Their dwellings were like hermits' cells, for they used as their refuges what nature offered them. (SB), [195] All the ancient legends describe the pure soul of Mary leaving her body. At that time I saw no picture and no fixed cross to designate the Stations, nothing but plain memorial stones with inscriptions, but afterwards, as the result of constant visits and attention, I saw the place becoming increasingly beautiful and easy of approach. (SB)[183] None of the apocryphal legends of the Assumption suggest that Our Lady lived at Ephesus: most suggest Jerusalem, and the Greek legend ( John , 4) gives Bethlehem. The windows were high up near the flat roof. Bartholomew was in Asia, east of the Red Sea. The sepulcher prepared for her on the Mount of Olives was always held in honor, and later a church was built over it, and John Damascene (so I heard in the spirit, but who and what was he?) John had been in Jericho a short time before; he often traveled to the Promised Land. (SB)[186] Her tomb at Gethsemani is mentioned in the Greek legend (48). Why Is it Important for Us to Be Restored? Mary had across on her couch, half an arm's length long and shaped like the letter Y, as I always see the Holy Cross. See n. 193, p. 167 . At the same time I had the feeling that it was the cloth which priests use at Mass, after drinking the Precious Blood, to cleanse the chalice; Mary, in wiping the. They then placed the holy body in the coffin which stood near; it was like a bed or a long basket. It was the Apostles' custom to carry this cross on their travels hanging on their breasts under their garments. Thomas was of low stature and had red-brown hair. I saw the Apostles and disciples arrive mostly in a very tired condition. He told the truth wherever He wentwhatever the costeven unto death. It had been walled up and buried under rubbish, and above, on the top of the rock, a building like a little temple was being put up. Ascension her whole being seemed to be filled with an ever-increasing yearning which gradually consumed her. Most Jewish girls aged 12-15 were promised to eligible young men aged 18-19. At each of these places she put up a stone, or, if there was already a tree there, she made a mark upon it. Had His mother not been a widow at that time, Jesus gracious provision for her would have been unnecessary. Rhoda's daughter Mara, who was present at Mary's death at Ephesus, was married and lived near Bethlehem. After they had knelt for a long time in prayer before it, John rose and drew from his breast a metal box. I saw her once traveling to Nazareth with Seraphia (Veronica) before Jesus' baptism. John had had a house built for the Blessed Virgin before he brought her here. (SB)[194] Simeon Justus and Barnabas or Barsabas. After their betrothal was finalized, Mary and Joseph probably had little to no contact for up to a year as they awaited their wedding ceremony and the consummation of their marriage. (SB)[193] The late arrival of Thomas is included in the tradition preserved by St. John Damascene, but among the early legends only in that entitled of Joseph of Arimathea' (17). Peter in rich, priestly vestments. By the time, however, that the sepulcher was ready, [186] she had recovered and was strong enough to journey back to her home in Ephesus, where she did in fact die eighteen months later. Later Philip came with a companion from Egypt. Assuming this is . He received her with His Divine Love, and placed in her hands a scepter with a gesture towards the earth as though indicating the power which He gave her. They laid aside their staffs, cloaks, girdles, and pouches, letting their long white undergarments fall to their feet. "Who Was Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus?" Learn Religions. Mary.s meditation on the different kinds of wood forming the cross were communicated to me, but alas I have forgotten this beautiful lesson. She and her husband have five childrenthree who have already flown the coop and two adopted teens still roosting at homeplus two adorable grands who add immeasurable joy and laughter to the whole flock. In the third year of Jesus' ministry, when Our Lord was healing the sick and teaching beyond the Jordan at Bethabara (also called Bethania), I saw the Blessed Virgin wearing this dress in Jerusalem, where she was living in a beautiful house near the house of Nicodemus, who, I think, owned that house also. " [H]aving completed the course of her earthly life" is ambiguous; it allows for the possibility that Mary may not have died before her Assumption. As Easter Sunday approaches and Christians everywhere remember Jesus journey to the cross, we cant help but wonder about those who stuck by His side till the bitter endespecially His earthly mother. A girl was considered the right age for marriage when she could physically bear children, a milestone marked by the start of her monthly cycle. After witnessing all this in Ephesus, I had a longing to see what was going on in Jerusalem at this time, but shrank from the long journey there from Ephesus. The fire on the hearth was covered, and all the household utensils put aside and covered up. At that age, Mary rejoiced over the privilege to carry the Messiah into the sin-fallen