NATIVITY OF MARY

Sacred Scripture mentions nothing specifically about Mary's conception and birth. What is known of her nativity derives principally from the Apocrypha—books that are generally unreliable historically, but that sometimes incorporate genuine traditions, some of which have found their way into the Church's liturgy.

In the Apocrypha. The oldest (c. a.d. 150) and basic Apocryphon referring to Mary's nativity is entitled Birth of Mary: Revelation of James [Papyrus Bodmer V] or, more popularly (since Postel, 1552), Protoevangelium of James. Its anonymous and probably Judeo-Christian author, indignant at anti-Marian calumnies of the time, glorified the Virgin mother of god in what amounts to a primitive Mariology. The opening five chapters of the work describe the miraculous, though not necessarily "immaculate," conception and birth of Mary. Joachim and Anne, a wealthy couple elderly and childless, beseech God to remove the humiliation of sterility and grant them a child. Each is assured separately by an angel that their prayers had been heard, and Mary is born after seven [nine] months. Some versions and recensions of the Protoevangelium, understanding the angel's assurance to Joachim in a past tense, suggest a virginal conception in Anne's womb. Later pertinent Apocrypha (Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, probably 8th-9th centuries; Gospel of the Birth of Mary, a shortened form of Pseudo-Matthew; a Syriac-Armenian Infancy Gospel; and some Coptic Lives of the Virgin) all rest on and repeat evidence of the Protoevangelium.

Mary's Birthplace and Davidic Descent. According to Lk 1.26 Mary was living at nazareth when she conceived her divine Son. In the absence of further scriptural data, some presume that Nazareth would have been her own birthplace. In much later Apocrypha (e.g., Gospel of the Birth of Mary), Nazareth is given as the home of Joachim and Anne. The Protoevangelium of James supposes that Mary was conceived and born in Jerusalem, a tradition supported by later writers and by remnants of a small oratory (c. a.d. 300) in Jerusalem, above which the fifth-century basilica of St. Anne was built.

It is still disputed whether Mary, like Joseph, was of David's line. Some see the genealogies in Matthew ch. 1 and Luke ch. 3 as referring only to Joseph's forebears, not Mary's. They point out that Elizabeth, Mary's relative, was of Aaronitic descent (Lk 1.5), which might indicate that Mary too was of a priestly family. However, a tradition going as far back as Ignatius of Antioch (Eph. 18.2; 20.2; Rom. 7.3; Smyrn. 1.1) and Justin Martyr (1 Apol. 32; Dial. 43.45, 100, 120), based on New Testament texts that seem to refer to Christ's descent from David according to the flesh [Lk 1. (27), 32, 69; Rom1.3], testify to Mary's Davidic lineage; cf. also Tertullian De carne Christi 22; Augustine Cons. Evang. 2.2.4; Pseudo-James; and Pseudo-Matthew. More probably, then, Mary's parents were descendants of David, and Mary's Son was the Son of David according to the flesh, not merely legally through the putative fatherhood of Joseph.

See Also: anne and joachim, ss.; immaculate conception; mary, blessed virgin, articles on.

Bibliography: m. lindgren-tridell, "Der Stammbaum Maria aus Anna und Joachim," Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft 11–12 (1938–39) 289–308. a. merk, "Das Marienbild des Neuen Bundes," in Katholische Marienkunde, ed. p. strÄter, 3 v. (Paderborn 1947–51) 1:44–84. o. cullmann, "In-fancy Gospels," in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. e. hennecke et al. (Philadelphia 1963–) 1:363–. a. rush, "Mary in the Apocrypha of the N.T.," j. b. carol ed., Mariology 3 v. (Milwaukee 1954–61) 1:156–184. Dictionnaire de la Bible, suppl. ed. l. pirot, et al. (Paris 1928–) 4:780–781.

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