EXTRA! EXTRA!READ ALL ABOUT MARY as recorded in the Scriptures.
Every narrative in which Mary has an active part is shown in print while it is read aloud. Color images accompany each story as well. (Parallel accounts are not repeated.) Choose from the selection below. You can close each page or click 'Next' and the next page will load in its place.
profileNAME: Mary BORN: September 8, c. 20 bce1 HOMETOWN: Nazareth in Galilee OCCUPATION: wife, mother, homemaker, and later, disciple FAMILY TREE HUSBAND: Joseph PARENTS: Joachim, Anne2 CHILDREN: Jesus; possibly James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and daughters3
RELATIVES: Zechariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptizer BIBLE REFERENCES: mentioned by name in the Gospels and in Acts 1
Mary was a young girl, probably only about 12 or 13 years old when the angel Gabriel came to her. She had recently become engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl, looking forward to marriage. Suddenly her life would be forever changed.
Mary was fearful and troubled in the presence of the angel. She could never have expected to hear the incredible news — that she would have a child, and her Son would be the Messiah. Even though she could not comprehend how she would conceive the Savior, she responded to God with belief and obedience. While Mary's life held great honor, her calling would demand great suffering as well. Just as there is pain in childbirth and motherhood, there would be much pain in the privilege of being the mother of the Messiah.
STRENGTHS: The angel told Mary in Luke 1:28 that she was highly favored by God. This phrase simply meant that Mary had been given much grace or "unmerited favor" from God. Even with God's favor, Mary would still suffer much. Though she would one day be highly honored as the mother of the Savior, she would first know disgrace as an unwed mother. She would nearly lose her fiancé. Her beloved Son would be rejected and cruelly murdered. Mary's submission to God's plan would cost her dearly, yet she was willing to be God's servant.
God knew that Mary was a woman of rare strength and obedience. She was the only human being to be with Jesus throughout His entire life — from His birth until His death. She gave birth to Him as her baby and watched Him die as her Savior. Mary also knew the Scriptures. When the angel appeared and told her the baby would be God's Son, Mary replied, "I am the Lord's servant...may it be to me as you have said (Luke 1:38)." She knew of the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah.
WEAKNESSES: Mary was young, poor, and female. These qualities made her unsuitable in the eyes of her people to be used mightily by God. God, however, looked upon the quality of her trust and obedience. God knew she would willingly serve in one of the most important callings ever given to a human being. Just like Mary, God looks at our obedience and trust — usually not the qualifications that human beings might look upon. God will often choose and use the most unlikely of choices.
LIFE LESSONS: Mary must have known that her submission to God's plan would cost her. If nothing else, she knew she would be disgraced as an unwed mother. She must have thought that Joseph would divorce her, or worse yet, he might even have her put to death by stoning. Mary may not have considered the full extent of her future suffering. She may not have imagined the pain of watching her beloved child bear the weight of sin and die a terrible death on the cross. Still, she willingly submitted to God's plan. Can we willingly accept God's plan? Can we even rejoice in God's plan, like Mary did, when we know that it will cost us dearly?
1 Date adopted by the western Church in the seventh century. Actual date is unknown. 2 Traditional English names given to Mary's parents. While not found in the Christian canon, the couple is named in the apocryphal Gospel of James, as well as in the Islamic Qu'ran. 3 It is not known if Jesus' brothers and sisters were Mary's children or Joseph's children from a previous marriage or simply close relatives.
Magnificat anima mea,
Magnificat Dominum,
Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
Magnificat...magnificat...magnificat.
Quia respexit humilitatem
ancillae suae;
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam
me dicent omnes generationes.
Magnificat anima mea,
Magnificat Dominum,
Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
Magnificat...magnificat.
Quia fecit mihi magna,
Qui potens est,
Et sanctum nomen eius.
Magnificat, magnificat,
Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo.
Magnificat, magnificat.
My soul magnifies,
It magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
It magnifies...it magnifies...it magnifies.
Because He has regarded
the humility of His handmaiden;
Indeed, behold, from now on
all generations will call me blessed.
My soul magnifies,
It magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
It magnifies...it magnifies.
Because He has done great things for me,
The One who is powerful,
And holy is His name.
It magnifies...it magnifies,
And my spirit rejoices in God.
It magnifies...it magnifies.
THE MAGNIFI-CAT
EYEWITNESS NEWS 9 REPORT: THAT'S SO MARY!
Note: Be sure to turn off “Magnificat" if it hasn't already finished playing.
The Eyewitness News 9 team reports on miracles and apparitions of the Virgin Mary. There have been too many reported incidents involving the Virgin to even consider discussing them all. The incidents chosen vary in style and meaning, include old and new, and are the more familiar apparitions. Much of this production and the information it contains came from the television newsmagazine Vite Straordinarie (Extraordinary Lives), originally produced by Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI)—in Italian. Working with subtitles and referring to the Italian audio, the text was rewritten into conversational American English. All questionable or unclear information was verified with another source.
