The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

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I. OUR LADY’S ANCESTORS
Section IV

[Here follow various visions which Catherine Emmerich communicated at different times in the course of her yearly meditations during the octave of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Though they do not directly continue the story of Our Lady’s life, yet they throw a remarkable light on the mystery of her election, preparation, and veneration as the vessel of grace. As these visions were related by Catherine Emmerich in the midst of much suffering and many interruptions, it is not surprising if they are somewhat fragmentary in character.]

I saw in a wonderful picture that God showed the angels how it was His will to restore mankind after the Fall. At first sight I did not understand this picture, but soon it became quite clear to me. I saw the Throne of God and the Holy Trinity, and at the same time a movement within that Trinity. I saw the nine choirs of angels, and how God announced to them in what manner it was His will to restore the fallen human race. I saw an inexpressible joy among the angels over this. I was now shown in a number of symbolic pictures the unfolding of God’s designs for the salvation of mankind. I saw these pictures appearing among the nine choirs of angels and following each other in a kind of historical sequence. I saw the angels helping to make these pictures, protecting and defending them. I cannot now remember for certain the order in which they appeared, but will tell in God’s name what I can still recollect. I saw a mountain as of precious stones appear before the Throne of God; it grew and spread. It was in terraces, like a throne; then it changed into the shape of a tower —a tower which enshrined every treasure of the spirit and every gift of grace and was  surrounded by the nine choirs of angels. At one side of this tower vine tendrils and ears of corn, intertwined like the fingers of folded hands, seemed to be streaming down from the edge of a golden cloud. I cannot remember at what exact moment in the whole picture I saw this. I saw in the sky a figure like a virgin which passed into the tower and as it were melted into it. The tower was very broad and was flat at the top; it seemed to have an opening at the back through which the virgin passed into it. This was not the Blessed Virgin as she is in time, but as she is in eternity, in God. I saw the appearance of her being formed before the face of the Holy Trinity, just as when one breathes, a little cloud is formed before one’s mouth.33

I also saw something going forth from the Holy Trinity towards the tower. At this moment of the picture I saw a vessel like a ciborium being formed among the choirs of angels. The angels all joined in giving this vessel the form of a tower surrounded by many pictures full of significance. Beside it stood two figures joining hands behind it. This spiritual vessel went on increasing in size, beauty, and richness. Then I saw something proceed from God and pass through all nine choirs of angels; it seemed to me like a little shining holy cloud which became more and more distinct as it approached the sacramental vessel which it finally entered. But in order that I should recognize this to be a real and essential blessing of God conferring the grace of a pure and sinless line from generation to generation (like the cultivation of some plant in all its purity), I finally saw this blessing in the shape of a shining bean, enter the ciborium, which then passed into the tower.34 I saw the angels actively taking part in the showing forth of these visions. There rose, however, from the depths below a series of what seemed to be false visions, for I saw the angels combating these and thrusting them aside. Many of these false visions I have forgotten, but here is what I still remember about them.

I saw a church rise up from below, almost in the same form which the holy universal Church always appears to me when I see it not as a particular building but as the Holy Catholic Church in general. There was, however, this difference, that latter has a tower over the entrance and the church rising from the depths had not. It was a very large church but a false one. The angels thrust it aside so that it stood all crooked. I also saw a great bowl, with a lip on one side; which tried to enter the false church but was also thrust aside. I then saw the angels preparing a chalice, of the shape of the Chalice of the last Supper, which passed into the tower entered by the virgin. I also saw a lower tower or building appear, with many
doors, through which I saw crowds of people passing, among them figures like Abraham and the Children of Israel. I think this had reference to the slavery in Egypt. I saw a round terraced tower arise, which also had reference to Egypt. This was thrust back and made to stand crooked. I also saw an Egyptian temple arise, like the one on the ceiling of which I had seen the Egyptian priests, idolaters, fastening the image of a winged virgin after receiving from Elias’ messenger communications of a prophetic vision of Our Lady. I will speak of his vision later; it was seen by the prophet on Mount Carmel. This temple, too, was thrust back and made to stand crooked.