world. that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. On it was a little bowl with a small brown transparent spoon. Each of these stones rested on a base of the same stone whose thickness was hidden by the close turf and the beautiful flowers surrounding them. The Station of the Mount of Olives was in a little valley near a cave, in which several people could kneel at prayer. After one day of travel, Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was not with the group, so they returned to Jerusalem to find Him. Below the girdle it was folded back to show the lining, which had red and yellow stripes running down and across it. Peter approached her and gave her extreme unction, much in the way in which it is administered now. After the Blessed Virgin's death I saw this Way of the Cross being visited by Christians, who threw themselves down and kissed the ground. There was an indescribable solemnity about her. He came with Timon the deacon from Spain, and after passing through Rome had met with Eremenzear and still another. Her maidservant was in the utmost distress, throwing herself on her knees and praying with outstretched arms, sometimes in corners of the house and sometimes outside in front of it. Since she was a virgin, Mary couldnt understand how this blessing could occur. This man played a part in later events, but I forget what it was. The date at the heading of this section of AC's statement shows that she was speaking less than two months after this event, which therefore had a great topical interest. These conspicuous absences in Scripture suggest that Joseph died before Jesus public ministry began. John carried a vessel with ointment, and Peter, dipping the finger of his right hand into it, anointed the breast, hands, and feet of the Blessed Virgin, praying as he did so. After their feet had been washed, they approached Mary's couch and greeted her with reverence. This woman was related to the Holy Family through Anna, for Anna was related to St. Anne and still more closely to Elizabeth, St. Anne's niece. There must have been a mat or piece of leather attached to the carrying-poles, for I saw the coffin hanging between them as if in a cradle. Some of them lived in caves in the rocks which had been arranged as dwellings by means of wickerwork screens. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Several, the Latin (3), the Greek (3), and Pseudo-Joseph of Arimathea (4), refer to her visit to the sepulcher. The Blessed Virgin lived here alone, with a younger woman, her maidservant, who fetched what little food they needed. It might easily be supposed to be invented in view of John 20.. 24, but it might equally easily be supposed to be truly in character. The theory is made more credible by the fact that Jesus, while dying on the cross, commissioned the apostle John to care for Mary. Catholic friar Paul Gaechter argues that Mary was probably betrothed between 12 and 13. 42-44. (SB)[187] St. John Damascene, a monk at Jerusalem, died c. A.D. 754, and is a Doctor of the Church. So I went with her over sea and land, and we soon reached Jerusalem. Here for several days she was so weak and ill and so often suffered from fainting attacks that her companions again and again thought her end was near and made preparations for her burial. The matter is also confused by the historical problems of the date of the birth of Christ and the date of the Crucifixion and Ascension, and cannot be decided with any certainty. His garment was very long and hung in folds, and was of a thin grayish-white material. He shepherded hordes of lost and wandering followers. The reason why I saw the Blessed Virgin with such particular clearness in this vision may be my possession of a little relic of a garment which she wore on this occasion. He was accompanied by a disciple. The writer: You are going to tell of the death of the Blessed Virgin.' 12. RT @rich33301: Virgin birth begot from rape of a 14 yr old married virgin, Mary & was probably too scared to scream & wake up her husband. It seems to be made of different woods, and the figure of Christ is white. Then they crossed the arms on the breast, wrapped the holy body in a great grave-cloth, and wound it round with a band fastened under one arm so that it looked like a child in swaddling clothes. If she was then sixty-four years old (as AC says here), she was born in 20 B.C. Why Did Jesus Give Believers the Beatitudes? It had a lid, and was of the same shape as the Chalice at the Last Supper. If she was then sixty-four years old (as AC says here), she was born in 20 B.C. And Mary was seventy-two years old when she herself died, and was three days later assumed into Heaven, in the year 58. Mary, also called St. Mary or the Virgin Mary, (flourished beginning of the Christian era), the mother of Jesus, venerated in the Christian church since the apostolic age and a favourite subject in Western art, music, and literature. How old was Mary when Jesus died? Lord.s wounds, seemed to me to be acting in the same way, and as she did it she held the cloth just as the priest does. She was very thin, but I saw no wrinkles; there was no sign whatever in her of any withering or decay. This is still a common practice in the middle east today. Wikimedia Commons. The