The entire 69-minute report proved to be too slow and of such poor quality, that it is now divided into eight parts that stay hidden until needed. Clicking on a 'Show' button will open for viewing the part of the video listed, along with textual information and some links.
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION AND PROTESTANT VIEWS ON MARY
The first segment introduces the subject of Marian apparitions, along with Martin Luther's and John Calvin's views of Mary, dispelling the myth that all things Marian must be Roman Catholic. Surprisingly, many mainline Protestant denominations have no official stance or teaching on the Virgin Mary, other than what is found in the Scriptures and in the ecumenical creeds. They hold Mary in high esteem for the chosen role she played in God's plan of salvation—a role to which she didn't simply just submit but embraced. The reformers' views of Mary's Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and semper virgo (perpetual virginity) are considered personal views to which Protestants today are not bound. Scripture is not clear on these matters, and most do not regard them as theological issues. [“Mary,” The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2195 (accessed January 20, 2010).
Dan Benedict, “What does The United Methodist Church teach about the Virgin Mary?” United Methodist Communications, http://korean.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=1&mid=1430&pagemode=print (accessed January 20, 2010).]
PART TWO: OUR LADY OF CHARITY OF EL COBRE
One day around 1608, two Indians and a slave boy were gathering salt on the coast of Cuba near El Cobre when a storm arose. The three boys began to pray to the Virgin Mary for protection. Suddenly, the skies cleared, and the storm was gone. In the distance, they saw a strange object floating in the water. At first they mistook it for a bird, but as they rowed toward it they were able to determine that it was a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus. The statue was fastened to a board with an inscription saying “Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad” or “I am the Virgin of Charity.” The statue was dressed with real cloth and the Virgin had real hair and skin of a mixed-race woman. Much to their surprise, the statue had remained completely dry while afloat in the water.
PART THREE: OUR LADY OF LOURDES
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France is the most visited pilgrimage site in the world, primarily because of the apparent healing properties of the waters of the spring that appeared during the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux.
Beginning in February 1858, Mary showed herself 18 times to young Bernadette. Church and local authorities were hesitant to believe the girl's reports: though she was fourteen, bouts of asthma often kept Bernadette out of school, keeping her always at the bottom of her class. We might see this as unfortunate—the local priest and the nuns saw it as laziness on the part of Bernadette, and her pleas of ignorance as “pertness” on her part. But when the Virgin revealed herself as the “Immaculate Conception,” a recently declared church doctrine still unheard of among the peasantry, officials realized that something supernatural and special was happening among them.
PART FOUR: OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF FÁTIMA
Appearing to three shepherd children near the town of Fátima, Portugal, the Virgin Mary came at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and bloody violence. She promised that heaven would grant peace to all the world if her requests for prayer, reparation, and consecration were heard and obeyed.
She explained to the children that war is a punishment for sin, and warned that God would further castigate the world for its disobedience to His Will by means of war, hunger, and the persecution of the Church. She prophesied that Russia would be God's chosen “instrument of chastisement,” spreading the “errors” of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating nations, and persecuting the faithful everywhere.
The heart of Mary's message to the world has come to be called the “Secret” that she confided to the three children in July 1917. It consists of three parts, two of which have been publicly revealed. The first part was a horrifying vision of hell and contained an urgent plea for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls. The second part specifically prophesied the outbreak of World War II, and included the request for the consecration of Russia as a condition for world peace. The third part of the Secret has not yet been made completely public, but was written down by Lúcia Dos Santos in 1944, and has been in the possession of the Holy See since 1957. Informed sources speculate on the true contents of the third secret, but speculation on other Marian prophecies has seldom proved to transpire as expected.
PART FIVE: OUR LADY OF MEDJUGORJE
Medjugorje is a small mountain village located in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, formerly part of communist Yugoslavia. It was late afternoon on June 24, 1981. Two pretty girls were out for a walk. Fifteen-year-old Ivanka Ivankovic suddenly noticed a light high up on Mount Podbrdo, the large hill behind the village. Glancing up, she saw a figure shining with light and hovering above the ground. It stood a good distance away, perhaps over 200 yards. As she looked speechless, their conversation forgotten, the figure seemed to form the shape of a young woman. Although she wasn't at all sure, she exclaimed to her friend, “Mirjana, look! There is Gospa.” (Gospa is the Croatian word for “Our Lady.”) Mirjana Dragicevic, age 16, was sure Ivanka was joking. She didn't even bother to look where her friend was pointing. “Come on,” she said mockingly. “Why would the Blessed Virgin appear to us?”
Convinced, Ivanka said no more and they walked on. A younger girl, Milka Pavlovic, asked for help rounding up her goats. Arriving back at the spot, all three now saw the figure. This time they knelt down. Vicka Ivankovic, Ivanka's 16-year-old sister, happened by. “Look up there,” they told her. Terrified, Vicka kicked off her shoes and ran. She met 16-year-old Ivan Dragicevic and his friend, Ivan Ivankovic. Telling them what happened, they convinced her to take them to check it out. They, too, saw the vision. Ivan Dragicevic took off on a dead run for home.
