecstatic visions and daily visits of the |
holy angels. |
When she was fourteen, the high priest wished to send her home for marriage. |
Mary reminded him of her vow of virginity, and in his embarrassment the high |
priest consulted the Lord. Then he called all the young men of the family of |
David, and promised Mary in marriage to him whose rod should sprout and |
become the resting place of the Holy Ghost in form of a dove. It was Joseph who |
was privileged in this extraordinary way. |
We have already seen that St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Germanus of |
Constantinople, and pseudo-Gregory Nazianzen seem to adopt these legends. |
Besides, the emperor Justinian allowed a basilica to be built on the platform of |
the former Temple in memory of Our Lady's stay in the sanctuary; the church |
was called the New St. Mary's so as to distinguish it from the Church of the |
Nativity. It seems to be the modern mosque el-Aksa. [47] |
On the other hand, the Church is silent as to Mary's stay in the Temple. St. |
Ambrose [48], describing Mary's life before the Annunciation, supposes |
expressly that she lived in the house of her parents. All the descriptions of the |
Jewish Temple which can claim any scientific value leave us in ignorance as to |
any localities in which young girls might have been educated. Joas's stay in the |
Temple till the age of seven does not favour the supposition that young girls were |
educated within the sacred precincts; for Joas was king, and was forced by |
circumstances to remain in the Temple (cf. IV Kings 11:3). What II Machabees |
3:19, says about "the virgins also that were shut up" does not show that any of |
them were kept in the Temple buildings. If the prophetess Anna is said (Luke |
2:37) not to have "departed from the temple, by fastings and prayer serving night |
and day", we do not suppose that she actually lived in one of he temple rooms. |
[49] As the house of Joachim and Anna was not far distant from the Temple, we |
may supposed that the holy child Mary was often allowed to visit the sacred |
buildings in order to satisfy her devotion. |
Jewish maidens were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six |
months, though the actual age of the bride varied with circumstances. The |
marriage was preceded by the betrothal, after which the bride legally belonged to |
the bridegroom, though she did not live with him till about a year later, when the |
marriage used to be celebrated. All this agrees well with the language of the |
Evangelists. St. Luke (1:27) calls Mary "a virgin espoused to a man whose name |
was Joseph"; St. Matthew (1:18) says, when as his mother Mary was espoused |
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy |
Ghost". As we know of no brother of Mary, we must suppose that she was an |
heiress, and was obliged by the law of Numbers 36:6 to marry a member of her |
tribe. The Law itself prohibited marriage within certain degrees of relationship, so |
that the marriage of even an heiress was left more or less to choice. |
According to Jewish custom, the union between Joseph and Mary had to be |
arranged by the parents of St. Joseph. One might ask why Mary consented to |
her betrothal, though she was bound by her vow of virginity. As she had obeyed |
God's inspiration in making her vow, so she obeyed God's inspiration in |
becoming the affianced bride of Joseph. Besides, it would have been singular |
among the Jews to refuse betrothal or marriage; for all the Jewish maidens |
aspired after marriage as the accomplishment of a natural duty. Mary trusted the |
Divine guidance implicitly, and thus was certain that her vow would be kept even |
in her married state. |
The Annunciation |
The Annunciation has been treated in a special article. |
The Visitation |
According to Luke 1:36, the angel Gabriel told Mary at the time of the |
annunciation, "behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in |
her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren". Without |
doubting the truth of the angel's words, Mary determined at once to add to the |
pleasure of her pious relative. [50] Hence the Evangelist continues (1:39): "And |
Mary, rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of |
Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth." Though |
Mary must have told Joseph of her intended visit, it is hard to determine whether |
he accompanied her; if the time of the journey happened to coincide with one of |
the festal seasons at which the Israelites had to go to the Temple, there would |
be little difficulty about companionship. |
The place of Elizabeth's home has been variously located by different writers: it |
has been placed in Machaerus, over ten miles east of the Dead Sea, or in |
Hebron, or again in the ancient sacerdotal city of Jutta, about seven miles south |
of Hebron, or finally in Ain-Karim, the traditional St. John-in-the Mountain, nearly |
four miles west of Jerusalem. [51] But the first three places possess no |
traditional memorial of the birth or life of St. John; besides, Machaerus was not |
situated in the mountains of Juda; Hebron and Jutta belonged after the |
Babylonian captivity to Idumea, while Ain-Karim lies in the "hill country" [52] |
mentioned in the inspired text of St. Luke. |
After her journey of about thirty hours, Mary "entered into the house of Zachary, |
and saluted Elizabeth" (Luke 1:40). According to tradition, Elizabeth lived at the |
time of the visitation not in her city home, but in her villa, about ten minutes |
distant from the city; formerly this place was marked by an upper and lower |
church. In 1861 the present small Church of the Visitation was erected on the |
ancient foundations. |
"And it came to pass that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the |
infant leaped in her womb." It was at this moment that God fulfilled the promise |
made by the angel to Zachary (Luke 1:15), "and he shall be filled with the Holy |
Ghost, even from his mother's womb"; in other words, the infant in Elizabeth's |
womb was cleansed from the stain of original sin. The fullness of the Holy Ghost |
in the infant overflowed, as it were, into the soul of his mother: "and Elizabeth |
was filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke 1:41). Thus both child and mother were |
sanctified by the presence of Mary and the Word Incarnate [53]; filled as she was |
with the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth "cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art |
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to |
me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the |
voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. |
And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be |
accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord" (Luke 1:42-45). Leaving to |
commentators the full explanation of the preceding passage, we draw attention |
only to two points: |
Elizabeth begins her greeting with the words with which the angel had |
finished his salutation, thus showing that both spoke in the same Holy |
Spirit; |
Elizabeth is the first to call Mary by her most honourable title "Mother of |
God". |
Mary's answer is the canticle of praise commonly called "Magnificat" from the |
first word of its Latin text; the "Magnificat" has been treated in a separate article. |
The Evangelist closes his account of the Visitation with the words: "And Mary |
abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house" (Luke |
1:56). Many see in this brief statement of the third gospel an implied hint that |
Mary remained in the house of Zachary till the birth of John the Baptist, while |
others deny such an implication. As the Feast of the Visitation was placed by |
the 43rd canon of the Council of Basle (A.D. 1441) on 2 July, the day following |
the Octave of the Feast of St. John Baptist, it has been inferred that Mary may |
have remained with Elizabeth until after the child's circumcision; but there is no |
further proof for this supposition. Though the visitation is so accurately described |
in the third Gospel, its feast does not appear to have been kept till the thirteenth |
century, when it was introduced through the influence of the Franciscans; in 1389 |
it was officially instituted by Urban VI. |
Mary's pregnancy becomes known to Joseph |
After her return from Elizabeth, Mary "was found with child, of the Holy Ghost" |
(Matthew 1:18). As among the Jews, betrothal was a real marriage, the use of |
marriage after the time of espousals presented nothing unusual among them. |
Hence Mary's pregnancy could not astonish anyone except St. Joseph. As he |
did not know the mystery of the Incarnation, the situation must have been |
extremely painful both to him and to Mary. The Evangelist says: "Whereupon |
Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was |
minded to put her away privately" (Matthew 1:19). Mary left the solution of the |
difficulty to God, and God informed the perplexed spouse in His own time of the |
true condition of Mary. While Joseph "thought on these things, behold the angel |
of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to |
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy |
Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For |
He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). |
Not long after this revelation, Joseph concluded the ritual marriage contract with |
Mary. The Gospel simply says: "Joseph rising up from sleep did as the angel of |
the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife" (Matthew 1:24). While |
it is certain that between the betrothal and the marriage at least three months |
must have elapsed, during which Mary stayed with Elizabeth, it is impossible to |
determine the exact length of time between the two ceremonies. We do not know |
how long after the betrothal the angel announced to Mary the mystery of the |
Incarnation, nor do we know how long the doubt of Joseph lasted, before he was |
enlightened by the visit of the angel. From the age at which Hebrew maidens |
became marriageable, it is possible that Mary gave birth to her Son when she |
was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. No historical document tells us how |