I then saw between the choirs of angels, to the right of the holy tower, a branch which put forth buds, making a whole ancestral tree of little male and female figures holding each other’s hands. This family tree ended with the appearance of a little crib with a little child in it. The crib was of the same shape as the one I had seen exposed in the temple of the Three Kings.35 Then I saw a beautiful great church appear. The way in which all these pictures were united with each other and yet melted one into the other was very wonderful. The whole vision was indescribably rich and full of significance. Even the hateful, evil, false appearances of towers, chalices, and churches, which were thrust aside, were made to assist in the unfolding of the scheme of salvation. [When recounting these scattered visions, she came back again and again to the unspeakable joy of the angels. There was no real conclusion to these fragmentary visions, which seem to have been a series of symbolic pictures of the history of our salvation. She added: ‘First of all I saw the emblems of the work of redemption among the choirs of angels, and then a series of pictures from Adam down to the Babylonian captivity.’]

I saw something happening in Egypt very long ago which had a symbolic application to Our Lady. It must have been long before the days of Elias. I also saw something in Egypt, in his lifetime, which I will tell later. I saw a place in Egypt, much farther away from the Promised Land than On or Heliopolis, where on an island in the river an idol stood. This idol had a head which was something between that of a man and of an ox, with three horns, one in the middle of the forehead. The figure was hollow, and had openings in its body in which sacrifices were burnt as in an oven. Its feet were like claws, and in one hand it held a plant like a lily which grows out of the water and opens and shuts with the sun. In the other hand the idol held a plant like ears of corn with quite thick grains; I think it grows out of the water too, but am not quite sure of this. After a great victory a temple had been built in honour of this idol, which was now to be consecrated, and all preparations had been made for the sacrifice. But as the people were on their way to the island I saw something wonderful happen. Near the idol I saw a dark and dreadful apparition, and then I saw a great angel descending upon it from heaven like the one who appeared to St. John the Evangelist in the Apocalypse. This angel struck the dark figure in the back with his staff. The demon, writhing, was forced to speak out of the mouth of the idol, warning the people to consecrate the temple, not in
honour of it but of a virgin who was to appear upon earth and to whom thanks for their victory were due.

I cannot remember the exact circumstances, but I saw that the people set up in the new temple the image of a winged virgin, which was fixed to the wall. The virgin as she flew was bending down over a little ship in which lay a child in swaddling-clothes. The ship stood on a little pillar, with a leafy top like a tree. One of her outstretched hands had a balance hanging from it, and I saw two figures beside her on the wall who were putting something into each scale of the balance. The little ship in which the child lay was like that in which Moses lay on the Nile, but it was uncovered, whereas Moses’ one was entirely closed in except for a small opening at the top.

I saw the whole Promised Land withered and parched with drought, and I saw Elias ascending Mount Carmel with two servants to beseech God to give rain. First they climbed over a high ridge, then up steps of rock to a terrace, then up many more rock-steps, and so reached a great open space with a hill of rocks in its midst in which was a cave. Elias climbed up steps to the top of this rocky hill. He left the servants at the edge of the open space and bade one of them look towards the Sea of Galilee, which had, however, a terrible aspect, for it was quite dried up and was full of hollows and caverns with rotting bodies of animals in the swampy ground. Elias crouched down on the ground with his head sunk between his knees, and covering himself in his mantle prayed fervently to God and cried seven times to his servant to know whether he did not see a cloud rising out of the lake. At his seventh call I saw the cloud rise up, and saw the servant announce it to Elias, who sent him to King Achab. I saw a white eddy form itself in the middle of the lake; out of this eddy rose a little black cloud like a fist, which opened and spread itself out. In this little cloud I saw from the first a little shining figure like a virgin. I saw, too, that Elias perceived this figure in the spreading cloud. The head of this virgin was encircled with rays, she stretched her arms out in the form of a cross, and had a triumphal wreath hanging from one hand.