women took the Blessed Virgin's body from her death-bed in its wrappings, and laid it in a long basket which was so piled up with thick, roughly woven coverings or mats that the body lay high above it. Jude Thaddeus and Simon were in Persia when the summons reached them. The Apostles prayed for a while, and then, raising herself rather less, she received the Chalice from John. The holy women, after making their farewells, covered the holy face and placed the lid on the coffin, which they fastened round with gray bands at each end and in the middle. They were then greater than the high priest when he carried on his breast the holy treasure of the Old Covenant. Then again V and three strokes, does not that make eight? A covering was stretched on it and fastened to a knob at each of the four corners. One of Rhoda's two sons was the first husband of Maroni, who, when he died, married as a childless widow Eliud, a nephew of St. Anne, and went to live at Naim. It was an over-garment. It was on this plateau that the Jewish settlers had made their home. The Mother of God was so sorrowful and so moved by compassion that she could hardly hold herself upright, and Peter and John had to support her as they led her away. I saw that they all took with them on their travels the bones of the Prophets or of martyrs done to death in the first persecutions, and kept them at hand when praying and offering the Holy Sacrifice. Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you., Jesus answered, Why were you searching for me? [August 11 ^th, 1821:] Today I saw a ninth Apostle, Simon, arrive. Today, most couples in the West marry for love, and according to recent census findings, most U.S. couples wed when theyre around 31 years old. Timon was one of the seven deacons ( Acts 6.. 15), and is so called by AC (infra, p. 169 ). This is one reason why Mary and Josephs genealogies originate from the same ancestral lines. (SB), [188] AC's matter-of-fact account of the arrival of the Apostles (and cf. But I do know that in the sacrifice of the New Covenant they always had near the altar the bones of prophets and later of martyrs, just as the Patriarchs at their sacrifices always placed on the altar the bones of Adam or of other progenitors on whom the Promise rested. 17K views, 727 likes, 654 loves, 3.7K comments, 237 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from EWTN: Starting at 8 a.m. She stretched out her arms towards it in infinite longing, and I saw her body, all wrapped up, rise so high above her couch that one could see right under it. He was not in any town, but in a reed-hut, where he was praying, when the angel told him to go to Ephesus. [August 12 ^th, 1821:] There are now not more than twelve men gathered together in Mary's house. I saw, too, that she cleaned out the cave of the Holy Sepulcher and made it a place for prayer. Two women then held a broad cloth stretched above the body, while two others removed the head-covering and wrappings under this cloth, leaving the body clothed only in the long woolen robe. Afterwards she arranged the Stations better, and I saw her inscribing on the stones the meaning of each Station, the number of paces and so forth. The Blessed Virgin came in from her bedchamber completely enveloped in a white robe, and leaning on her maidservant.s arm. According to Christianity.com, Mary was 46 to 49 years old when Jesus died. Four times did I see the Apostles relieve each other in watching and praying by the holy body. The house near the garden of Gethsemani where the disciples had stayed had been pulled down, and a number of trenches and walls had been made there to prevent access to it. It was here that the summons to Ephesus reached him. There was no standing cross there, but only one cut into a stone. Venmo | 178 views, 11 likes, 0 loves, 10 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Rock Church: Jesus is the "Word made flesh" and the "Son of. Today I saw a number of women, among whom I remember a daughter of Veronica and the mother of John Mark, coming to prepare the body for burial. Her gaze was directed intently upwards; she said no word to anyone and seemed in a state of perpetual ecstasy. It might easily be supposed to be invented in view of John 20.. 24, but it might equally easily be supposed to be truly in character. I saw that he was the only one of The Twelve who was missing. p. 167 on their tiredness) contrasts strikingly with that of the legends. The Blessed Virgin might easily have been adored as a goddess. We don't know where exactly John lived. I also saw coming into Mary's house Mary Heli, the elder sister of the Blessed Virgin, and her younger stepsister, a daughter of Anna by her second husband. The reason for early betrothal (or erusin) was practicality. Peter, after he and the other Apostles had received Communion, brought the Blessed Virgin the Blessed Sacrament and administered extreme unction to her. The Bible doesnt tell us what Mary thought, how she felt, or even how old she was when Jesus died. As a rule, they lived at a quarter of an hour's distance from each other. For this purpose they had taken away or arranged differently the movable wickerwork screens which divided it into sleeping compartments. To the right of this oratory, against a niche in the wall, was the sleeping place or cell of the Blessed Virgin. