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Maria of Miryam in het Hebreeuws.
Name of Hebrew origin.
The name Maria is said to come from the name "Miryam", meaning "beloved of God" or "star of the sea."
1st century BC (between the years -20 and -15.)
Around the year 50 or 60.
Maria was born in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee, probably between the years 20 and 15 BC.
According to tradition, she was born to devout parents, Anne and Joachim, and grew up in the Jewish faith, awaiting the Messiah. She herself was the result of a miraculous birth (see the explanation at the statue dedicated to Saint Anne.) She was likely raised in a simple, humble, yet deeply spiritual life in a rural setting.
In her teenage years, while engaged to Joseph, a righteous and faithful carpenter, her life changed when an angel, Gabriel, appeared to her. This was the Annunciation. He announced to her that she had been chosen by God to miraculously give birth to a son who would be the Son of the Most High. By accepting this mission, Mary became the mother of God.
Shortly after, she visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary recites a beautiful hymn: the Magnificat, which has become an important liturgical prayer.
In Bethlehem, she gives birth to Jesus in a humble stable. She raises him, protects him, takes him to the temple, and then flees with Joseph to Egypt to escape the persecution of Herod. Back in Nazareth, she raises Jesus in the shadows, in a modest life.
At the beginning of her son's public life, Mary is present at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus, through her intervention, performs his first miracle: turning water into wine. She remains close to him throughout his entire mission, even when he is rejected and condemned. At the crucifixion of her son, she stands there, silent but faithful, receiving from Jesus a final mission: to become the spiritual mother of humanity.
After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Mary remains with the apostles. She is present at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends upon them marking the birth of the church. Here ends her direct historical trace in the gospels, but Christian tradition says that she then lived in Jerusalem or Ephesus (modern-day Turkey) under the protection of Saint John.
Throughout the centuries, Mary has been deeply loved and prayed to. Her veneration has spread throughout the Christian world, with shrines, Marian feasts, prayers, recognized apparitions (Lourdes, Beauraing), and an immensely important place in art, music, or poetry.
Virgin, spouse, mother, disciple, and queen, Mary remains to this day the most revered female figure in Christianity, loved for her gentleness, fidelity, humility, and unique role in the history of salvation.
At the end of her life, Mary peacefully dies - or according to some traditions, falls asleep (Dormition) - and is then bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven, an event celebrated as the Assumption. She then becomes the Queen of Heaven, the universal mother of all believers.
Mary performs no miracles in the Gospels, aside from giving birth to Christ, but she is a source of intercession in Christian tradition. Many miracles are associated with her apparitions.
The veneration of the Virgin Mary is one of the oldest and deepest in Christianity.
Early on, the first Christians recognised in her an exceptional woman: mother of Jesus, mother of God, humble servant of the Lord.
Throughout the centuries, her image has transcended her maternal role: she has become a model of faith, a protectress, and a spiritual queen.
As Mary was bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven, according to Catholic tradition, there is no authenticated physical relic.
However, there is a traditional tomb in Jerusalem, a pilgrimage site.
There are also objects associated with her, such as the house of Mary in Ephesus or the Veil of the Virgin in Chartres, France.