old she actually was at the time of the Nativity. |
The journey to Bethlehem |
St. Luke (2:1-5) explains how Joseph and Mary journeyed from Nazareth to |
Bethlehem in obedience to a decree of Caesar Augustus which prescribed a |
general enrolment. The questions connected with this decree have been |
considered in the article BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY. There are various reasons |
why Mary should have accompanied Joseph on this journey; she may not wished |
to lose Joseph's protection during the critical time of her pregnancy, or she may |
have followed a special Divine inspiration impelling her to go in order to fulfil the |
prophecies concerning her Divine Son, or again she may have been compelled to |
go by the civil law either as an heiress or to settle the personal tax payable by |
women over twelve years of age. [54] |
As the enrolment had brought a multitude of strangers to Bethlehem, Mary and |
Joseph found no room in the caravansary and had to take lodging in a grotto |
which served as a shelter for animals. [55] |
Mary gives birth to Our Lord |
"And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accomplished, |
that she should be delivered" (Luke 2:6); this language leaves it uncertain |
whether the birth of Our Lord took place immediately after Joseph and Mary had |
taken lodging in the grotto, or several days later. What is said about the |
shepherds "keeping the night watches over their flock" (Luke 2:8) shows that |
Christ was born in the night time. |
After bringing forth her Son, Mary "wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid |
Him in a manger" (Luke 2:7), a sign that she did not suffer from the pain and |
weakness of childbirth. This inference agrees with the teaching of some of the |
principal Fathers and theologians: St. Ambrose [56], St. Gregory of Nyssa [57], |
St. John Damascene [58], the author of Christus patiens [59], St. Thomas [60], |
etc. It was not becoming that the mother of God should be subject to the |
punishment pronounced in Genesis 3:16, against Eve and her sinful daughters. |
Shortly after the birth of the child, the shepherds, obedient to the angelic |
invitation, arrived in the grotto, "and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant |
lying in the manger" (Luke 2:16). We may suppose that the shepherds spread |
the glad tidings they had received during the night among their friends in |
Bethlehem, and that the Holy Family was received by one of its pious inhabitants |
into more suitable lodgings. |
The Circumcision of Our Lord |
"And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, |
his name was called Jesus" (Luke 2:21). The rite of circumcision was performed |
either in the synagogue or in the home of the Child; it is impossible to determine |
where Our Lord's Circumcision took place. At any rate, His Blessed Mother must |
have been present at the ceremony. |
The Presentation |
According to the law of Leviticus 12:2-8, the Jewish mother of a male child had to |
present herself forty days after his birth for legal purification; according to Exodus |
13:2, and Numbers 18:15, the first born son had to be presented on the same |
occasion. Whatever reasons Mary and the Infant might have for claiming an |
exemption, they complied with the law. But, instead of offering a lamb, they |
presented the sacrifice of the poor, consisting of a pair of turtle-doves or two |
young pigeons. In II Corinthians 8:9, St. Paul informs the Corinthians that Jesus |
Christ "being rich. . .became poor, for your sakes, that through his poverty you |
might be rich". Even more acceptable to God than Mary's poverty was the |
readiness with which she surrendered her Divine Son to the good pleasure of His |
Heavenly Father. |
After the ceremonial rites had been complied with, holy Simeon took the Child in |
his arms, and thanked God for the fulfilment of his promises; he drew attention to |
the universality of the salvation that was to come through Messianic redemption |
"prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, |
and the glory of thy people Israel" (Luke 2:31 sq.). Mary and Joseph now began |
to know their Divine Child more fully; they "were wondering at those things which |
were spoken concerning him" (Luke 2:33). As if to prepare Our Blessed Mother |
for the mystery of the cross, holy Simeon said to her: "Behold this child is set for |
the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be |
contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, |
thoughts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). Mary had suffered her first great |
sorrow at the time when Joseph was hesitating about taking her for his wife; she |
experienced her second great sorrow when she heard the words of holy Simeon. |
Though the incident of the prophetess Anna had a more general bearing, for she |
"spoke of him (the Child) to all that looked for the redemption of Israel" (Luke |
2:38), it must have added greatly to the wonder of Joseph and Mary. The |
Evangelist's concluding remark, "after they had performed all things according to |
the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their city Nazareth" (Luke 2:39), |
has been variously interpreted by commentators; as to the order of events, see |
the article CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. |
The visit of the Magi |
After the Presentation, the Holy Family either returned to Bethlehem directly, or |
went first to Nazareth, and then moved into the city of David. At any rate, after |
the "wise men form the east" had followed the Divine guidance to Bethlehem, |
"entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling |
down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, |
frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11). The Evangelist does not mention |
Joseph; not that he was not present, but because Mary occupies the principal |
place near the Child. How Mary and Joseph disposed of the presents offered by |
their wealthy visitors has not been told us by the Evangelists. |
The flight to Egypt |
Soon after the departure of the wise men Joseph received the message from the |
angel of the Lord to fly into Egypt with the Child and His mother on account of |
the evil designs of Herod; the holy man's ready obedience is briefly described by |
the Evangelist in the words: "who arose, and took the child and his mother by |
night, and retired into Egypt" (Matthew 2:14). Persecuted Jews had ever sought a |
refuge in Egypt (cf. III Kings 11:40; IV Kings 25:26); about the time of Christ |
Jewish colonists were especially numerous in the land of the Nile [61]; according |
to Philo [62] they numbered at least a million. In Leontopolis, in the district of |
Heliopolis, the Jews had a temple (160 B.C.-A.D. 73) which rivalled in splendour |
the temple in Jerusalem. [63] The Holy Family might therefore expect to find in |
Egypt a certain amount of help and protection. |
On the other hand, it required a journey of at least ten days from Bethlehem to |
reach the nearest habitable districts of Egypt. We do not know by what road the |
Holy Family effected its flight; they may have followed the ordinary road through |
Hebron; or they may have gone by way of Eleutheropolis and Gaza, or again they |
may have passed west of Jerusalem towards the great military road of Joppe. |
There is hardly any historical document which will assist us in determining where |
the Holy Family lived in Egypt, nor do we know how long the enforced exile |
lasted. [64] |
When Joseph received from the angel the news of Herod's death and the |
command to return into the land of Israel, he "arose, and took the child and his |
mother, and came into the land of Israel" (Matthew 2:21). The news that |
Archelaus ruled in Judea prevented Joseph from settling in Bethlehem, as had |
been his intention; "warned in sleep [by the angel, he] retired into the quarters of |
Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth" (Matthew 2:22-23). In all |
these details Mary simply followed the guidance of Joseph, who in his turn |
received the Divine manifestations as head of the Holy Family. There is no need |
to point out the intense sorrow which Mary suffered on account of the early |
persecution of the Child. |
The Holy Family in Nazareth |
The life of the Holy Family in Nazareth was that of the ordinary poor tradesman. |
According to Matthew 13:55, the townsfolk asked "Is not this the carpenter's |
son?"; the question, as expressed in the second Gospel (Mark 6:3), shows a |
slight variation, "Is not this the carpenter?" While Joseph gained the livelihood for |
the Holy Family by his daily work, Mary attended to the various duties of |
housekeeper. St. Luke (2:40) briefly says of Jesus: "And the child grew, and |
waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him". The weekly |
Sabbath and the annual great feasts interrupted the daily routine of life in |
Nazareth. |
The finding of Our Lord in the Temple |
According to the law of Exodus 23:17, only the men were obliged to visit the |
Temple on the three solemn feasts of the year; but the women often joined the |
men to satisfy their devotion. St. Luke (2:41) informs us that "his [the child's] |
parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch". Probably |
the Child Jesus was left in the home of friends or relatives during the days of |
Mary's absence. According to the opinion of some writers, the Child did not give |
any sign of His Divinity during the years of His infancy, so as to increase the |
merits of Joseph's and Mary's faith based on what they had seen and heard at |
the time of the Incarnation and the birth of Jesus. Jewish Doctors of the Law |
maintained that a boy became a son of the law at the age of twelve years and |
one day; after that he was bound by the legal precepts. |
The evangelist supplies us here with the information that, "when he was twelve |
years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast, |
and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in |
Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not" (Luke 2:42-43). Probably it was after the |
second festal day that Joseph and Mary returned with the other Galilean pilgrims; |
the law did not require a longer sojourn in the Holy City. On the first day the |