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. [184] This hill slopes steeply towards Ephesus; the city as one approaches it from the south-east seems to lie on rising ground immediately before one, but seems to change its place as one draws nearer. She seemed to be swaying with intense longing. The Bible does not provide specific dates for Jesus' birth and crucifixion, but we can use scriptural context clues to get a close estimate of Jesus' age when He died. By the time Mary was about 12 or 13 years old, historians believe, she was engaged to Joseph, a devout Jewish man. This has led some to claim that these children were the "brothers" of Jesus that are . Today I saw a service being held in her sleeping-alcove; Mass was said there. St. Mary Magdalene, also called Mary of Magdala, (flourished 1st century ce, Palestine; feast day July 22), one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, famous, according to Mark 16:9-10 and John 20:14-17, for being the first person to see the resurrected Christ. The idea of marrying outside of ones clan was taboo, lest foreign practices defile their beliefs and other tribes take possession of the family property. Again at Our Lord's crucifixion I saw her wearing this garment, completely hidden under her praying and mourning cloak. I saw it all and will recount it in due course. I saw that he set up a stone in that country on which he knelt and prayed, and that the marks of his knees were imprinted upon the stone. Some of them had a pouch hanging from their girdles. Over it she wore a soft black veil which hung down to her waist. No doubt she wore this ceremonial dress here at the Way of the Cross in Ephesus in memory of having worn it during Jesus' sufferings on His way to Calvary. When Peter went up to her, I saw that he had a scroll of writing in his hand. Sister Lucia, the last survivor of the three Portuguese shepherd children who told of a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the village of Ftima in 1917, died on Sunday in . It stood between two small vases filled with fresh flowers. It had no particular ornamentation, and was more roughly carved than the crosses which come from the Holy Land nowadays. released through Familius Publishing in 2020. This Herod reigned AD. InThe Characters of Easter,youll become acquainted with the unlikely collection of ordinary people who witnessed the miracle of Christs death and resurrection. Jewish marriages were contracted between the bride and grooms families, usually within a narrow circle of familial clans. The Bible doesn't mention the virgin mary's death at all. We know many of the wonderful events that occurred in connection with Mary before the year 1000. The Apostles accompanied him in a solemn procession. The house was closed and they worked by lamplight. I also saw a cloth lying beside the cross, and had the impression that it was the one with which the Blessed Virgin had wiped the blood from all the wounds in Our Lord.s holy body after it was taken down from the cross. Today I saw nobody in the Blessed Virgin's room except one woman. 2. 6. She stayed with Elizabeth for three months. As I saw all this there was a beautiful ringing in the air and a movement throughout the whole of nature like the one I had perceived on Christmas night. 44 at the latest. (It is remarkable that Catherine Emmerich was not shown numbers with our ordinary Arabic figures, with which she was familiar, but never saw anything but Roman figures in her visions). Several of the Apostles were, I believe, assembled there: I saw Thomas among them and I think a Council was held at which Mary assisted them with her advice. It was like the one I described when she went to bed in Elizabeth's house at the Visitation. (SB), [190] Prince Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst was born in 1794. (SB)[188] AC's matter-of-fact account of the arrival of the Apostles (and cf. Only a few women remained with the Blessed Virgin. All these holy women lived near by; they had come here some time before to escape the persecution in Jerusalem. These stones were not always uncovered; there was a mat or cover fastened at one side which, when nobody was praying there, was pulled over the stone and held down on the other side with two pegs. If the Ascension took place in A.D. 30, the date of the Assumption would be A.D. 43 or 44, which will fit with the subsequent martyrdom of James the Great under Herod (42-44). Then I saw that these two women washed the holy body; they had something crinkled in their hands, probably sponges. It was Mary.s custom to sit in front of this curtain when she was working or reading. 1. I saw Thomas come up to me like the others, but he did not come into the vision of Mary's death; he was far away and came too late. She was related to the Holy Family in the following way: St. Anne's mother Ismeria had a sister called Emerentia, both living in the pasture-lands of Mara between Mount Horeb and the Red Sea. [188] These were James the Less and Matthew, who is his step-brother, since Alpheus married when a widower Mary the daughter of Cleophas, having had Matthew by a former wife.