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. And in doing so, Jesus showed the Fathers love to the world and offered the way of salvation to all who believe. Another tradition points to the city of Ephesus, where she is said to have lived for a short time prior to her death. She married Aphras, of the family of the priests who had carried the Ark of the Covenant. It means that the year 48 after Christ's Birth is the year of the Blessed Virgin's death. I saw all, the farthest as well as the nearest, being summoned by visions to come to the Blessed Virgin. Five of them who assisted in offering the Holy Sacrifice (just as I had seen done when Peter first officiated in the new church at the pool of Bethsaida after the Ascension) put on the big, rich, priestly vestments. The holy man became a titular bishop in 1844 and died in 1849. They put on broad girdles which they carried with them, engraved with letters. They laid aside their staffs, cloaks, girdles, and pouches, letting their long white undergarments fall to their feet. I saw that one of them bent right down over Mary and was embraced by her. (This was not extreme unction; she had received that while still alive.) Between these clouds a path of light poured down upon Mary, and I saw a shining mountain leading up from her into the heavenly Jerusalem. The niece of Anna the prophetess was there, and also Elizabeth's niece, the widow Mara. For this purpose they had taken away or arranged differently the movable wickerwork screens which divided it into sleeping compartments. If she was then sixty-four years old (as AC says here), she was born in 20 B.C. 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. 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. 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. The others indicate the Vale of Josaphat, usually identified with the Kedron Valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. 4 Reasons Why We Have a Hard Time Talking about Loneliness. [August 12 ^th, 1821:] There are now not more than twelve men gathered together in Mary's house. Scripture does not record her giving birth to any other children. Rhoda had married far away from the home of her family: she lived first in the region of Shechem, then in Nazareth and at Casaloth on Mount Thabor. Peter bore the Blessed Sacrament in the cruciform vessel of which I have spoken, and John followed him, carrying a dish on which rested the Chalice with the Precious blood and some small boxes. 2. He was the farthest off, and did not arrive until after Mary's death. From the boxes which John held he anointed her with holy oil on her face, hands, and feet, and on her side, where there was an opening in her dress so that she was in no way uncovered. The fire on the hearth was covered, and all the household utensils put aside and covered up. That is one reading. They had tools with them with which to enlarge the tomb, for it was here that the Blessed Virgin's body was to rest. In this continued state of fervor she then recounted the following:]. This approximation comes from multiple informed but inexact calculations, including the date of 4-6 B.C. The Apostles, disciples, and all others present then came in to see the beloved face once more before it was covered up. [On the afternoon of August 14 ^th Catherine Emmerich said to the writer: Now I will tell of the death of the Blessed Virgin if only I am not disturbed by visits. [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. According to Christianity.com, Mary was 46 to 49 years old when Jesus died. 13. 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. (SB), [192] The martyrdom of James the Great is the only death of an Apostle narrated in the New Testament ( Acts 12.. 1), and the persecutor is named: Herod, i.e. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mothers sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. They had come here to escape violent persecution. Between the Blessed Virgin's dwelling and Ephesus runs a little stream which winds about in a very singular way. (SB), [190] Prince Alexander Leopold Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst was born in 1794. A covering was stretched on it and fastened to a knob at each of the four corners. All these came up to me in that order more clearly and distinctly than the others, and then entered into the vision that I saw. On their arrival at Jerusalem in the dusk of the evening, before they went into the city, I saw them visiting the Mount of Olives, Calvary, the Holy Sepulcher, and all the holy places outside Jerusalem. [187] wrote from hearsay that she had died and been buried in Jerusalem. In the center one was the Blessed Sacrament, and in the others chrism, oil, salt, other holy things, and some shreds of what was perhaps cotton. 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. Figure 24. In the last days of her life I never saw her take any nourishment except now and then a spoonful of juice which her maidservant pressed from a bunch of yellow berries like grapes into a bowl near her couch. Based on Jewish tradition, Marys father would have consulted her about his decision to make Joseph her husband, but only as a formality and only after negotiations for Marys bride price (or mohar) were settled. The Blessed Virgin pulled at the ribbon or strap which turned the tabernacle in the wall to show the cross in it. The Blessed Virgin soared through them all to the Throne of God and of her Son, whose wounds shone with a light transcending even the light irradiating His whole Presence. There may be a confusion here (unless other persons are intended): Joseph Barsabas Justus was the candidate proposed with Matthias in Acts 1.. 23; Joseph Barnabas, later the companion of St. Paul, first appears in Acts 4.. 36. It must have been half an hour's journey from Mary's house to the tomb. She was told by the head of the Essenes on Mount Horeb that among her descendants would be friends of the Messiah. (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). 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. Yesterday evening and this morning I saw the assembled Apostles holding a service in the front part of the house. Men typically married at about 30, when they were sufficiently established in their trade to support a family. Some of them had a pouch hanging from their girdles. It was during Mary's engagement that she learned through an angelic visitation of the plans God had for her to serve as Jesus Christ's mother on Earth. 29 Apr 2023 23:20:01 And Mary was seventy-two years old when she herself died, and was three days later assumed into Heaven, in the year 58. Mary responded with faithful obedience to God's plan, despite the personal . 