Her long robe seemed to be tied beneath her feet. She appeared as if hovering above the whole Promised Land in the cloud as it spread ever farther. I saw how this cloud divided into different parts and fell in eddying showers of crystal dew on certain holy and consecrated places inhabited by devout men and those who were praying for salvation. I saw these showers edged with the colours of the rainbow and the blessing taking shape in their midst like a pearl in its shell. It was explained to me that this was a symbolic picture, and that the favoured places watered by the showers from the cloud were in fact those which had had their share in contributing to the coming of the Blessed Virgin.

I saw as well a prophetic vision of how Elias, while the cloud was rising, discerned four mysteries relating to the Blessed Virgin. Unfortunately I have forgotten the details, and much else, as a result of disturbances and interruptions. Elias discerned in the cloud, among other things, that Mary would be born in the seventh age of the world; hence his sevenfold call to his servant. He saw, too, from what family she was to come. On one side of the country he saw a low but very broad family tree, and on the other a very high one, broad at the base but tapering towards its top, which bent down into the first tree. He understood all this, and discerned in this way four mysteries relating to the future mother of the Saviour.

Hereupon I had a vision of how Elias enlarged the cave above which he had prayed and how he made the Sons of the Prophets into a more regular organization. Some of these were always praying in this cave for the coming of the Blessed Virgin and paying her honour in anticipation of her future birth. I saw that this devotion to Our Lady continued here uninterrupted, that the Essenes carried it on during Mary’s earthly life, and that subsequently it was perpetuated up to our time by hermits and the Carmelite Order which eventually succeeded them.36 [When Catherine Emmerich communicated later her visions of the time of John the Baptist, she saw the same vision of Elias with reference to the state of the country and of mankind which prevailed in St. John’s time. We therefore reproduce from this what follows as explanatory of what she has said above.]

I saw a great commotion in the Temple at Jerusalem, much consultation, much writing with reed pens, and messengers being sent about the country. Rain was besought from God with cries and supplications, and search was made everywhere for Elias. I saw Elias receiving food and drink in the wilderness from the angel, who held a vessel like a little shining barrel with white and red diagonal stripes. I saw all Elias’ dealings with Achab, the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, the slaughter of the priests of Baal, Elias’ prayer for rain and the gathering of the clouds. I saw as well as the dryness of the earth, a great dryness and failing of good fruit amongst men. I saw that by his prayer Elias called forth the blessing of which the cloud was the form, and that he guided and distributed its showers in accordance with inner visions; otherwise it might perhaps have become a destroying deluge. He asked his servant seven times for news of the cloud; this signifies the seven generations or ages of the world which must go by before the real blessing (of which this cloud of blessing was but a symbol) took root in Israel. Elias himself saw in the ascending cloud an image of the Blessed Virgin, and discerned several mysteries relating to her birth and descent.37

I saw that Elias’ prayer called down the blessing at first in the form of dew. Layers of cloud sank down which formed themselves into eddies with rainbow edges; these finally dissolved into falling drops. I saw therein an association with the manna in the desert, but the manna lay thick and crisp on the ground in the morning like fleeces, and could be rolled up and taken away. I saw this whirling eddy of dew floating along the banks of the Jordan, but dropping down only at certain notable places, not everywhere. In particular at Ainon, opposite Salem, and at the places where baptisms took place later, I clearly saw these shining eddies floating downwards. I asked what the coloured edges of these dew-eddies portended, and was given as an explanation the example of the mother-of-pearl shells in the sea which also bore edges of shining colour; they expose themselves to the sun, absorbing the light and cleansing it of colour until the pure white pearls take form in their centres. It was shown to me, too, that this dew and the rain that followed it was something much more than the ordinary refreshing of the earth by moisture.

