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Gloria —
We can only know for certain what
is written in the Canon of Scripture but there
is no reason why we should not accept
the Apocryphal Gospels, in this case
the
to give us some clues
about these themes.
It is mainly from these writings
that we get the traditions accepted
by the Early Fathers and by many
Saints and theologians in the Church
even though it is not held de
fide, e.g. about the conception
of Mary, and the fact her parents
were Saints Joachim and Anne (Note
their place in the calendar of Saints.) The
relevant writings are the Gospel
of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel
of James. These writings formed the
basis of many Mediaeval Mystery Plays.
I assume you are aware of how catechesis
took place in Europe in the Middle
Ages, and were compounded in the
book:
I use Princeton University Press, 1993 version. These Apocryphal writings tell us that:
- Joachim was married to Anne
- they were childless
- Joachim made an offering at the
Temple, which was rejected by
the priest, Ruben, and
- he went into solitude in the
wilderness until an Angel appeared
to him and told him to return
to Anne.
In the meantime, Anne had been praying
to God for Joachim to return and
she promised that if God returned
him to her, and they had a child,
she would dedicate it to the Temple.
An Angel appeared and told her Joachim
would return and she would conceive
a daughter. Upon Joachim's return,
they met at the Golden Gate of the
Temple, and shortly after their reunion,
Mary was conceived.
Mary is born (make a serious note
that she was naturally conceived
through the intercourse of Joachim
and his wife Anne) and at three years
old, she was taken to the Temple,
where she showed her exceptional
ability by walking up the fifteen
steps. Her wisdom, beauty, devoutness
and chastity are described at great
length, and it is claimed that she
is fed daily by Angels.
The priest, Abiarthar, offers gifts
so that Mary will marry his son,
but she refuses, saying she has vowed
perpetual virginity.
At her fourteenth birthday, the High
Priest said she must abide by the
custom of marrying a suitable husband,
since the virgins of the Temple had
adopted that custom since the time
of King Solomon. Since Mary had vowed
virginity, the High Priest had to
arrange for some man to take charge
of her. Abiarthar prayed for a sign,
and all the eligible men were to
place their rods in a container,
and the one drawn out would become
Mary's spouse. This was Joseph's.
To preserve her chastity, it was
decided she must be accompanied by
virgins when she went to Joseph's
home.
Her chaperones were the virgins:
Rebecca, Sephora, Susanna, Abigea
and Zahel. They each had a different
color veil, and Mary's chosen color
was purple.
These writings go on to flesh out
all the infancy narratives, since
the Canonical Gospels only give us
the bare facts that we need to know.
If you would like more, please let
me know but I would suggest you read
the two books I have mentioned. They
are written in biographical form
and are not heavy reading.
Whilst I would use the caveat that
these books are not part of the Canonical
Bible, that doesn't mean we should
ignore their evidence. It simply
means the Church does not give them
the authenticity as having been inspired
by God, Himself. I repeat, many Saints
used them, and were it not for these
books, we would know very much less
about the life of Our Saviour.
Jacobus de Voragine retells many
of these and even a casual reading
shows that he embellishes heavily
for the Mediaeval mind, which accepted
many patently exaggerated stories.
His book is worth reading with a
very critical eye, but the Apocryphal
Gospels may be read to enlighten
the eyes of faith. Remember too,
the Scripture scholar, Montague Rhodes
James himself, wrote in his preface
that these were quite rightly excluded
from the Canon of Scripture, since
they neither claim to be true religion
nor true history. However, they were
religious books which were meant
to reinforce the Christian Faith
and their authors claim they are
the work of eyewitnesses, or of Jesus
Himself.
If you decide to read, I would suggest
you adopt the view that the Gospel
writers wrote for different audiences,
e.g.:
- Matthew for the Jewish community
- Paul
for the Gentiles, and
- it
seems fair to place these Apocryphal
texts in the arena of being written
for theatre, since they are undoubtedly
theatrical in content.
I hope this long reply helps arouse
your imagination to investigate further.
You will no doubt observe my own
enthusiasm to read these with the
mind of the Church.
Terry Quinn
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