caravan usually made a four hours' journey, and rested for the night in Beroth on |
the northern boundary of the former Kingdom of Juda. The crusaders built in this |
place a beautiful Gothic church to commemorate Our Lady's sorrow when she |
"sought him [her child] among their kinsfolks and acquaintance, and not finding |
him,. . .returned into Jerusalem, seeking him" (Luke 2:44-45). The Child was not |
found among the pilgrims who had come to Beroth on their first day's journey; nor |
was He found on the second day, when Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem; |
it was only on the third day that they "found him [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in |
the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. . .And |
seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou |
done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing" (Luke |
2:40-48). Mary's faith did not allow her to fear a mere accident for her Divine Son; |
but she felt that His behaviour had changed entirely from His customary |
exhibition of docility and subjection. The feeling caused the question, why Jesus |
had treated His parents in such a way. Jesus simply answered: "How is it that |
you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?" |
(Luke 2:49). Neither Joseph nor Mary understood these words as a rebuke; "they |
understood not the word that he spoke to them" (Luke 2:50). It has been |
suggested by a recent writer that the last clause may be understood as |
meaning, "they [i.e., the bystanders] understood not the word he spoke unto |
them [i.e., to Mary and Joseph]". |
The remainder of Our Lord's youth |
After this, Jesus "went down with them, and came to Nazareth" where He began |
a life of work and poverty, eighteen years of which are summed up by the |
Evangelist in the few words, and he "was subject to them, and. . .advanced in |
wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men" (Luke 2:51-52). The interior life |
of Mary is briefly indicated by the inspired writer in the expression, "and his |
mother kept all these words in her heart" (Luke 2:51). A similar expression had |
been used in 2:19, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart". |
Thus Mary observed the daily life of her Divine Son, and grew in His knowledge |
and love by meditating on what she saw and heard. It has been pointed out by |
certain writers that the Evangelist here indicates the last source from which he |
derived the material contained in his first two chapters. |
Mary's perpetual virginity |
In connection with the study of Mary during Our Lord's hidden life, we meet the |
questions of her perpetual virginity, of her Divine motherhood, and of her personal |
sanctity. Her spotless virginity has been sufficiently considered in the article on |
the Virgin Birth. The authorities there cited maintain that Mary remained a virgin |
when she conceived and gave birth to her Divine Son, as well as after the birth of |
Jesus. Mary's question (Luke 1:34), the angel's answer (Luke 1:35, 37), Joseph's |
way of behaving in his doubt (Matthew 1:19-25), Christ's words addressed to the |
Jews (John 8:19) show that Mary retained her virginity during the conception of |
her Divine Son. [65] |
As to Mary's virginity after her childbirth, it is not denied by St. Matthew's |
expressions "before they came together" (1:18), "her firstborn son" (1:25), nor by |
the fact that the New Testament books repeatedly refer to the "brothers of |
Jesus". [66] The words "before they came together" mean probably, "before they |
lived in the same house", referring to the time when they were merely betrothed; |
but even if the words be understood of marital intercourse; but even if the words |
be understood of marital intercourse, they only state that the Incarnation took |
place before any such intercourse had intervened, without implying that it did |
occur after the Incarnation of the Son of God. [67] |
The same must be said of the expression, "and he knew her not till she brought |
forth her firstborn son" (Matthew 1:25); the Evangelist tells us what did not |
happen before the birth of Jesus, without suggesting that it happened after his |
birth. [68] The name "firstborn" applies to Jesus whether his mother remained a |
virgin or gave birth to other children after Jesus; among the Jews it was a legal |
name [69], so that its occurrence in the Gospel cannot astonish us. |
Finally, the "brothers of Jesus" are neither the sons of Mary, nor the brothers of |
Our Lord in the proper sense of the word, but they are His cousins or the more or |
less near relatives. [70] The Church insists that in His birth the Son of God did |
not lessen but consecrate the virginal integrity of His mother (Secret in Mass of |
Purification). The Fathers express themselves in similar language concerning this |
privilege of Mary. [71] |
Mary's Divine motherhood |
Mary's Divine motherhood is based on the teaching of the Gospels, on the |
writings of the Fathers, and on the express definition of the Church. St. Matthew |
(1:25) testifies that Mary "brought forth her first-born son" and that He was called |
Jesus. According to St. John (1:15) Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word |
Who assumed human nature in the womb of Mary. As Mary was truly the mother |
of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, |
Mary is truly the mother of God. Even the earliest Fathers did not hesitate to |
draw this conclusion as may be seen in the writings of St. Ignatius [72], St. |
Irenaeus [73], and Tertullian [74]. The contention of Nestorius denying to Mary |
the title "Mother of God" [75] was followed by the teaching of the Council of |
Ephesus proclaiming Mary to be Theotokos in the true sense of the word. [76] |
Mary's perfect sanctity |
Some few patristic writers expressed their doubts as to the presence of minor |
moral defects in Our Blessed Lady. [77] St. Basil, e.g., suggests that Mary |
yielded to doubt on hearing the words of holy Simeon and on witnessing the |
crucifixion. [78] St. John Chrysostom is of opinion that Mary would have felt fear |
and trouble, unless the angel had explained the mystery of the Incarnation to her, |
and that she showed some vainglory at the marriage feast in Cana and on visiting |
her Son during His public life together with the brothers of the Lord. [79] St. Cyril |
of Alexandria [80] speaks of Mary's doubt and discouragement at the foot of the |
cross. But these Greek writers cannot be said to express an Apostolic tradition, |
when they express their private and singular opinions. Scripture and tradition |
agree in ascribing to Mary the greatest personal sanctity; She is conceived |
without the stain of original sin; she shows the greatest humility and patience in |
her daily life (Luke 1:38, 48); she exhibits an heroic patience under the most |
trying circumstances (Luke 2:7, 35, 48; John 19:25-27). When there is question |
of sin, Mary must always be excepted. [81] Mary's complete exemption from |
actual sin is confirmed by the Council of Trent (Session VI, Canon 23): "If any |
one say that man once justified can during his whole life avoid all sins, even |
venial ones, as the Church holds that the Blessed Virgin did by special privilege |
of God, let him be anathema." Theologians assert that Mary was impeccable, not |
by the essential perfection of her nature, but by a special Divine privilege. |
Moreover, the Fathers, at least since the fifth century, almost unanimously |
maintain that the Blessed Virgin never experienced the motions of |
concupiscence. |
The miracle in Cana |
The evangelists connect Mary's name with three different events in Our Lord's |
public life: with the miracle in Cana, with His preaching, and with His passion. |
The first of these incidents is related in John 2:1-10. |
There was a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. . .and the mother of |
Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to |
the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to |
him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is |
that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. |
One naturally supposes that one of the contracting parties was related to Mary, |
and that Jesus had been invited on account of his mother's relationship. The |
couple must have been rather poor, since the wine was actually failing. Mary |
wishes to save her friends from the shame of not being able to provide properly |
for the guests, and has recourse to her Divine Son. She merely states their need, |
without adding any further petition. In addressing women, Jesus uniformly |
employs the word "woman" (Matthew 15:28; Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; |
20:15), an expression used by classical writers as a respectful and honorable |
address. [82] The above cited passages show that in the language of Jesus the |
address "woman" has a most respectful meaning. The clause "what is that to me |
and to thee" renders the Greek ti emoi kai soi, which in its turn corresponds to |
the Hebrew phrase mah li walakh. This latter occurs in Judges 11:12; II Kings |
16:10; 19:23; III Kings 17:18; IV Kings 3:13; 9:18; II Paralipomenon 35:21. The |
New Testament shows equivalent expressions in Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; Luke |
4:34; 8:28; Matthew 27:19. The meaning of the phrase varies according to the |
character of the speakers, ranging from a most pronounced opposition to a |
courteous compliance. Such a variable meaning makes it hard for the translator |
to find an equally variable equivalent. "What have I to do with thee", "this is |
neither your nor my business", "why art thou troublesome to me", "allow me to |
attend to this", are some of the renderings suggested. In general, the words |
seem to refer to well or ill-meant importunity which they endeavour to remove. |
The last part of Our Lord's answer presents less difficulty to the interpreter: "my |
hour is not yet come", cannot refer to the precise moment at which the need of |
wine will require the miraculous intervention of Jesus; for in the language of St. |
John "my hour" or "the hour" denotes the time preordained for some important |