I was given clearly to understand that without this dew the coming of the Blessed Virgin would have been delayed by more than a hundred years; whereas, after this softening and blessing of the earth, nourishment and refreshment were imparted to the human beings who lived on the fruits of the soil; the blessing communicated itself to their bodies and ennobled them. This fructifying dew was associated with the coming of the Messias, for I saw its rays penetrating generation after generation until they reached the substance of the body of the Blessed Virgin. I cannot describe this. Sometimes, on the coloured edge that I have mentioned I saw emerge one or more pearls having the likeness of a human figure which disappeared in a breath to unite itself with others of these pearls. The picture of the pearl-shell was a symbol of Mary and Jesus.

I saw, too, that just as the earth and mankind were parched and panting for rain, so, at a later time, was the spirit of man thirsting for the baptism of John; so that the whole picture was not only a prophecy of the coming of the Blessed Virgin, but also of the state of the people at the time of the Baptist. In the first instance there was the alarm of the people, their longing for rain and their search for Elias, followed, nevertheless, by their persecution of him; and later there was a like yearning of the people for baptism and penance, and again the lack of comprehension by the synagogue and its messages to John. In Egypt I saw the message of salvation being announced in the following manner. I saw that by God’s command Elias sent messages to summon devout families scattered about in three regions to the east, north, and south.

For this purpose he sent forth three of the sons of the prophets, but only after asking a sign from God that he had decided rightly, for it was a difficult and dangerous mission, and he had to choose messengers whose prudence would lessen the danger of their being murdered. One travelled northwards, one eastwards, and the third southwards. This last one had to pass through a considerable part of Egyptian territory, the where the Israelites were in particular danger of being killed. This messenger took the way followed by the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt. I think, too, that he passed near On, where the Child Jesus took refuge. I saw him come to an idolatrous temple on a great plain; in this temple, which was surrounded by a meadow and by many other buildings, they adored a living bull. They had an image of a bull and many other idols in their temple; their sacrifices were gruesome and they slaughtered deformed children. They seized the son of the prophet and brought him before the priests. Fortunately the latter were very inquisitive, otherwise they might easily have murdered him. They questioned him as to whence he came and what brought him there, and he answered without hesitation, telling them how a virgin would be born from whom the salvation of the world was to come, and that then all their idols would fall in pieces.38

They were amazed at his announcement, seemed greatly moved thereby and let him go unharmed. I saw them taking counsel together thereafter, and having the image of a virgin constructed and fixed in the middle of the temple-roof. This image, represented as floating downwards at full length, had a head-dress like the idols, so many of which lie in rows there, half like a woman, half like a lion. On the top of the head was something like a little high vessel or bushel of fruit; the elbows were close to the body, while the forearms were held out in a gesture as it were of withdrawal and repulse. In her hands were ears of corn. She had three breasts; a large one in the middle, with two smaller ones on each side of it but lower down. The lower part of the body was clothed in a long dress, and from the feet, which were comparatively small and pointed, hung tassels or something of the sort. She had as it were wings on her arms both above and below the elbows; these wings seemed to be made of delicate feathers spreading out on each side like rays and intertwined with each other. Feathers ran crosswise down both thighs and over the middle of the body to the feet.The dress had no folds. They venerated this image and sacrificed to it, begging it not to destroy their god Apis and their other gods. At the same time they continued their gruesome idolatry as before, except that they always began by invoking this virgin. In making this image they had, I believe, followed the indications given them by the son of the prophet in his account of the vision which Elias had seen.

I saw also that by the great mercy of God it was announced to certain God-fearing heathens that the Messias was to be born from a virgin in Judaea. The ancestors of the three holy kings, the star-worshippers of Chaldaea, received this message by the appearance of a picture in a star or in the sky, by which they made prophecies. I saw traces of these prophetic images of Our Lady in the pictures in their temple, which I have described in my account of Jesus’ visit to them after the raising of Lazarus in the last quarter of the third year of His ministry.


[On the feast of the Archangel Michael in September 1821, Catherine Emmerich recounted, amongst other fragments of a vision of the holy angels, the following fragment of the story of Tobias, whom she had seen with the Archangel Raphael as his guide.]

