Unveiling the life of Mary of Nazareth

Unveiling the life of Mary of Nazareth: history and archaeologyThe life of Mary of Nazareth can be explored at various points and in different circumstances. We begin with the Marian vow of virginity, assumed not only by Luke but also by the Protoevangelium of James, which explicitly states that there was a college of dedicated girls in the Temple, known as the “Weavers of the Loom,” into which Mary entered. The existence of the college of the Weavers of the Loom is also deducible from other ancient sources, such as the Book of Baruch, a Baraita from the 1st century AD by R. Simon b. Yakin, and the Pesiqta Rabbati, Piska. The Jewish-Christian Church has carefully preserved this information, also because the college wove the Temple Veil, which covered the Holy of Holies, considered as a human body, and which one day would clothe the Angel Ruach, guardian of this sacred place and identified with the Messiah, Son of God. All this not only offers a new perspective on the news given by all the Synoptics about the tearing of the Temple Veil at Jesus’ death, identifying the first with the body of the second and thus destroying them simultaneously, but also on the encounter of Jesus in the Temple by his parents and his surprising response.One should not overlook the fact that Mary, undoubtedly, wove the first clothes for her Son, perhaps even his famous seamless tunic, and that such an act for her must have had a deeper meaning than a simple household task. This context is connected to the practice of hypothetical marriage or *hieròs gámos*. Until the 2nd and 3rd centuries, rabbis allowed the marriage of both underage virgins and older virgins or widows to protect their virtue and for symbolic reasons. This custom was adopted by Christians, who, as attested by Tertullian, married the prophets to the “acerbas” virgins, similar to the marriage between Christ and the Church. These marriages, both in Judaism and Christianity, were prepared by a vow of continence for the women and often had older men as partners, unable to engage in any sexual relationship.This, however, was not always the case, and was not the case with Mary, as the work of Joseph and the numerous journeys with the family, attested in the Gospels, do not allow us to imagine him as elderly. In fact, just as for women, there was a male consecrated college in the Temple, of which Joseph, according to an ancient tradition, was a member. Among consecrated people, virgin marriages were therefore obvious and advisable. Particularly prized among the Ebionites, these marriages, within the context of the Weavers Virgins, were accompanied by the conviction that God or one of his Angels could spiritually fertilize a consecrated princess who would give birth to a divine King. This gives a particular meaning to the fact that Mary, probably a relative of the house of David, married Joseph virgins, who was a representative of that family.Three theological concepts must be developed to understand how Mary was prepared to adhere to the preaching of the Son, concepts that she herself probably transmitted to him. The first is that the Messiah is an Angel, but that the Angel is, in accordance with the oldest tradition of the Old Testament, a hypostasis of the Lord himself, and even more so in the case of the Messiah. The second is that such an Angel is a divine Spirit, a Ruah, who, being messianic, becomes the Ruah par excellence, the Conceived of Ruah, that is, of Spirit. The third is that, due to these two concepts, the Messiah is the Son of God, because generated by Him.In the context of the Weavers, this concept should not have had the significance it did for Christians, but certainly its development through these three stages constituted the prehistory of its formation in Mary’s mind as a possible existence, and the context in which it flourished, at the family level, the maturation of thought and Jesus’ preaching about himself and the mystery of his birth, as well as his acceptance by Joseph. Regarding messianism, it should be noted that Mary’s Levitical birth was probably one of the causes of the conversions of priests to Christianity attested in Acts 6:7. Among the clergy and laity close to the Qumran groups, and in which Joachim and his relatives were undoubtedly also involved, many awaited the Messiah of Aaron and Israel, of Levi and Judah, the first as the master priest and interpreter of the Law, the second as the Davidic prince. Only in this environment could the idea of a unique Messiah, at the same time King and Priest, be formed, an idea that Mary obviously had to accept.We move on to the famous first census carried out when Quirinus was governor of Syria. This reference is clear to Luke, but not so much for later readers. In fact, we know of a census of Publius Sulpicius Quirinus (45 BCE, 21 CE) in the provinces of Syria and Judea, but it took place in 6 CE, when the tetrarchy of Archelaus was annexed to Rome and established as an equestrian province under the procurator Coponius, while Quirinus himself was legate in Syria, thus holding a higher rank in the administrative hierarchy. The legate, at the order of Augustus, provided for the census of