event (John 4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:29; 12:23; 13:1; 16:21; 17:1). Hence the |
meaning of Our Lord's answer is: "Why are you troubling me by asking me for |
such an intervention? The divinely appointed time for such a manifestation has |
not yet come"; or, "why are you worrying? has not the time of manifesting my |
power come?" The former of these meanings implies that on account of the |
intercession of Mary Jesus anticipated the time set for the manifestation of His |
miraculous power [83]; the second meaning is obtained by understanding the |
last part of Our Lord's words as a question, as was done by St. Gregory of |
Nyssa [84], and by the Arabic version of Tatian's "Diatessaron" (Rome, 1888). |
[85] Mary understood her Son's words in their proper sense; she merely warned |
the waiters, "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" (John 2:5). There can be no |
question of explaining Jesus' answer in the sense of a refusal. |
Mary during the apostolic life of Our Lord |
During the apostolic life of Jesus, Mary effaced herself almost completely. Not |
being called to aid her Son directly in His ministry, she did not wish to interfere |
with His work by her untimely presence. In Nazareth she was regarded as a |
common Jewish mother; St. Matthew (3:55-56; cf. Mark 6:3) introduces the |
people of the town as saying: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother |
called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: and his |
sisters, are they not all with us?" Since the people wish to lower Our Lord's |
esteem by their language, we must infer that Mary belonged to the lower social |
order of townspeople. The parallel passage of St. Mark reads, "Is not this the |
carpenter?" instead of, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Since both evangelists |
omit the name of St. Joseph, we may infer that he had died before this episode |
took place. |
At first sight, it seems that Jesus Himself depreciated the dignity of His Blessed |
Mother. When He was told: "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, |
seeking thee", He answered: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And |
stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and |
my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is |
my brother, and my sister, and my mother" (Matthew 12:47-50; cf. Mark 3:31-35; |
Luke 8:19-21). On another occasion, "a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up |
her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that |
gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of |
God, and keep it" (Luke 11:27-28). |
In reality, Jesus in both these passages places the bond that unites the soul with |
God above the natural bond of parentage which unites the Mother of God with her |
Divine Son. The latter dignity is not belittled; as men naturally appreciate it more |
easily, it is employed by Our Lord as a means to make known the real value of |
holiness. Jesus, therefore, really, praises His mother in a most emphatic way; for |
she excelled the rest of men in holiness not less than in dignity. [86] Most |
probably, Mary was found also among the holy women who ministered to Jesus |
and His apostles during their ministry in Galilee (cf. Luke 8:2-3); the Evangelists |
do not mention any other public appearance of Mary during the time of Jesus's |
journeys through Galilee or Judea. But we must remember that when the sun |
appears, even the brightest stars become invisible. |
Mary during the Passion of Our Lord |
Since the Passion of Jesus Christ occurred during the paschal week, we |
naturally expect to find Mary at Jerusalem. Simeon's prophecy found its fulfilment |
principally during the time of Our Lord's suffering. According to a tradition, His |
Blessed Mother met Jesus as He was carrying His cross to Golgotha. The |
Itinerarium of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux describes the memorable sites which the |
writer visited A.D. 333, but it does not mention any locality sacred to this |
meeting of Mary and her Divine Son. [87] The same silence prevails in the |
so-called Peregrinatio Silviae which used to be assigned to A.D. 385, but has |
lately been placed in A.D. 533-540. [88] But a plan of Jerusalem, dating from the |
year 1308, shows a Church of St. John the Baptist with the inscription "Pasm. |
Vgis.", Spasmus Virginis, the swoon of the Virgin. During the course of the |
fourteenth century Christians began to locate the spots consecrated by the |
Passion of Christ, and among these was the place was the place where Mary is |
said to have fainted at the sight of her suffering Son. [89] Since the fifteenth |
century one finds always "Sancta Maria de Spasmo" among the Stations of the |
Way of the Cross, erected in various parts of Europe in imitation of the Via |
Dolorosa in Jerusalem. [90] That Our Blessed Lady should have fainted at the |
sight of her Son's sufferings, hardly agrees with her heroic behaviour under the |
cross; still, we may consider her woman and mother in her meeting with her Son |
on the way to Golgotha, while she is the Mother of God at the foot of the cross. |
Mary's spiritual motherhood |
While Jesus was hanging on the cross, "there stood by the cross of Jesus, his |
mother, and his mother's sister, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When |
Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, |
he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the |
disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own" |
(John 19:25-27). The darkening of the sun and the other extraordinary |
phenomena in nature must have frightened the enemies of Our Lord sufficiently |
so as not to interfere with His mother and His few friends standing at the foot of |
the cross. In the meantime, Jesus had prayed for His enemies, and had |
promised pardon to the penitent thief; now, He took compassion on His desolate |
mother, and provided for her future. If St. Joseph had been still alive, or if Mary |
had been the mother of those who are called Our Lord's brethren or sisters in the |
gospels, such a provision would not have been necessary. Jesus uses the same |
respectful title with which he had addressed his mother at the marriage feast in |
Cana. Then he commits Mary to John as his mother, and wishes Mary to |
consider John as her son. |
Among the early writers, Origen is the only one who considers Mary's |
motherhood of all the faithful in this connection. According to him, Christ lives in |
his perfect followers, and as Mary is the Mother of Christ, so she is mother of |
him in whom Christ lives. Hence, according to Origen, man has an indirect right |
to claim Mary as his mother, in so far as he identifies himself with Jesus by the |
life of grace. [91] In the ninth century, George of Nicomedia [92] explains Our |
Lord's words on the cross in such a way as to entrust John to Mary, and in John |
all the disciples, making her the mother and mistress of all John's companions. |
In the twelfth century Rupert of Deutz explained Our Lord's words as establishing |
Mary's spiritual motherhood of men, though St. Bernard, Rupert's illustrious |
contemporary, does not enumerate this privilege among Our Lady's numerous |
titles. [93] After this time Rupert's explanation of Our Lord's words on the cross |
became more and more common, so that in our day it has found its way into |
practically all books of piety. [94] |
The doctrine of Mary's spiritual motherhood of men is contained in the fact that |
she is the antitype of Eve: Eve is our natural mother because she is the origin of |
our natural life; so Mary is our spiritual mother because she is the origin of our |
spiritual life. Again, Mary's spiritual motherhood rests on the fact that Christ is |
our brother, being "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). She |
became our mother at the moment she consent to the Incarnation of the Word, |
the Head of the mystical body whose members we are; and she sealed her |
motherhood by consenting to the bloody sacrifice on the cross which is the |
source of our supernatural life. Mary and the holy women (Matthew 17:56; Mark |
15:40; Luke 23:49; John 19:25) assisted at the death of Jesus on the cross; she |
probably remained during the taking down of His sacred body and during His |
funeral. The following Sabbath was for her a time of grief and hope. The eleventh |
canon of a council held in Cologne, in 1423, instituted against the Hussites the |
feast of the Dolours of Our Blessed Lady, placing it on the Friday following the |
third Sunday after Easter. In 1725 Benedict XIV extended the feast to the whole |
Church, and placed it on the Friday in Passion Week. "And from that hour, the |
disciple took her to his own" (John 19:27). Whether they lived in the city of |
Jerusalem or elsewhere, cannot be determined from the Gospels. |
Mary and Our Lord's Resurrection |
The inspired record of the incidents connected with Christ's Resurrection do not |
mention Mary; but neither do they pretend to give a complete account of all that |
Jesus did or said. The Fathers too are silent as to Mary's share in the joys of her |
Son's triumph over death. Still, St. Ambrose [95] states expressly: "Mary |
therefore saw the Resurrection of the Lord; she was the first who saw it and |
believed. Mary Magdalen too saw it, though she still wavered". George of |
Nicomedia [96] infers from Mary's share in Our Lord's sufferings that before all |
others and more than all she must have shared in the triumph of her Son. In the |
twelfth century, an apparition of the risen Saviour to His Blessed Mother is |
admitted by Rupert of Deutz [97], and also by Eadmer [98] St. Bernardin of |
Siena [99], St. Ignatius of Loyola [100], Suarez [101], Maldon. [102], etc. [103] |
That the risen Christ should have appeared first to His Blessed Mother, agrees at |
least with our pious expectations. |
Though the Gospels do not expressly tell us so, we may suppose that Mary was |
present when Jesus showed himself to a number of disciples in Galilee and at |
the time of His Ascension (cf. Matthew 28:7, 10, 16; Mark 16:7). Moreover, it is |
not improbable that Jesus visited His Blessed Mother repeatedly during the forty |
days after His Resurrection. |