I saw many things from the life of Tobias, which is an allegory of the history of the coming of salvation in Israel; not an imaginative allegory, but one which actually happened and was lived. It was shown to me that Sara, the wife of the young Tobias, was a prototype of St. Anne. I will relate as much as I can remember of the many things that happened, but shall not be able to reproduce them in their right order. The elder Tobias was an emblem of the God-fearing branch of the Jewish race, those who were hoping for the Messias. The swallow, the messenger of spring, indicated the near approach of salvation. The blindness of old Tobias signified that he was to beget no more children, and was to devote himself entirely to prayer and meditation; it signified also the faithful, though dim, longing and waiting for the light of salvation and the uncertainty as to whence it was to come. Tobias’ quarrelsome wife represented the empty and harassing forms into which the Pharisees had converted the Law. The kid which she had brought home in lieu of wages had, as Tobias warned her, really been stolen, and had for that reason been handed on to her in return for very little. Tobias knew the people concerned and all about it, but his wife only mocked him. This mockery also indicated the contempt of the Pharisees and formalists for the devout Jews and Essenes and the relationship between the two groups, but I cannot now remember how this was.

The Archangel Raphael was not telling an untruth when he said that he was Azarias, the son of Ananias, for the general meaning of these words is: ‘The help of the Lord out of the cloud of the Lord’.39 This angel, the companion of young Tobias, represented God’s watchfulness over Our Lady’s descent through her ancestors and His preservation and guidance of the Blessing through the generations which preceded her conception. In the prayer of the Elder Tobias, and of Sara, the daughter of Raguel (I saw both these prayers being brought by the angels at one and the same time before the Throne of God and there granted), I recognized the supplications of the God-fearing Israelites and of the Daughters of Sion for the coming of salvation, as well as the simultaneous prayers of Joachim and Anna, separated from each other, for the promised offspring. The blindness of the elder Tobias and his wife’s mockery of him also symbolized Joachim’s childlessness and the rejection of his sacrifice at the Temple. The seven husbands of Sara, the daughter of Raguel, who were destroyed by Satan, came to their end through sensuality; for Sara had made a vow to give herself only to a chaste and God-fearing man. These seven men symbolized those whose entry into Our Lord’s ancestry according to the flesh would have hindered the coming of the Blessed Virgin, and thus the advent of salvation. There was also a reference to certain unblest periods in the history of salvation and to the suitors whom Anna had to reject that she might be united to Joachim, the father of Mary.

The maidservant’s reviling of Sara (Tob. 3.7) symbolized the reviling by the heathen and by the godless and unbelieving among the Jews against the expectation of the Messias, for whose coming all God-fearing Jews were, like Sara, inspired to pray with ever-increasing fervour. It was also an image of the reviling of Anna by her maidservant, where after that holy mother prayed with such fervour that her prayer was granted. The fish which was about to swallow young Tobias symbolized the powers of darkness, heathendom and sin striving against the coming of salvation, and also Anna’s long barrenness. The killing of the fish, the removal of its heart, liver, and gall, and the burning of this by Tobias and Sara to make smoke—all these symbolized the victory over the demon of fleshly lusts who had strangled Sara’s seven husbands, as well as the good works and continence of Joachim and Anna, by which they had obtained the blessing of holy fruitfulness. I also saw therein a deep significance relating to the Blessed Sacrament, but can no longer explain this. The gall of the fish, which restored the sight of Tobias’ father, symbolized the bitterness of the suffering through which the chosen ones among the Jews came to know and share in salvation; it indicated also the entry of the light into the darkness brought about by Jesus’ bitter sufferings from His birth onwards.