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. The Protevangelium account of the life of St. Anne became the foundation for establishing the liturgical feasts of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8) and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8), which is usually observed as a holy day of obligation.The dedication of Mary at the Temple became so important in church doctrine that by 1585 Pope Sixtus V . The others indicate the Vale of Josaphat, usually identified with the Kedron Valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It was an over-garment. She told John what was to be done with her body, and bade him divide her clothes between her maidservant and another poor girl from the neighborhood who sometimes came to help. So he went still farther north, right across China, to where Russia is now, where he received a second summons which sent him hurrying to Ephesus. Her little room was open on all sides. She was very weak and pale, and seemed as though completely consumed with yearning. Several Christian families and holy women had already settled here, some in caves in the earth or in the rocks, fitted out with light woodwork to make dwellings, and some in fragile huts or tents. Jesus, becoming aware of His true identity, spent His time in the temple with the priests and teachers, amazing them with His wisdom. There seems to be some geographical confusion here, although the precise geographical history of Ephesus is rendered difficult through the silting-up of its harbor. She was completely enveloped in a white sleeping coverlet, even her arms being wrapped in it. How old was Mary when Jesus died? The little piece in my possession comes from the right-hand side of this fold, but not from the lining. I believe that this grave must still exist under the earth and will one day come to light. (SB), [187] St. John Damascene, a monk at Jerusalem, died c. A.D. 754, and is a Doctor of the Church. This Herod reigned AD. The upright piece is somewhat broader than the arms. p. 167 on their tiredness) contrasts strikingly with that of the legends. The men muffled their heads in the piece of stuff which they wore round their necks and held a mourning service. (SB), [188] AC's matter-of-fact account of the arrival of the Apostles (and cf. Peter in rich, priestly vestments. It was already dusk, and four lights were carried on poles round the coffin. (SB)[188] AC's matter-of-fact account of the arrival of the Apostles (and cf. This is still a common practice in the middle east today. Every day they take it in turns to go there, morning and evening, and I creep up quietly to join in behind them. This is not the month in which she died -- I think I already saw this vision several months ago. It is recited in the Breviary on the Octave-Day or during the Octave, and is in fact the simplest collection of popular legends about the Assumption. Since Jesus. Maroni had by this Eliud a son whom Our Lord raised from the dead in Naim after his mother had become a widow for the second time. When she came to that door behind the palace where she had met Jesus sinking under the weight of the Cross, she too sank to the ground in a swoon, overcome by agonizing memories, and her companions thought she was dying. It was here that the summons to Ephesus reached him. The years given here probably include parts of years, since on p. 166 AC states clearly that Mary lived fourteen years and two months after the Ascension, or, as on p. 169 , thirteen years and two months. In the last weeks before she died I sometimes saw her, weak and aged, being led about the house by her maidservant. As soon as I came to a definite place, as for instance Jerusalem yesterday, she disappeared; but in all my passages from one vision to another, she was there to accompany and encourage me. 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. (Today is her feast day, and I have a relic of her, and she was with me the whole night.) About this time he began to perform some remarkable miraculous cures. She paced out all the measurements, and John had the memorial stones set up for her. He at once went to the Mother of Our Lord, and wept bitterly as he received her blessing. She herself chose a cave in the Mount of Olives, and the Apostles caused a beautiful sepulcher to be prepared here by the hands of a Christian stonemason. -- " That Mary, the Immaculate and ever Virgin Mother of God, at the end of the course of her life on earth, was taken up, body and soul, into the glory of heaven." InThe Characters of Easter,youll become acquainted with the unlikely collection of ordinary people who witnessed the miracle of Christs death and resurrection. REGARDING MARY'S AGE. I saw him on his way at a great distance. They wore long white woolen cloaks which they could draw over their heads as hoods. The Blessed Virgin could not see the altar from her bed, but during the Holy Sacrifice she sat upright on her couch in deep devotion. The Blessed Virgin received the Blessed Sacrament. Again at Our Lord's crucifixion I saw her wearing this garment, completely hidden under her praying and mourning cloak. Still lower down at the foot of the hill, in a cave, was the Sepulcher in which the Blessed Virgin was buried. He was soon met by Andrew, who had been summoned by the same vision; later they met with Thaddeus, to whom the same message had been given. He was very handsome and had a great resemblance to Our Lord, whence he was called by all his brethren the brother of the Lord. Gethsemani is on one side of the valley. They cut off the Blessed Virgin's beautiful locks of hair to be kept in remembrance of her. As they came out they made affecting gestures of prayer or grief. However, we can assume that Mary was at least eighteen when she gave birth to Jesus. April 29, 2023 - 8 likes, 1 comments - Humans of Heaven (@humansofhvn) on Instagram: "April 30: St. Catherine of Siena Catherine, the daughter of a humble tradesman . Later Philip came with a companion from Egypt. It was like the one I described when she went to bed in Elizabeth's house at the Visitation. There never was a saint who with some utterance or other did not declare the majesty, the dignity and the supremacy of the Blessed Virgin Mary. About Matthew I again saw today that he was the son of Alpheus by a former marriage, and was thus the stepson of Alpheus' second wife Mary, the daughter of Cleophas. Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus.She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto.The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. He was ordained a priest in 1827, and engaged in the parochial ministry for . Thomas did not return to Tartary after Mary's death. She came to Jerusalem from Ephesus once again, [185] eighteen months before her death, and I saw her again visiting the Holy Places with the Apostles at night, wrapped in a veil. The newcomers tenderly embraced those who were already there, and I saw many of them weeping for joy and for sorrow, too -- happy to see each other again and grieved that the occasion for their meeting was so sad. 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. Whereupon the holy virgin and martyr Susanna [189] came to me and encouraged me, saying that she would be my companion on the journey. There were now low smooth white stones with many sides -- I think eight -- with a little depression in the center of the surface. It was on this plateau that the Jewish settlers had made their home. The Apostles were praying in the front part of the house as though they were in choir.