IV. MARY IN OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT |
Acts 1:14-2:4 |
According to the Book of Acts (1:14), after Christ's Ascension into Heaven the |
apostles "went up into an upper room", and: "all these were persevering with one |
mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his |
brethren". In spite of her exalted dignity it was not Mary, but Peter who acted as |
head of the assembly (1:15). Mary behaved in the upper room in Jerusalem as |
she had behaved in the grotto at Bethlehem; in Bethlehem she had carried for the |
Infant Jesus, in Jerusalem she nurtured the infant Church. The friends of Jesus |
remained in the upper room till "the days of the Pentecost", when with "a sound |
from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming. . .there appeared to them parted |
tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them, and they were all |
filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:1-4). Though the Holy Ghost had descended |
upon Mary in a special way at the time of the Incarnation, He now communicated |
to her a new degree of grace. Perhaps, this Pentecostal grace gave to Mary the |
strength of properly fulfilling her duties to the nascent Church and to her spiritual |
children. |
Galatians 4:4 |
As to the Epistles, the only direct reference to Mary is found in Galatians 4:4: |
"But when the fulness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, |
made under the law". Some Greek and Latin manuscripts, followed by several |
Fathers, read gennomenon ek gynaikos instead of genomenon ek gynaikos, |
"born of a woman" instead of "made of a woman". But this variant reading cannot |
be accepted. For |
gennomenon is the present participle, and must be rendered, "being born |
of a woman", so that it does not fit into the context. [104] |
though the Latin variant rendering "natum" is the perfect participle, and |
does not imply the inconveniences of its Greek original, St. Bede [105] |
rejects it, on account of its less appropriate sense. |
In Romans 1:3, which is to a certain extent a parallel of Galatians 4:4, St. |
Paul writes genomenos ek stermatos Daveid kata sarka, i.e. "made of |
the seed of David, according to the flesh". |
Tertullian [106] points out that the word "made" implies more than the |
word "born"; for it calls to mind the "Word made flesh", and establishes |
the reality of the flesh made of the Virgin. |
Furthermore, the Apostle employs the word "woman" in the phrase under |
consideration, because he wishes to indicate merely the sex, without any ulterior |
connotation. In reality, however, the idea of a man made of a woman alone, |
suggests the virginal conception of the Son of God. St. Paul seems to |
emphasize the true idea of the Incarnation of the Word; a true understanding of |
this mystery safeguards both the Divinity and the real humanity of Jesus Christ. |
[107] |
The Apostle St. John never uses the name Mary when speaking of Our Blessed |
Lady; he always refers to her as Mother of Jesus (John 2:1, 3; 19:25-26). In his |
last hour, Jesus had established the relation of mother and son between Mary |
and John, and a child does not usually address his mother by her first name. |
Apocalypse 12:1-6 |
In the Apocalypse (12:1-6) occurs a passage singularly applicable to Our |
Blessed Mother: |
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the |
sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of |
twelve stars; and being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and |
was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in |
heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and |
ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail drew the |
third part of the stars of heaven; and cast them to the earth; and |
the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; |
that when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And |
she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an |
iron rod; and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne. And |
the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place |
prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two |
hundred sixty days. |
The applicability of this passage to Mary is based on the following |
considerations: |
At least part of the verses refer to the mother whose son is to rule all the |
nations with a rod of iron; according to Psalm 2:9, this is the Son of God, |
Jesus Christ, Whose mother is Mary. |
It was Mary's son that "was taken up to God, and to his throne" at the |
time of His Ascension into heaven. |
The dragon, or the devil of the earthly paradise (cf. Apocalypse 12:9; |
20:2), endeavoured to devour Mary's Son from the first moments of His |
birth, by stirring up the jealousy of Herod and, later on, the enmities of the |
Jews. |
Owing to her unspeakable privileges, Mary may well be described as |
"clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a |
crown of twelve stars". |
It is true that commentators generally understand the whole passage as |
applying literally to the Church, and that part of the verses is better suited |
to the Church than to Mary. But it must be kept in mind that Mary is both |
a figure of the Church, and its most prominent member. What is said of |
the Church, is in its own way true of Mary. Hence the passage of the |
Apocalypse (12:5-6) does not refer to Mary merely by way of |
accommodation [108], but applies to her in a truly literal sense which |
appears to be partly limited to her, and partly extended to the whole |
Church. Mary's relation to the Church is well summed up in the |
expression "collum corporis mystici" applied to Our Lady by St. Bernardin |
of Siena. [109] |
Cardinal Newman [110] considers two difficulties against the foregoing |
interpretation of the vision of the woman and child: first, it is said to be poorly |
supported by the Fathers; secondly, it is an anachronism to ascribe such a |
picture of the Madonna to the apostolic age. As to the first exception, the |
eminent writer says: |
Christians have never gone to Scripture for proof of their doctrines, |
till there was actual need, from the pressure of controversy; if in |
those times the Blessed Virgin's dignity was unchallenged on all |
hands, as a matter of doctrine, Scripture, as far as its |
argumentative matter was concerned, was likely to remain a sealed |
book to them. |
After developing this answer at length, the cardinal continues: |
As to the second objection which I have supposed, so far from |
allowing it, I consider that it is built upon a mere imaginary fact, |
and that the truth of the matter lies in the very contrary direction. |
The Virgin and Child is not a mere modern idea; on the contrary, it |
is represented again and again, as every visitor to Rome is aware, |
in the paintings of the Catacombs. Mary is there drawn with the |
Divine Infant in her lap, she with hands extended in prayer, he with |
his hand in the attitude of blessing. |
V. MARY IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS |
Thus far we have appealed to the writings or the remains of the early Christian |
era in as far as they explain or illustrate the teaching of the Old Testament or the |
New, concerning the Blessed Virgin. In the few following paragraphs we shall |
have to draw attention to the fact that these same sources, to a certain extent, |
supplement the Scriptural doctrine. In this respect they are the basis of tradition; |
whether the evidence they supply suffices, in any given case, to guarantee their |
contents as a genuine part of Divine revelation, must be determined according to |
the ordinary scientific criteria followed by theologians. Without entering on these |
purely theological questions, we shall present this traditional material, first, in as |
far as it throws light on the life of Mary after the day of Pentecost; secondly, in |
as far as it gives evidence of the early Christian attitude to the Mother of God. |
VI. POST-PENTECOSTAL LIFE OF MARY |
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost had descended on Mary as He came |
on the Apostles and Disciples gathered together in the upper room at Jerusalem. |
No doubt, the words of St. John (19:27), "and from that hour the disciple took her |
to his own", refer not merely to the time between Easter and Pentecost, but they |
extend to the whole of Mary's later life. Still, the care of Mary did not interfere |
with John's Apostolic ministry. Even the inspired records (Acts 8:14-17; |
Galatians 1:18-19; Acts 21:18) show that the apostle was absent from Jerusalem |
on several occasions, though he must have taken part in the Council of |
Jerusalem, A.D. 51 or 52. We may also suppose that in Mary especially were |
verified the words of Acts 2:42: "And they were persevering in the doctrine of the |
apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers". |
Thus Mary was an example and a source of encouragement to the early |
Christian community. At the same time, it must be confessed that we do not |
possess any authentic documents bearing directly on Mary's post-Pentecostal |
life. |
Place of her life, death, and burial |
As to tradition, there is some testimony for Mary's temporary residence in or |
near Ephesus, but the evidence for her permanent home in Jerusalem is much |
stronger. |
Arguments for Ephesus |
Mary's Ephesian residence rests on the following evidence: |
(1) A passage in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus [111] reads: |
"Wherefore also Nestorius, the instigator of the impious heresy, when he had |
come to the city of the Ephesians, where John the Theologian and the Virgin |
Mother of God St. Mary, estranging himself of his own accord from the gathering |
of the holy Fathers and Bishops. . ." Since St. John had lived in Ephesus and |
had been buried there [112], it has been inferred that the ellipsis of the synodal |
letter means either, "where John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived", or, "where |
John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived and are buried". |
(2) Bar-Hebraeus or Abulpharagius, a Jacobite bishop of the thirteenth century, |
relates that St. John took the Blessed Virgin with him to Patmos, then founded |
the Church of Ephesus, and buried Mary no one knows where. [113] |