I received many explanations of this kind, and saw many details of the history of Tobias. I think the descendants of young Tobias were among the ancestors of Joachim and Anna. The elder Tobias had other children who were not godly. Sara had three daughters and four sons. Her first child was a daughter. The elder Tobias lived to see his grandchildren. I saw the line of the descent of the Messias proceeding from David and dividing into two branches. The right-hand one went through Solomon down to Jacob, the father of St. Joseph. I saw the figures of all St. Joseph’s ancestors named in the Gospel on this right-hand branch of the descent from David through Solomon. This branch has the greater significance of the two; I saw the line of descent issuing from the mouths of the separate figures in streams of white colourless light. The figures were taller and looked more spiritual than those of the left-hand line. Each one held a long flower-stem with hanging leaves like those of palms: this stem was crowned with a great bell-shaped flower shaped like a lily and having five stamens, yellow at the top, from which a line yellow dust was scattered. These flowers differed in size, vigour, and beauty. The flower borne by Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, was the most beautiful and purest of all, with fresh and abundant petals. Half-way down this ancestral tree were three rejected shoots, blackened and withered.

In this line through Solomon there were several gaps separating its fruits more widely from each other. The right-hand and left-hand branches met several times, and they crossed each other at a point a few generations before the end. I was given an explanation about the higher significance of the line of descent through Solomon. It had in it more of the spirit and less of the flesh, and had some of the significance belonging to Solomon himself. I cannot express this. The left-hand line of descent went from David through Nathan down to Heli, which is the real name of Joachim, Mary’s father, for he did not receive the name of Joachim till later, just as Abram was not called Abraham until later. I forget the reason, but it will
perhaps come back to me. In my visions I often hear Jesus called after the flesh a son of Heli.40

I saw this whole line from David through Nathan flowing at a lower level: it generally issued from the navels of the separate figures. I saw it coloured red, yellow, or white, but never blue. Here and there were stains; then the stream became clear again. The figures upon it were smaller than those of the line through Solomon. They carried smaller branches which hung down sideways and had little yellow-green leaves with serrated edges; their branches were crowned with reddish buds of the colour of wild roses. These were always closed; they were not flower-buds but the beginnings of fruits. A double row of little twigs hung down on the same side as the serrated leaves. At a point three or four generations above Heli or Joachim, the two lines crossed each other and rose up, ending with the Blessed Virgin.41 At the point of crossing I think I already saw the blood of Our Lady beginning to shine in the stream of descent.

St. Anne descended on her father’s side from Levi, and on her mother’s side from Benjamin. I saw in a vision the Ark of the Covenant being borne by her ancestors with great piety and devotion; I saw them receiving rays of blessing from it which extended to their descendants, to Anna and to Mary. I always saw many priests in the house of Anna’s parents, and also in Joachim’s house; this was the result of the relationship with Zacharias and Elisabeth.

[On the afternoon of July 26th, 1819, Sister Emmerich, after relating many things about Anna, Our Lady’s holy mother, fell asleep as she was praying. After a while she sneezed three times and exclaimed impatiently, but still half asleep, ‘Oh, why must I wake up?’ Then she woke up completely and said with a smile: ‘I was in a much better place, I was much better off than here. I was being much comforted, and then all of a sudden I was woken by my sneeze and someone said to me “You must wake up”, but I did not want to, I was so happy there and was annoyed at having to go away, then I had to sneeze, and I woke up.’

[Next day she told me:] I had just fallen asleep last night after saying my prayers when someone whom I recognized as a young girl I had often seen before came to my bed. She said to me rather shortly: ‘You have been speaking a great deal about me today, you shall now have a sight of me, so that you may make no mistakes.’ So I asked her: ‘Have I perhaps talked too much?’ She answered abruptly ‘No!’ and disappeared. She was still a girl, slim and attractive, her head was covered with a white hood, drawn together at the back of her neck and ending there in a hanging knot as if her hair were inside it. Her long dress, which completely covered her, was of whitish wool, the sleeves of it seemed to be rather full at the elbows. Over this she wore a long cloak of brownish wool, like camel’s hair.

