VIRGIN
464H
VIRGIN
of the Holy Ghost in the infant overflowed, as it were,
into the soul of his mother: "and Ehzabeth was
filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke, i, 41). Thus
both cliild and mother were sanctified by the presence
of Marj' and the Word Incarnate (cf. Aug., ep.
CLXXXVII, ad Dardan., VII, 23 sq., P. L., XXXIII,
840; Ambr., E.xjjos. Evang. sec. Luc, II, 23, P. L.,
XV, 15(31); 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, i, 42-45). Leaving to
commentators the full explanation of the preceding
passage, we draw attention only to two points: first,
Elizabeth begins her greeting with the words with
which the angel had finished liis salutation, thus
showing that both spoke in the same Holy Spirit;
secondly, 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 special 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, i, 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 impUcation. As the Feast
of the Visitation was placed by the 43d 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 Ehzabeth until after the child's circumcision;
but there is no further proof for this supposition.
Though the visitation is so accurately described in
tlie third Gospel, its feast does not appear to have
been kept tiU the thirteenth century, when it was
introduced through the influence of the Franciscans;
in 1389 it was officially instituted by Urban VI.
After her return from Elizabeth, Mary "was found with child, of the Holy Ghost" (Matt., i, 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 preg- nancy could not astonish anyone except St. Joseph. As he did not know the mj-stery of the Incarnation, the situation must have been extremely painful both to him and to Mary. The Evangehst says: "Where- upon Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing publicly to e.xjjose her, was minded to put her away privately" (Matt., i, 19). Mary left the solution of the difficulty to God, and God informed the peri)Iexcd spouse in His own time of the true con- dition 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 con- ceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall liring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For He .shall .save His people from their sins" (Matt., i, 20-21). Not long after this revelation, Joseph concluded the ritual marriage contract with Mary. The Gosjjel simply says: "Joseiih rising up from sleep did as the ang(>l of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife" (Matt., i, 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 aft(T 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 en-
lightened 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 histori-
cal document tells us how old she actually was at
the time of the Nativity.
(2). Majy During the Hidden Life of Our Lord. — St. Luke (ii, 1-5) e.xplains how Joseph and Mary jour- neyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem in obedience to a decree of Csesar Augustus which prescribed a general enrolment. The questions connected with this decree have been considered in the article Chronol- ogy, Biblical. There are various reasons why Marj' should have accompanied Joseph on this journey: she may not have wished to lose Joseph's protection during the critical time of her pregnancy, or she may have followed a special Divine inspiration impelhng 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 (cf. Ivnabenbauer, Evang. sec. Luc, Paris, 1896, 104-114; SchUrer, Geschichte des Jiidischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 4th edit., I, 508 sqq.; Pfaffrath, Theologie und Glaube, 1905, 119). As the enrolment had brought a multi- tude 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 (cf. St. Justin, dial, c Trj-ph., 78, P. G., VI, 657; Orig., c Cels., I, 51, P. G., XI, 756; Euseb., vita Constant., Ill, 43; Demonstr. evang., VII, 2, P. G., XX, 1101; St. Jerome, ep. ad MarceO., XLVI [al. XVIIl, 12; ad Eustoch., CVIII [al. XXVII],
10, P. L., XXII, 490, 884). "And it came to pass, that when they were there, her days were accom- plished, that she should be dehvered" (Luke, ii, 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 "keep- ing the night watches over their flock" (Luke, ii, 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, ii, 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, in Ps. XLVII,
11, P. L., XIV, 1150; St. Gregory of Nyssa, orat. I. de resurrect., P. G., XLVI, 604; St. John Damascene, de fide orth., IV, 14, P. G., XLIV, 1160; Fortun., VIII, 7, P. L., LXXXVIII, 282; the author of "Chris- tus patiens", 63, 64, 70, P. L., XXXVIII, 142; St. Thom., Summa theol.. Ill, q. 35, a. 6; etc. It was not becoming that the mother of God should be subject to the punishment pronounced in Gen., iii, 16, against Eve and her sinful daughters. Shortly after the birth of the child, the shepherds, obedient to the angehc invitation, arrived in the grotto, "and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger" (Luke, ii, 16). We may supixise that the sheitherds spread the glad tidings they had received during the night among their friends in Bethlehem, and that tfie Holy Family was received by one of its pious inhabitants into more suitable lodgings. ".\nd aft(>r eight days were accomplished, that, the child should be circumci.sed, his name was called Jesus" (Luke, ii, 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 Ijord's Circumcision took place. At any rate. His Blessed Mother must have been present at the cere- mony.
According to the law of Lev., xii, 2-8, the Jewish