(3) Benedict XIV [114] states that Mary followed St. John to Ephesus and died |
there. He intended also to remove from the Breviary those lessons which mention |
Mary's death in Jerusalem, but died before carrying out his intention. [115] |
(4) Mary's temporary residence and death in Ephesus are upheld by such writers |
as Tillemont [116], Calmet [117], etc. |
(5) In Panaghia Kapoli, on a hill about nine or ten miles distant from Ephesus, |
was discovered a house, or rather its remains, in which Mary is supposed to |
have lived. The house was found, as it had been sought, according to the |
indications given by Catharine Emmerich in her life of the Blessed Virgin. |
Arguments against Ephesus |
On closer inspection these arguments for Mary's residence or burial in Ephesus |
are not unanswerable. |
(1) The ellipsis in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus may be filled out in |
such a way as not to imply the assumption that Our Blessed Lady either lived or |
died in Ephesus. As there was in the city a double church dedicated to the Virgin |
Mary and to St. John, the incomplete clause of the synodal letter may be |
completed so as to read, "where John the Theologian and the Virgin. . .Mary |
have a sanctuary". This explanation of the ambiguous phrase is one of the two |
suggested in the margin in Labbe's Collect. Concil. (l.c.) [118] |
(2) The words of Bar-Hebraeus contain two inaccurate statements; for St. John |
did not found the Church of Ephesus, nor did he take Mary with him to Patmos. |
St. Paul founded the Ephesian Church, and Mary was dead before John's exile in |
Patmos. It would not be surprising, therefore, if the writer were wrong in what he |
says about Mary's burial. Besides, Bar-Hebraeus belongs to the thirteenth |
century; the earlier writers had been most anxious about the sacred places in |
Ephesus; they mention the tomb of St. John and of a daughter of Philip [119], but |
they say nothing about Mary's burying place. |
(3) As to Benedict XIV, this great pontiff is not so emphatic about Mary's death |
and burial in Ephesus, when he speaks about her Assumption in heaven. |
(4) Neither Benedict XIV nor the other authorities who uphold the Ephesian |
claims, advance any argument that has not been found inconclusive by other |
scientific students of this question. |
(5) The house found in Panaghia-Kapouli is of any weight only in so far as it is |
connected with the visions of Catherine Emmerich. Its distance from the city of |
Ephesus creates a presumption against its being the home of the Apostle St. |
John. The historical value of Catherine's visions is not universally admitted. Mgr. |
Timoni, Archbishop of Smyrna, writes concerning Panaghia-Kapouli: "Every one |
is entire free to keep his personal opinion". Finally the agreement of the condition |
of the ruined house in Panaghia-Kapouli with Catharine's description does not |
necessarily prove the truth of her statement as to the history of the building. |
[120] |
Arguments against Jerusalem |
Two considerations militate against a permanent residence of Our Lady in |
Jerusalem: first, it has already been pointed out that St. John did not |
permanently remain in the Holy City; secondly, the Jewish Christians are said to |
have left Jerusalem during the periods of Jewish persecution (cf. Acts 8:1; 12:1). |
But as St. John cannot be supposed to have taken Our Lady with him on his |
apostolic expeditions, we may suppose that he left her in the care of his friends |
or relatives during the periods of his absence. And there is little doubt that many |
of the Christians returned to Jerusalem, after the storms of persecution had |
abated. |
Arguments for Jerusalem |
Independently of these considerations, we may appeal to the following reasons in |
favour of Mary's death and burial in Jerusalem: |
(1) In 451 Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, testified to the presence of Mary's tomb |
in Jerusalem. It is strange that neither St. Jerome, nor the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, |
nor again pseudo-Silvia give any evidence of such a sacred place. But when the |
Emperor Marcion and the Empress Pulcheria asked Juvenal to send the sacred |
remains of the Virgin Mary from their tomb in Gethsemani to Constantinople, |
where they intended to dedicate a new church to Our Lady, the bishop cited an |
ancient tradition saying that the sacred body had been assumed into heaven, |
and sent to Constantinople only the coffin and the winding sheet. This narrative |
rests on the authority of a certain Euthymius whose report was inserted into a |
homily of St. John Damascene [121] now read in the second Nocturn of the |
fourth day within the octave of the Assumption. Scheeben [122] is of opinion that |
Euthymius's words are a later interpolation: they do not fit into the context; they |
contain an appeal to pseudo-Dionysius [123] which are not otherwise cited before |
the sixth century; and they are suspicious in their connection with the name of |
Bishop Juvenal, who was charged with forging documents by Pope St. Leo. [124] |
In his letter the pontiff reminds the bishop of the holy places which he has under |
his very eyes, but does not mention the tomb of Mary. [125] Allowing that this |
silence is purely incidental, the main question remains, how much historic truth |
underlies the Euthymian account of the words of Juvenal? |
(2) Here must be mentioned too the apocryphal "Historia dormitionis et |
assumptionis B.M.V.", which claims St. John for its author. [126] Tischendorf |
believes that the substantial parts of the work go back to the fourth, perhaps even |
to the second, century. [127] Variations of the original text apeared in Arabic and |
Syriac, and in other languages; among these must be noted a work called "De |
transitu Mariae Virg.", which appeared under the name of St. Melito of Sardes. |
[128] Pope Gelasius enumerates this work among the forbidden books. [129] The |
extraordinary incidents which these works connect with the death of Mary do not |
concern us here; but they place her last moments and her burial in or near |
Jerusalem. |
(3) Another witness for the existence of a tradition placing the tomb of Mary in |
Gethsemani is the basilica erected above the sacred spot, about the end of the |
fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. The present church was built by the |
Latins in the same place in which the old edifice had stood. [130] |
(4) In the early part of the seventh century, Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem, |
located the passing of Our Lady on Mount Sion, in the house which contained |
the Cenacle and the upper room of Pentecost. [131] At that time, a single church |
covered the localities consecrated by these various mysteries. One must wonder |
at the late evidence for a tradition which became so general since the seventh |
century. |
(5) Another tradition is preserved in the "Commemoratorium de Casis Dei" |
addressed to Charlemagne. [132] It places the death of Mary on Mt. Olivet where |
a church is said to commemorate this event. Perhaps the writer tried to connect |
Mary's passing with the Church of the Assumption as the sister tradition |
connected it with the cenacle. At any rate, we may conclude that about the |
beginning of the fifth century there existed a fairly general tradition that Mary had |
died in Jerusalem, and had been buried in Gethsemani. This tradition appears to |
rest on a more solid basis than the report that Our Lady died and was buried in |
or near Ephesus. As thus far historical documents are wanting, it would be hard |
to establish the connection of either tradition with apostolic times. [133] |
Conclusion |
It has been seen that we have no absolute certainty as to the place in which |
Mary lived after the day of Pentecost. Though it is more probable that she |
remained uninterruptedly in or near Jerusalem, she may have resided for a while |
in the vicinity of Ephesus, and this may have given rise to the tradition of her |
Ephesian death and burial. There is still less historical information concerning the |
particular incidents of her life. St. Epiphanius [134] doubts even the reality of |
Mary's death; but the universal belief of the Church does not agree with the |
private opinion of St. Epiphanius. Mary's death was not necessarily the effect of |
violence; it was undergone neither as an expiation or penalty, nor as the effect of |
disease from which, like her Divine Son, she was exempt. Since the Middle Ages |
the view prevails that she died of love, her great desire to be united to her Son |
either dissolving the ties of body and soul, or prevailing on God to dissolve them. |
Her passing away is a sacrifice of love completing the dolorous sacrifice of her |
life. It is the death in the kiss of the Lord (in osculo Domini), of which the just die. |
There is no certain tradition as to the year of Mary's death. Baronius in his |
Annals relies on a passage in the Chronicon of Eusebius for his assumption that |
Mary died A.D. 48. It is now believed that the passage of the Chronicon is a later |
interpolation. [135] Nirschl relies on a tradition found in Clement of Alexandria |
[136] and Apollonius [137] which refers to a command of Our Lord that the |
Apostles were to preach twelve years in Jerusalem and Palestine before going |
among the nations of the world; hence he too arrives at the conclusion that Mary |
died A.D. 48. |
Her assumption into heaven |
The Assumption of Our Lady into heaven has been treated in a special article. |
[138] The feast of the Assumption is most probably the oldest among all the |
feasts of Mary properly so called. [139] As to art, the assumption was a favourite |
subject of the school of Siena which generally represents Mary as being carried |
to heaven in a mandorla. |
VII. EARLY CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TO THE MOTHER OF GOD |
Her image and her name |
Depictions of her image |
No picture has preserved for us the true likeness of Mary. The Byzantine |
representations, said to be painted by St. Luke, belong only to the sixth century, |
and reproduce a conventional type. There are twenty-seven copies in existence, |
ten of which are in Rome. [140] Even St. Augustine expresses the opinion that |