Hardly had I had time to feel touched and pleased by this vision, when suddenly I saw by my bed an aged woman in similar dress with her head more bent and very hollow cheeks—a Jewess of some fifty years, thin but handsome. ‘Why,’ I thought, ‘does this old Jewess come to me?’ Then she said: ‘You need not be afraid; I only want to show you how I was when I bore the mother of the Lord, so that you may make no mistakes.’ I asked at once: ‘Oh, where is the dear little child Mary?’ and she replied: ‘I have not got her with me now.’ Then I asked again: ‘How old is she now?’ And she answered: ‘Four years old.’ I asked her once more: ‘But have I spoken rightly?’ and she said shortly, ‘Yes.’ I asked her: ‘Oh, please do not let me say too much!’ She did not answer and disappeared.

Then I woke up, and thought over everything that I had seen of Anna and of the childhood of the Blessed Virgin, and everything became clear to me and I felt blissfully happy. Next morning, when I was again asleep, I had a new and very beautiful vision. I thought I could not forget it, but the next day brought with it so many interruptions and sufferings that nothing of it remains in my mind.


35. In Catherine Emmerich’s visions of the public ministry of Our Lord, which she daily recounted in chronological order for three years, she saw Our Lord, after the raising of Lazarus (which happened on Oct. 7th of His third year of teaching), withdraw Himself beyond the Jordan in order to escape the persecutions of the Pharisees. From here He dismissed the apostles and disciples to their homes, and Himself went on with three young men named Eliud, Silas, and Erimen-Sear. (These were descended from the companions of the Three Kings who, when the latter went away, had remained behind in the Holy Land and intermarried with the families of the shepherds of Bethlehem.) With these Our Lord journeyed to the place where the Three Kings were then settled, returning afterwards to the Promised Land by way of Egypt. On the first day of the January which preceded His death, He re-entered Judaea, and on the evening of Monday, Jan. 8th, He again met the Apostles at Jacob’s well, thereafter teaching and healing in Sichar, Ephron, round Jericho, in Capharnaum, and in Nazareth. Towards February He came again to Bethany and the surrounding country, teaching and healing in Bethabara, Ephraim, and round Jericho. From the middle of February till His Passion, He was in Bethany and Jerusalem by turns. The Evangelists are silent about the whole period between the raising of Lazarus and Palm Sunday, except for St. John, who says (11.53, 54): ‘From that day therefore they devised to put him to death, wherefore Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews, but he went into a country near the desert, unto a city that is called Ephrem. And there he abode with his disciples.’ Catherine Emmerich mentions the presence of Our Lord in Ephraim near Jericho on Jan. 14th, 15th, and 16th, and again between Feb. 6th and 12th, without giving the exact date. We must, however, return to what gave rise to this note. From Dec. 1st to the 15th of the third year of His ministry, Catherine Emmerich saw and daily described the sojourn of Our Lord and His three companions in a town of tents inhabited by the three Holy Kings of Arabia, where they had established themselves shortly after their return from Bethlehem. Two of these chieftains were still alive.

She describes in most remarkable detail their way of life and their religious practices and the festivities with which they received Jesus. Amongst many other things she recounted from Dec. 4th to 6th how these starworshippers brought Our Lord into their temple (which she described as a square flattened pyramid surrounded with terraced wooden steps), from the top of which they observed the stars and inside which they performed their religious ceremonies. They showed Him in it the image of the Child Jesus in the crib, which they had made and placed therein immediately after their return from Bethlehem; this was made in the exact shape of the one they had seen in the star before they set out on their journey to Bethlehem. Catherine Emmerich describes it in the following words: ‘The whole representation was in gold and surrounded by a star-shaped sheet of gold. The golden child lay on a red blanket in a crib like the one at Bethlehem; his little hands were crossed on his breast and he was wrapped in swaddling-bands from breast to feet. They had even included the hay of the crib, it could be seen behind the child’s head like a little white wreath; I cannot remember what it was made of. They showed Jesus this image; they had no other in their temple.’ This is her description of the image of the crib to which she refers above in the text. (CB)

