NARY, THE BLESSED VIRGIN (Heb. Miriam, Gr. Maria or Mariam), called in the New Testament " the mother of Jesus" (Matt. ii. 11, Acts i. 14), as the mother of our Lord according to the fiesh, is held in high honor by all Christians; and her intercession is invoked with a higher religious worship and a firmer confidence than that of all the other saints, not only in the Roman church, but in all the Christian churches of the ea.st —the Greek, the Syrian, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, and the Armenian. Of her per sonal history, but few particulars are recorded in Scripture. Some details are filled up from the works of the early fathers, especially their commentaries or deductions from the scriptural narrative; some from the apocryphal writings of the first centuries, and some from medimval or modern legendaries. The twofold genealogy of our Lord (Matt. i. 1-16, and Luke iii. 23-38) contains the only statement regarding the family of Mary which the sacred writers have left. The genealogy of our Lord in St. Matthew is traced through Joseph; and as it is plainly assumed that Mary was of the same family with her husband Joseph, the evidence of the descent of the latter from David is equivalently an evidence of the oriigin of Mary from the same royal house. But the genealogy of Christ as traced in St. Luke is commonly held to be the proper genealogy of his mother in the flesh, Mary. Hence it is inferred that the Heli of this genealogy, (Luke iii. 23) was the father of Mary; and it may be added, in confirmation of this inference, that Mary is called in the Talmud the " daughter of Heli," and that Epipbanius (Hor. lxxviii. n. 17) says her parents were Anna and " Joachim," a name interchanged in Scripture (as 2 Chron. xxxvi. 4) with Eliachim, of which name Eli or Heli is an abridgment. The incidents in her personal history recorded in Scripture are few in number, and almost entirely refer to her relations with our Lord. They will be found in Matt. i., xii. ; Luke i., ii.; John ii., xix. ; and Acts i., where the last notice of her is of her "persever ing in prayer" with the disciples and the holy women at Jerusalem after our Lord's ascension (Acts i. 14). Beyond the few leading facts which will be found under these references, the Scripture is silent as to the life of Mary during the presence of our Lord on earth ; nor of her later life is there any record in the canonical Scriptures. The apocryphal gospels, entitled " The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary," and the "Prote vangelion of the Birth of Christ," contain some additional, but, of course, unauthentic particulars as to the lineage, birth, and early years of Mary; among which is the mira culous story of her betrothal with Joseph, immortalized by the pencil of Raphael, according to which narrative Joseph was selected from among all who had been pro posed as suitcrs for the hand of Mary by the supernatural sign of a dove issuing from his rod and alighting upon his head. See Protevangelion, cap. viii. As to her history
after the ascension of her son, the traditions differ widely. A letter ascribed to the council of Ephesus speaks of her as having lived with John at that city, where she died and was buried. Another epistle, nearly contemporaneous, tells that she died and was buried at Jerusalem, at the foot of the mount of Olives. Connected with this tradition is the incident which has so often formed a subject of sacred art, of the apostles coming to her tomb on the third day after her interment, and finding the tomb empty, but exhal ing an "excetding sweet fragrance." On this tradition is founded the belief of her having been assumed into heaven, which is celebrated in the festival of the assumption. The date of her death is commonly fixed at the year of our Lord 63, or, according to another account, the year 48. Another tradition makes her survive the crucifixion only 11 years.
Many theological questions regarding the Virgin Mary have been raised among Christians of the various churches, which would be quite out of place here. One of these, which possesses present interest, has been treated under a separate head. See IMMACULATE CoNcErTroN. The perpetual virginity of Mary is not explicitly attested in Scripture, and there are even certain phrases which at first sight seem to imply that children were born of her after the birth of Jesus, as that of his being called (Matt. i. 25, Luke ii. '7) her "first-born son," and that of James and others being more than once called " brothers of the Lord." On the latter argument, no critic acquainted with the wide scriptural use of the word " brother" would ever rely. The fornier, which was urged anciently by Helvidius and others, but was rejected by the unanimous voice of tradition, is fouuded on a phrase susceptible of equal latitude of interpretation. The perpetual virginity of Mary is held as a firm article of belief in the Roman and eastern churches. Protestants hold nothing positively on the subject. The controversies regarding the Virgin Mary have reference to the lawfulness of the worship which is rendered to her in some Christian communities. See MARIOLATRY.