the real external appearance of Mary is unknown to us, and that in this regard we |
know and believe nothing. [141] The earliest picture of Mary is that found in the |
cemetery of Priscilla; it represents the Virgin as if about to nurse the Infant |
Jesus, and near her is the image of a prophet, Isaias or perhaps Micheas. The |
picture belongs to the beginning of the second century, and compares favourably |
with the works of art found in Pompeii. From the third century we possess |
pictures of Our Lady present at the adoration of the Magi; they are found in the |
cemeteries of Domitilla and Calixtus. Pictures belonging to the fourth century are |
found in the cemetery of Saints Peter and Marcellinus; in one of these she |
appears with her head uncovered, in another with her arms half extended as if in |
supplication, and with the Infant standing before her. On the graves of the early |
Christians, the saints figured as intercessors for their souls, and among these |
saints Mary always held the place of honour. Besides the paintings on the walls |
and on the sarcophagi, the Catacombs furnish also pictures of Mary painted on |
gilt glass disks and sealed up by means of another glass disk welded to the |
former. [142] Generally these pictures belong to the third or fourth century. Quite |
frequently the legend MARIA or MARA accompanies these pictures. |
Use of her name |
Towards the end of the fourth century, the name Mary becomes rather frequent |
among Christians; this serves as another sign of the veneration they had for the |
Mother of God. [143] |
Conclusion |
No one will suspect the early Christians of idolatry, as if they had paid supreme |
worship to Mary's pictures or name; but how are we to explain the phenomena |
enumerated, unless we suppose that the early Christians venerated Mary in a |
special way? [144] |
Nor can this veneration be said to be a corruption introduced in later times. It has |
been seen that the earliest picture dates from the beginning of the second |
century, so that within the first fifty years after the death of St. John the |
veneration of Mary is proved to have flourished in the Church of Rome. |
Early writings |
For the attitude of the Churches of Asia Minor and of Lyons we may appeal to |
the words of St. Irenaeus, a pupil of St. John's disciple Polycarp [145]; he calls |
Mary our most eminent advocate. St. Ignatius of Antioch, part of whose life |
reached back into apostolic times, wrote to the Ephesians (c. 18-19) in such a |
way as to connect the mysteries of Our Lord's life more closely with those of the |
Virgin Mary. For instance, the virginity of Mary, and her childbirth, are |
enumerated with Christ's death, as forming three mysteries unknown to the devil. |
The sub-apostolic author of the Epistle to Diognetus, writing to a pagan inquirer |
concerning the Christian mysteries, describes Mary as the great antithesis of |
Eve, and this idea of Our Lady occurs repeatedly in other writers even before the |
Council of Ephesus. We have repeatedly appealed to the words of St. Justin and |
Tertullian, both of whom wrote before the end of the second century. |
As it is admitted that the praises of Mary grow with the growth of the Christian |
community, we may conclude in brief that the veneration of and devotion to Mary |
began even in the time of the Apostles. |
NOTES |
[1] Quaest. hebr. in Gen., P.L., XXIII, col. 943 |
[2] cf. Wis., ii, 25; Matt., iii, 7; xxiii, 33; John, viii, 44; I, John, iii, 8-12. |
[3] Hebräische Grammatik, 26th edit., 402 |
[4] Der alte Orient und die Geschichtsforschung, 30 |
[5] cf. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients, 2nd ed., |
Leipzig, 1906, 216; Himpel, Messianische Weissagungen im Pentateuch, |
Tubinger theologische Quartalschrift, 1859; Maas, Christ in Type and Prophecy, |
I, 199 sqq., New York, 1893; Flunck, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 1904, |
641 sqq.; St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 100 (P.G., VI, 712); St. Iren., adv. haer., III, |
23 (P.G., VII,, 964); St. Cypr., test. c. Jud., II, 9 (P.L., IV, 704); St. Epiph., haer., |
III, ii, 18 (P.G., XLII, 729). |
[6] Lagarde, Guthe, Giesebrecht, Cheyne, Wilke. |
[7] cf. Knabenbauer, Comment. in Isaiam, Paris, 1887; Schegg, Der Prophet |
Isaias, Munchen, 1850; Rohling, Der Prophet Isaia, Munster, 1872; Neteler, Das |
Bush Isaias, Munster, 1876; Condamin, Le livre d'Isaie, Paris, 1905; Maas, |
Christ in Type and Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, 333 sqq.; Lagrange, La Vierge |
et Emmaneul, in Revue biblique, Paris, 1892, pp. 481-497; Lémann, La Vierge et |
l'Emmanuel, Paris, 1904; St. Ignat., ad Eph., cc. 7, 19, 19; St. Justin, Dial., |
P.G., VI, 144, 195; St. Iren., adv. haer., IV, xxxiii, 11. |
[8] Cf. the principal Catholic commentaries on Micheas; also Maas, "Christ in |
Type and Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, pp. 271 sqq. |
[9] P.G., XXV, col. 205; XXVI, 12 76 |
[10] In Jer., P.L., XXIV, 880 |
[11] cf. Scholz, Kommentar zum Propheten Jeremias, Würzburg, 1880; |
Knabenbauer, Das Buch Jeremias, des Propheten Klagelieder, und das Buch |
Baruch, Vienna, 1903; Conamin, Le texte de Jeremie, xxxi, 22, est-il |
messianique? in Revue biblique, 1897, 393-404; Maas, Christ in Type and |
Prophecy, New York, 1893, I, 378 sqq.. |
[12] cf. St. Ambrose, de Spirit. Sanct., I, 8-9, P.L., XVI, 705; St. Jerome, Epist., |
cviii, 10; P.L., XXII, 886. |
[13] cf. Gietmann, In Eccles. et Cant. cant., Paris, 1890, 417 sq. |
[14] cf. Bull "Ineffabilis", fourth Lesson of the Office for 10 Dec.. |
[15] Response of seventh Nocturn in the Office of the Immaculate Conception. |
[16] cf. St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 100; P.G., VI, 709-711; St. Iren., adv. haer., III, |
22; V, 19; P.G., VII, 958, 1175; Tert., de carne Christi, 17; P.L., II, 782; St. |
Cyril., catech., XII, 15; P.G., XXXIII, 741; St. Jerome, ep. XXII ad Eustoch., 21; |
P.L., XXII, 408; St. Augustine, de agone Christi, 22; P.L., XL, 303; Terrien, La |
Mère de Dien et la mère des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 120-121; II, 117-118; III, pp. |
8-13; Newman, Anglican Difficulties, London, 1885, II, pp. 26 sqq.; Lecanu, |
Histoire de la Sainte Vierge, Paris, 1860, pp. 51-82. |
[17] de B. Virg., l. IV, c. 24 |
[18] La Vierge Marie d'apres l'Evangile et dans l'Eglise |
[19] Letter to Dr. Pusey |
[20] Mary in the Gospels, London and New York, 1885, Lecture I. |
[21] cf. Tertul., de carne Christi, 22; P.L., II, 789; St. Aug., de cons. Evang., II, 2, |
4; P.L., XXXIV, 1072. |
[22] Cf. St. Ignat., ad Ephes, 187; St. Justin, c. Taryph., 100; St. Aug., c. Faust, |
xxiii, 5-9; Bardenhewer, Maria Verkundigung, Freiburg, 1896, 74-82; Friedrich, |
Die Mariologie des hl. Augustinus, Cöln, 1907, 19 sqq. |
[23] Jans., Hardin., etc. |
[24] hom. I. de nativ. B.V., 2, P.G., XCVI, 664 |
[25] P.G., XLVII, 1137 |
[26] de praesent., 2, P.G., XCVIII, 313 |
[27] de laud. Deipar., P.G., XLIII, 488 |
[28] P.L., XCVI, 278 |
[29] in Nativit. Deipar., P.L., CLI, 324 |
[30] cf. Aug., Consens. Evang., l. II, c. 2 |
[31] Schuster and Holzammer, Handbuch zur biblischen Geschichte, Freiburg, |
1910, II, 87, note 6 |
[32] Anacreont., XX, 81-94, P.G., LXXXVII, 3822 |
[33] hom. I in Nativ. B.M.V., 6, II, P.G., CCXVI, 670, 678 |
[34] cf. Guérin, Jérusalem, Paris, 1889, pp. 284, 351-357, 430; Socin-Benzinger, |
Palästina und Syrien, Leipzig, 1891, p. 80; Revue biblique, 1893, pp. 245 sqq.; |
1904, pp. 228 sqq.; Gariador, Les Bénédictins, I, Abbaye de Ste-Anne, V, 1908, |
49 sq. |
[35] cf. de Vogue, Les églises de la Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1850, p. 310 |
[36] 2, 4, P.L., XXX, 298, 301 |
[37] Itiner., 5, P.L., LXXII, 901 |
[38] cf. Lievin de Hamme, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, Jerusalem, 1887, III, 183 |
[39] haer., XXX, iv, II, P.G., XLI, 410, 426 |
[40] P.G., XCVII, 806 |
[41] cf. Aug., de santa virginit., I, 4, P.L., XL, 398 |
[42] cf. Luke, i, 41; Tertullian, de carne Christi, 21, P.L., II, 788; St. Ambr., de |
fide, IV, 9, 113, P.L., XVI, 639; St. Cyril of Jerus., Catech., III, 6, P.G., XXXIII, 436 |
[43] Tischendorf, Evangelia apocraphya, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1876, pp. 14-17, |
117-179 |
[44] P.G., XLVII, 1137 |
[45] P.G., XCVIII, 313 |
[46] P.G., XXXVCIII, 244 |
[47] cf. Guérin, Jerusalem, 362; Liévin, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, I, 447 |
[48] de virgin., II, ii, 9, 10, P.L., XVI, 209 sq. |
[49] cf. Corn. Jans., Tetrateuch. in Evang., Louvain, 1699, p. 484; Knabenbauer, |
Evang. sec. Luc., Paris, 1896, p. 138 |
[50] cf. St. Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., II, 19, P.L., XV, 1560 |
[51] cf. Schick, Der Geburtsort Johannes' des Täufers, Zeitschrift des Deutschen |
Palästina-Vereins, 1809, 81; Barnabé Meistermann, La patrie de saint |
Jean-Baptiste, Paris, 1904; Idem, Noveau Guide de Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1907, |
294 sqq. |
[52] cf. Plinius, Histor. natural., V, 14, 70 |
[53] cf. Aug., ep. XLCCCVII, ad Dardan., VII, 23 sq., P.L., XXXIII, 840; Ambr. |
Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., II, 23, P.L., XV, 1561 |
[54] cf. Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Luc., Paris, 1896, 104-114; Schürer, |
Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 4th edit., I, 508 sqq.; |
Pfaffrath, Theologie und Glaube, 1905, 119 |
[55] cf. St. Justin, dial. c. Tryph., 78, P.G., VI, 657; Orig., c. Cels., I, 51, P.G., |
XI, 756; Euseb., vita Constant., III, 43; Demonstr. evang., VII, 2, P.G., XX, 1101; |
St. Jerome, ep. ad Marcell., XLVI [al. XVII]. 12; ad Eustoch., XVCIII [al. XXVII], |
10, P.L., XXII, 490, 884 |
[56] in Ps. XLVII, II, P.L., XIV, 1150; |
[57] orat. I, de resurrect., P.G., XLVI, 604; |
[58] de fide orth., IV, 14, P.G., XLIV, 1160; Fortun., VIII, 7, P.L., LXXXVIII, 282; |
[59] 63, 64, 70, P.L., XXXVIII, 142; |
[60] Summa theol., III, q. 35, a. 6; |
[61] cf. Joseph., Bell. Jud., II, xviii, 8 |
[62] In Flaccum, 6, Mangey's edit., II, p. 523 |
[63] cf. Schurer, Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, |
Leipzig, 1898, III, 19-25, 99 |
[64] The legends and traditions concerning these points may be found in Jullien's |