36. This is the general tradition about the origins of the Carmelite Order. It is briefly recounted in the Breviary Lessons for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16th), where mention is also made of the tradition that the cloud seen by Elias (III Kings 18.42-45) is a symbol of Our Lady. (SB)

37. In the Office for the Immaculate Conception and in other liturgical books there occurs the following verse: ‘As a cloud I covered all the earth’ (Eccl 24.3), referring to wisdom, which is in complete harmony with this prophetic vision of the Mother of God, seat of wisdom. (CB) (RC)

38, Epiphanius, in his work on the life of the Prophet, says of Jeremias: ‘This prophet gave the Egyptian priests a sign and told them that all their idols would fall in pieces, when a virgin mother should set foot in Egypt with her Divine Child. And so it befell. Therefore do they to this day adore a Virgin Mother and a Child lying in the crib. When King Ptolemy questioned them as to the reason therefore, they answered, “This is a secret which we received from our ancestors to whom it was announced by a holy prophet, and we await its fulfillment”’ (Epiphan., Vol. II, p. 240). The above-mentioned son of the prophet sent to Egypt by Elias cannot, however, be taken to be Jeremias, for the latter lived some three centuries later. (CB)

This is presumably the Greek Father, St. Epiphanius of Salamis, death in 403, but an examination of various editions, old and new, has so far failed to identify the passage. The quotation may be linked with Jeremias’ prophecy (43.13) of the shattering of the idols of Egypt after his warning to the Jews who had assassinated Godolias and were preparing to flee to Egypt (Jer. 41-43). (SB)

39. This interpretation, alluded to but not definitely established by earlier commentators, is shown by Biblical philology to be perfectly correct. (CB) The names Azarias and Ananias both occur in Neh. 3.23, where Ananias is in Hebrew Ananyah, which may mean ‘the cloud of the Lord’, but the much commoner name is Hananyah, ‘the Lord is merciful’. Azaryah means ‘the help of the Lord’. (SB)

40. The absence of any mention of Mary (whose line of descent is given by St. Luke) is explained by the basic principle of the Jewish genealogists: ‘The father’s race is called a race, the mother’s race is not called a race’ (Talmud Baba Bathra, f. 110). The father of Mary was, according to this rule, the first of Our Lord’s forebears according to the flesh who could be named in His line of descent. Christ, who had no earthly father, may be as truly called, according to the flesh, the son of Heli as Laban (Gen. 29.5) could be called the son of Nachor, and Zacharias (1 Esdras 5.1) could be called the son of Addo, for these were both great-grandchildren. (CB)

The emphasis on Our Lord’s Davidic descent (Luke 1.32, 69) shows that Our Lady must also have been of the Davidic line (see Fr. R. Ginns, O.P., in Cath. Comm., 1953, 748b). (SB)

Joseph is named with the words, “being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph” because Joseph is not of Jesus’ lineage. Joseph is counted in this genealogy from the Gospel of Luke, even though he is not the father of Jesus, because he was the husband of the Virgin Mary. His name stands in her place; the Virgin Mary is the unnamed generation between her father, Heli, and her Son, Jesus. Since Joachim (Heli) is named by Sacred Scripture (without the words “as was supposed”) in the lineage from Abraham to David to Mary to Jesus (Lk 3:23-38), Joachim must be the Virgin Mary’s real biological father and her immediate ancestor, even though she was conceived solely and entirely by a miracle of God. (RC)

41. Catherine Emmerich no doubt meant by this the connection between the line of David through Nathan and that through Solomon. In the third generation upwards from Joachim, St. Joseph’s grandmother (who had married as her first husband Matthan, of the line of Solomon, and had by him two sons, one of whom was Jacob, the father of St. Joseph) took as her second husband Levi, of the line of Nathan, and had by him Matthat, the father of Heli or Joachim. Thus Joachim and Joseph were related to each other. It is remarkable that Raymundus Martini, in his Pugio fidei (p. 745, ed. Carp), also states that St. Joseph’s grandmother after the death of Matthan married a second husband, from whom Joachim was descended. (CB)