biography
| name: |
Mary (mother of Jesus),
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also known as Our Lady or the Blessed Virgin Mary
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (?–c.63)
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| biography:
| Mother of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament she is most prominent in the stories of Jesus's birth (in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke), where the conception of Jesus is said to be ‘of the Holy Spirit’ (Matt 1.18), and she is described as betrothed to Joseph. She only occasionally appears in Jesus's ministry, but (John 19.25) she was present at Jesus's crucifixion, and was committed by him to the care of the disciple, John. According to the Acts of the Apostles, she remained in Jerusalem during the early years of the Church, and tradition places her tomb in Jerusalem. She has become a subject of devotion in her own right, especially in Roman Catholic doctrine and worship, and apocryphal traditions were attached to her in works such as the Gospel of Mary and Gospel of the Birth of Mary. The belief that her body was taken up into heaven is celebrated in the festival of the Assumption, defined as Roman Catholic dogma in 1950. Her Immaculate Conception has been a dogma since 1854. Belief in the apparitions of the Virgin at Lourdes, Fatima, Medugorje and in several other places attracts many thousands of pilgrims each year. In Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, she holds a special place as an intermediary between believers and God. |
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