"L'Egypte" (Lille, 1891), pp. 241-251, and in the same author's work entitled |
"L'arbre de la Vierge a Matarich", 4th edit. (Cairo, 1904). |
[65] As to Mary's virginity in her childbirth we may consult St. Iren., haer. IV, 33, |
P.G., VII, 1080; St. Ambr., ep. XLII, 5, P.L., XVI, 1125; St. Aug., ep CXXXVII, 8, |
P.L., XXXIII, 519; serm. LI, 18, P.L., XXXVIII, 343; Enchir. 34, P.L., XL, 249; St. |
Leo, serm., XXI, 2, P.L., LIV, 192; St. Fulgent., de fide ad Petr., 17, P.L., XL, |
758; Gennad., de eccl. dogm., 36, P.G., XLII, 1219; St. Cyril of Alex., hom. XI, |
P.G., LXXVII, 1021; St. John Damasc., de fide orthod., IV, 14, P.G., XCIV, 1161; |
Pasch. Radb., de partu Virg., P.L., CXX, 1367; etc. As to the passing doubts |
concerning Mary's virginity during her childbirth, see Orig., in Luc., hom. XIV, |
P.G., XIII, 1834; Tertul., adv. Marc., III, 11, P.L., IV, 21; de carne Christi, 23, |
P.L., II, 336, 411, 412, 790. |
[66] Matt., xii, 46-47; xiii, 55-56; Mark, iii, 31-32; iii, 3; Luke, viii, 19-20; John, ii, |
12; vii, 3, 5, 10; Acts, i, 14; I Cor., ix, 5; Gal., i, 19; Jude, 1 |
[67] cf. St. Jerome, in Matt., i, 2 (P.L., XXVI, 24-25) |
[68] cf. St. John Chrys., in Matt., v, 3, P.G., LVII, 58; St. Jerome, de perpetua |
virgin. B.M., 6, P.L., XXIII, 183-206; St. Ambrose, de institut. virgin., 38, 43, P.L., |
XVI, 315, 317; St. Thomas, Summa theol., III, q. 28, a. 3; Petav., de incarn., XIC, |
iii, 11; etc. |
[69] cf. Exod., xxxiv, 19; Num., xciii, 15; St. Epiphan., haer. lxxcviii, 17, P.G., |
XLII, 728 |
[70] cf. Revue biblique, 1895, pp. 173-183 |
[71] St. Peter Chrysol., serm., CXLII, in Annunt. B.M. V., P.G., LII, 581; |
Hesych., hom. V de S. M. Deip., P.G., XCIII, 1461; St. Ildeph., de virgin. perpet. |
S.M., P.L., XCVI, 95; St. Bernard, de XII praer. B.V.M., 9, P.L., CLXXXIII, 434, |
etc. |
[72] ad Ephes., 7, P.G., V, 652 |
[73] adv. haer., III, 19, P.G., VIII, 940, 941 |
[74] adv. Prax. 27, P.L., II, 190 |
[75] Serm. I, 6, 7, P.G., XLVIII, 760-761 |
[76] Cf. Ambr., in Luc. II, 25, P.L., XV, 1521; St. Cyril of Alex., Apol. pro XII cap.; |
c. Julian., VIII; ep. ad Acac., 14; P.G., LXXVI, 320, 901; LXXVII, 97; John of |
Antioch, ep. ad Nestor., 4, P.G., LXXVII, 1456; Theodoret, haer. fab., IV, 2, P.G., |
LXXXIII, 436; St. Gregory Nazianzen, ep. ad Cledon., I, P.G., XXXVII, 177; |
Proclus, hom. de Matre Dei, P.G., LXV, 680; etc. Among recent writers must be |
noticed Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 3-14; |
Turnel, Histoire de la théologie positive, Paris, 1904, 210-211. |
[77] cf. Petav., de incarnat., XIV, i, 3-7 |
[78] ep. CCLX, P.G., XXXII, 965-968 |
[79] hom. IV, in Matt., P.G., LVII, 45; hom. XLIV, in Matt. P.G., XLVII, 464 sq.; |
hom. XXI, in Jo., P.G., LIX, 130 |
[80] in Jo., P.G., LXXIV, 661-664 |
[81] St. Ambrose, in Luc. II, 16-22; P.L., XV, 1558-1560; de virgin. I, 15; ep. LXIII, |
110; de obit. Val., 39, P.L., XVI, 210, 1218, 1371; St. Augustin, de nat. et grat., |
XXXVI, 42, P.L., XLIV, 267; St. Bede, in Luc. II, 35, P.L., XCII, 346; St. Thomas, |
Summa theol., III. Q. XXVII, a. 4; Terrien, La mere de Dieu et la mere des |
hommes, Paris, 1902, I, 3-14; II, 67-84; Turmel, Histoire de la théologie positive, |
Paris, 1904, 72-77; Newman, Anglican Difficulties, II, 128-152, London, 1885 |
[82] cf. Iliad, III, 204; Xenoph., Cyrop., V, I, 6; Dio Cassius, Hist., LI, 12; etc. |
[83] cf. St. Irenaeus, c. haer., III, xvi, 7, P.G., VII, 926 |
[84] P.G., XLIV, 1308 |
[85] See Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Joan., Paris, 1898, pp. 118-122; Hoberg, |
Jesus Christus. Vorträge, Freiburg, 1908, 31, Anm. 2; Theologie und Glaube, |
1909, 564, 808. |
[86] cf. St. Augustin, de virgin., 3, P.L., XL, 398; pseudo-Justin, quaest. et |
respons. ad orthod., I, q. 136, P.G., VI, 1389 |
[87] cf. Geyer, Itinera Hiersolymitana saeculi IV-VIII, Vienna, 1898, 1-33; |
Mommert, Das Jerusalem des Pilgers von Bordeaux, Leipzig, 1907 |
[88] Meister, Rhein. Mus., 1909, LXIV, 337-392; Bludau, Katholik, 1904, 61 sqq., |
81 sqq., 164 sqq.; Revue Bénédictine, 1908, 458; Geyer, l. c.; Cabrol, Etude sur |
la Peregrinatio Silviae, Paris, 1895 |
[89] cf. de Vogüé, Les Eglises de la Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1869, p. 438; Liévin, |
Guide de la Terre-Sainte, Jerusalem, 1887, I, 175 |
[90] cf. Thurston, in The Month for 1900, July-September, pp. 1-12; 153-166; |
282-293; Boudinhon in Revue du clergé français, Nov. 1, 1901, 449-463 |
[91] Praef. in Jo., 6, P.G., XIV, 32 |
[92] Orat. VIII in Mar. assist. cruci, P.G., C, 1476 |
[93] cf. Sermo dom. infr. oct. Assumpt., 15, P.L., XLXXXIII, 438 |
[94] cf. Terrien, La mere de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, III, |
247-274; Knabenbauer, Evang. sec. Joan., Paris, 1898, 544-547; Bellarmin, de |
sept. verb. Christi, I, 12, Cologne, 1618, 105-113 |
[95] de Virginit., III, 14, P.L., XVI, 283 |
[96] Or. IX, P.G., C, 1500 |
[97] de div. offic., VII, 25, P.L., CLIX, 306 |
[98] de excell. V.M., 6, P.L., CLIX, 568 |
[99] Quadrages. I, in Resurrect., serm. LII, 3 |
[100] Exercit. spirit. de resurrect., I apparit. |
[101] de myster. vit. Christi, XLIX, I |
[102] In IV Evang., ad XXVIII Matth. |
[103] See Terrien, La mere de Dieu et la mere des hommes, Paris, 1902, I, |
322-325. |
[104] cf. Photius, ad Amphiloch., q. 228, P.G., CI, 1024 |
[105] in Luc. XI, 27, P.L., XCII, 408 |
[106] de carne Christi, 20, P.L., II, 786 |
[107] Cf. Tertullian, de virgin. vel., 6, P.L., II, 897; St. Cyril of Jerus., Catech., XII, |
31, P.G., XXXIII, 766; St. Jerome, in ep. ad Gal. II, 4, P.L., XXVI, 372. |
[108] cf. Drach, Apcal., Pris, 1873, 114 |
[109] Cf. pseudo-Augustin, serm. IV de symbol. ad catechum., I, P.L., XL, 661; |
pseudo-Ambrose, expos, in Apoc., P.L., XVII, 876; Haymo of Halberstadt, in |
Apoc. III, 12, P.L., CXVII, 1080; Alcuin, Comment. in Apoc., V, 12, P.L., C, 1152; |
Casssiodor., Complexion. in Apoc., ad XII, 7, P.L., LXX, 1411; Richard of St. |
Victor, Explic. in Cant., 39, P.L., VII, 12, P.L., CLXIX, 1039; St. Bernard, serm. |
de XII praerog. B.V.M., 3, P.L., CLXXXIII, 430; de la Broise, Mulier amicta sole,in |
Etudes, April-June, 1897; Terrien, La mère de Dieu et la mere des hommes, |
Paris, 1902, IV, 59-84. |
[110] Anglican Difficulties, London, 1885, II, 54 sqq. |
[111] Labbe, Collect. Concilior., III, 573 |
[112] Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., III, 31; V, 24, P.G., XX, 280, 493 |
[113] cf. Assemani, Biblioth. orient., Rome, 1719-1728, III, 318 |
[114] de fest. D.N.J.X., I, vii, 101 |
[115] cf. Arnaldi, super transitu B.M.V., Genes 1879, I, c. I |
[116] Mém. pour servir à l'histoire ecclés., I, 467-471 |
[117] Dict. de la Bible, art. Jean, Marie, Paris, 1846, II, 902; III, 975-976 |
[118] cf. Le Camus, Les sept Eglises de l'Apocalypse, Paris, 1896, 131-133. |
[119] cf. Polycrates, in Eusebius's Hist. Eccl., XIII, 31, P.G., XX, 280 |
[120] In connection with this controversy, see Le Camus, Les sept Eglises de |
l'Apocalypse, Paris, 1896, pp. 133-135; Nirschl, Das Grab der hl. Jungfrau, |
Mainz, 1900; P. Barnabé, Le tombeau de la Sainte Vierge a Jérusalem, |
Jerusalem, 1903; Gabriélovich, Le tombeau de la Sainte Vierge à Ephése, |
réponse au P. Barnabé, Paris, 1905. |
[121] hom. II in dormit. B.V.M., 18 P.G., XCVI, 748 |
[122] Handb. der Kath. Dogmat., Freiburg, 1875, III, 572 |
[123] de divinis Nomin., III, 2, P.G., III, 690 |
[124] et. XXIX, 4, P.L., LIV, 1044 |
[125] ep. CXXXIX, 1, 2, P.L., LIV, 1103, 1105 |
[126] cf. Assemani, Biblioth. orient., III, 287 |
[127] Apoc. apocr., Mariae dormitio, Leipzig, 1856, p. XXXIV |
[128] P.G., V, 1231-1240; cf. Le Hir, Etudes bibliques, Paris, 1869, LI, 131-185 |
[129] P.L., LIX, 152 |
[130] Guerin, Jerusalem, Paris, 1889, 346-350; Socin-Benzinger, Palastina und |
Syrien, Leipzig, 1891, pp. 90-91; Le Camus, Notre voyage aux pays bibliqes, |
Paris, 1894, I, 253 |
[131] P.G., LXXXVI, 3288-3300 |
[132] Tobler, Itiner, Terr. sanct., Leipzig, 1867, I, 302 |
[133] Cf. Zahn, Die Dormitio Sanctae Virginis und das Haus des Johannes |
Marcus, in Neue Kirchl. Zeitschr., Leipzig, 1898, X, 5; Mommert, Die Dormitio, |
Leipzig, 1899; Séjourné, Le lieu de la dormition de la T.S. Vierge, in Revue |
biblique, 1899, pp.141-144; Lagrange, La dormition de la Sainte Vierge et la |
maison de Jean Marc, ibid., pp. 589, 600. |
[134] haer. LXXVIII, 11, P.G., XL, 716 |
[135] cf. Nirschl, Das Grab der hl. Jungfrau Maria, Mainz, 1896, 48 |
[136] Stromat. vi, 5 |
[137] in Eus., Hist. eccl., I, 21 |
[138] The reader may consult also an article in the "Zeitschrift fur katholische |
Theologie", 1906, pp. 201 sqq. |
[139] ; cf. "Zeitschrift fur katholische Theologie", 1878, 213. |
[140] cf. Martigny, Dict. des antiq. chrét., Paris, 1877, p. 792 |
[141] de Trinit. VIII, 5, P.L., XLII, 952 |
[142] cf. Garucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro, Rome, 1858 |
[143] cf. Martigny, Dict. das antiq. chret., Paris, 1877, p. 515 |
[144] cf. Marucchi, Elem. d'archaeol. chret., Paris and Rome, 1899, I, 321; De |
Rossi, Imagini scelte della B.V. Maria, tratte dalle Catacombe Romane, Rome, |
1863 |
[145] adv. haer., V, 17, P.G. VIII, 1175 |
The works treating the various questions concerning the name, the birth, the life, |
and the death of Mary, have been cited in the corresponding parts of this article. |
We add here only a few names of writers, or of collectors of works of a more |
general character: BOURASSE, Summa aurea de laudibus B. Mariae Virginis, |
omnia complectens quae de gloriosa Virgine Deipara reperiuntur (13 vols., Paris, |
1866); KURZ, Mariologie oder Lehre der katholischen Kirche uber die |
allerseligste Jungfrau Maria (Ratisbon, 1881); MARACCI, Bibliotheca Mariana |
(Rome, 1648); IDEM, Polyanthea Mariana, republished in Summa Aurea, vols IX |
and X; LEHNER, Die Marienerehrung in den ersten Jahrhunderten (2nd ed., |
Stuttgart, 1886). |
A. J. Maas |
Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett |
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary |
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV |
Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company |
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight |
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor |
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York |
Catholic Encyclopedia: NewAdvent.org |