The next day, four of the children felt drawn back to the spot. Vicka ran to get her friend, Marija Pavlovic, Milka's 16-year-old sister, and ten-year-old Jakov Colo. They, also, saw the apparition the second day. Milka and Ivan Ivankovic did not return and never saw the Virgin again.
Gospa has appeared every day since then. The six young people say she looks about nineteen years old, is extremely beautiful, and has dark hair with blue eyes. She appears to the visionaries every day at 5:40 p.m. (6:40 p.m. during Daylight Savings Time).
Her overall message through the years has been peace—to reconcile ourselves with God and with each other. Mary says she has come to bring the world back to her Son, Jesus. She asks us to pray, go to church, confess our sins, fast on Wednesdays and Fridays with bread and water, and say the fifteen decade rosary every day. Three of the visionaries, Ivanka, Mirjana, and Jakov have received ten secrets and no longer have daily apparitions. Vicka, Marija, and Ivan have received only nine of the secrets and still have daily apparitions. Except for Vicka, all of the visionaries are married and each has two or more children.
Mirjana has been chosen to reveal the secrets at the appropriate times, and will tell a Franciscan priest, Father Petar Ljubicic, ten days before each one occurs. After prayer and fasting, he will tell the secret to the world three days before it happens. Our Lady also promised that an indestructible and lasting sign would be left at the spot of her first apparition. Each month, on the 25th, Mary gives a message for the world to Marija, who writes it down for the priests of St. James Church to translate and send out. Between twenty and thirty million pilgrims have been to Medjugorje, including many priests, bishops, and cardinals.
PART SIX: MOTHER OF THE WORD
Apparitions began in November 1981 when six young women and one boy in Kibeho, Rwanda claimed to see the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Three of them were students at Kibeho College, a Catholic school administered by nuns, and three others lived in the bush. Jesus appeared independently to a young pagan, Segastashya, who then took the Christian (first) name Emmanuel. Only the visions of 17-year-old Alphonsine Mumureke, 20-year-old Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, and 21-year-old Marie Claire Mukangango have received Bishop Augustine Misago's solemn approval. The horrific visions of the Virgin foretold the genocide that would occur in that same location a decade later.
In one vision that lasted eight hours, they saw terrifying images of men, women, and children brutally killed, often by friends and neighbors; innumerable bodies thrown into rivers until they flowed as rivers of blood; and everywhere were abandoned, decapitated corpses. The visionaries were weeping and crying, and the witnesses who crowded around them were left with an unforgettable impression of fear and sadness.
Kibeho witnessed some of the worst atrocities of the 1994 genocide with over 25,000 people killed in and around the parish church where many had taken refuge. Bodies were dumped in mass graves, shards of their bones still visible today protruding from Kibeho's flower gardens and dirt paths.
Although the apparitions ended for six of the visionaries by 1983, Alphonsine continued to receive apparitions almost every year on November 28. Her last apparition was on November 28, 1989. In these apparitions, the Virgin calls herself Nyina wa Jambo (Mother of the Word). She emphasizes the importance of the rosary and prayer, and to love ourselves and others.
PART SEVEN: OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
In 1531, a “Lady from Heaven” appeared to a poor Indian, Juan Diego, at Tepeyac Hill, northwest of Mexico City. She identified herself as “the Mother of the True God who Gives Life” and instructed him to have the bishop build a temple on the site. She also left an image of herself miraculously imprinted on his tilma, a cloak made from poor quality agave-cloth, that should have deteriorated in ten years but shows no sign of decay nearly 500 years later. The image still defies all scientific explanations of its origin, and even modern day technology is unable to replicate many of its features. It apparently even reflects in the Virgin's eyes what was in front of her in 1531!
Her message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all humankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the Nican Mopohua, a sixteenth century document written in the native Nahuatl language.
There is reason to believe that at Tepeyac Mary came in her glorified body, and her actual, physical hands rearranged the roses in Juan Diego’s tilma, making this apparition very special: an incredible list of miracles, cures, and interventions are attributed to her. Yearly, an estimated 10 million people visit her basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world, and the most visited Catholic church in the world next to the Vatican.
Altogether 25 popes have officially honored the mestiza Virgin of Tepeyac. John Paul II visited her sanctuary three times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990 and 1999. During his third visit in 1999, he declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of the Americas and the Philippine Islands, and December 12 a holy day for the continent.
PART EIGHT: THE WEEPING VIRGIN OF CIVITAVECCHIA
A statue of the Virgin Mary that came from Medjugorje is said to have wept bloody tears in the garden of an electrician near Civitavecchia, Italy. More than twenty extraordinary events have supposedly taken place since it began weeping in 1995. Healings of persons afflicted with cancer and drug addiction are among them. The happenings are attributed to the intercession of the Mother of God. The last time the statue is said to have wept was in 1995 in the hands of the bishop.
VIRGIN MARY PUZZLES Push a button to work our educational puzzles about the Virgin Mary
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