Judea to assess its value and potentially sell Archelaus’ property. This census marked the direct submission of Judea to Rome, and the zealots reacted with the second revolt of Judas the Galilean, a political Messiah aspirant, later erased from history despite his more certain chronological placement in relation to Christ’s birth. It is not clear if in this census the inhabitants were required to register in their city of origin or if it lasted throughout the following year. But obviously, it is not this census in which Jesus was born, who at that time was already a teenager.Luke, in fact, speaks of a first census of Quirinus over all the earth, that is, over the entire Empire, presumably by the will of Caesar Augustus. This allowed Joseph to go up to Bethlehem, his native city, so that Jesus might be born there. It is inferred that there were two censuses, of which the second is known to us and the first is not. The one to which Luke refers is probably the second universal Augustan census of 8 BC, which may have taken place in 7, the year of the astral conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces, that is, the phenomenon of the Star remembered by Matthew and observed by the Magi, and which counted among the individuals who were Roman citizens, to assess the possible strength of the army. The Emperor had conducted a first one in 28 BC and would decree a third in 14 AD. It is true that such a universal census did not directly concern the populations of the client kingdoms like that of Herod, nor even their inhabitants, but the firmness of Luke’s indication, who has the whole earth censused, allows both the identification between the registration of 8 BC and that narrated by him, as well as the hypothesis that, in conjunction with it, one or more provincial censuses and those of the own vassal states might have been carried out, as attested by Tacitus.A reason for censing Palestine might have been an episode of 8 BC, in which Herod had undertaken a military campaign against the neighboring Nabateans, also Roman clients. Augustus was indignant and perhaps imposed the census on Herod as a sign of submission to Rome. The custom of registering in one’s own hometown rather than in the place of residence, as suggested by Luke 2:3-4 (everyone went to register in his own city) and which certainly could not have been invented in a book that circulated so widely in the Empire, was not common, but neither impossible. For example, it is attested in 104 AD in Egypt by the Papyrus London 904. Moreover, the Jewish people were deeply attached to their history, and the Roman administration, keen to adapt itself to local customs, must have taken this into account.In the case of Joseph, and all who claimed Davidic descent, the journey to Bethlehem served as a social status symbol, as Luke suggests, emphasizing both the patriarchal lineage (also Joseph, from the house and family of David) and the historical significance of Bethlehem in the dynastic narrative (from Nazareth, through Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, called Bethlehem, along with Mary, his wife). This aligns perfectly with the rigid dynastic, familial, and tribal legitimacy of Nazareth’s inhabitants. The scenario becomes even more plausible if we consider the hypothesis of a Joseph who returns to Bethlehem to stay, and thus wishes to be registered in the place where he intends to live.The primary challenge to this reconstruction lies in the fact that Quirinus became the Syrian legate in 6 AD. Therefore, a previous mandate for Quirinus in Syria, towards the end of Herod the Great’s reign, has been hypothesized, although direct evidence for this is lacking. An indirect clue comes from the Tivoli Stone, discovered in 1764, which records a second mandate from Augustus for a governor of Syria, though the name is illegible due to damage to the artifact. It’s also possible that Quirinus did not go to Syria as a governor, but as a census supervisor. The Greek term is hēmētēs, translated as censitor in Latin, found in numerous inscriptions and textual sources from that era. Luke does not use the appropriate term due to the fluidity of Roman administrative titles, especially in Greek and Semitic languages. This mandate may be connected to the Tivoli Stone and not a gubernatorial appointment, thus not disrupting the known list of Roman governors of Syria. The census duty also entailed military power, given the potential for public disturbances.Evidence for this is found in Tertullian’s testimony, who states that Jesus was born in Judea during a census ordered by Augustus and conducted by Senius Saturninus (9-6 BC), possibly in conjunction with the universal census of 8 BC, and certainly carried out in practice by Quirinus, who then conducted a second census from 6-7 AD as an imperial legate. Quirinus’ name is, in fact, the crucial element in Luke’s dating, along with the numerical adjective referring to his census.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Mariana Theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

To deepen historical reflection on Mary of Nazareth, consult the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater by Pope John Paul II.