New Testament History

The life of the Holy Virgin

The birth of the Holy Virgin
The Immaculate Conception
The dedication of the Temple
The naming ceremony of the Holy Virgin
The purification of Anne
The entrance of the Holy Virgin in the Temple
The death and burial of the Holy Virgin
The resurrection and assumption of the Holy Virgin
 
Abbreviations and bibliography
 
Home

 
© NTperiod

The death and burial of the Holy Virgin

The Holy Virgin died in the year 54 AD[1] and reached the age of 70.[2] Since the Holy Virgin was born in 17 BC, the 70 years are the period 17 BC-54 AD. She died 21[3] (= 3 x 7) years after the crucifixion. Given that Christ died in 33 AD, the Holy Virgin died in 54 AD (33 AD-54 AD = 21 years).[4]

There were eclipses at the death of the Holy Virgin.[5] On Wednesday 7 August 54 AD, there was a total lunar eclipse at 04:33 UT.[6] A partial solar eclipse preceded on 23 July 54 AD at 09:37 UT.[7] A partial solar eclipse followed on Wednesday 21 August 54 AD at 17:15 UT.[8] The middle (i.e. the lunar) eclipse probably marked the death of the Holy Virgin. Since the Holy Virgin died after the 9th hour, at the same time as Christ died[9] (around 3 p.m.), she died in the late afternoon of 6 August. The Holy Virgin was buried immediately afterwards,[10] on the night of Julian 6/7 August = actual 3/4 August.[11] It was exactly 70 years after her birth: the night of actual 3/4 August 17 BC-the night of actual 3/4 August 54 AD.

A.C.E. saw the age of the Holy Virgin as “XXXXXX I V,” which she read as 64 years all but 23 days.[12] The 23 (inclusive) days are the period between the liturgical dates for the assumption (on 15 August) and the birth (on 8 September) of the Holy Virgin: 16 August-7 September. In fact, the number XXXXXX I V apparently means the year XXXXX I V = 54 AD + X days less than the liturgical date of 15 August.[13] The Holy Virgin died on 6 August 54 AD, i.e. 10 (inclusive) days before 15 August 54 AD.

A.C.E. saw I V V III X III and two full moons, which she interprets as the Holy Virgin dying in the year 48 (IV + VIII), 13 years (XIII), and two months after the ascension of Christ.[14] Elsewhere A.C.E. says that the Holy Virgin died 14 years and 2 months after the ascension.[15] Yet the figures IV and VIII indicate the day and month rather than the year: the Holy Virgin died on the 4th day of the 8th month = Gregorian 4 August = Julian 6 August. The figures 13 or 14 followed by two months also denote days and months: the Holy Virgin’s death on 6 August 54 AD = 14 Av (Reingold and Dershowitz)[16] occurred two full moons (Sivan and Tammuz) + 13 non-inclusive days (= 14 inclusive days) after the month of the ascension of Christ (Iyar) had ended.[17] It was also two Julian months and 13 or 14 days after the Holy Spirit had descended on 6 Sivan 33 AD = Sunday 24 May (24 May-6/7 August = 2 months + 13 or 14 days). In accordance with the interpretation of the figure I V V III as the year 48, A.C.E. also says that the Holy Virgin died 15 years after the crucifixion (33 AD-48 AD).[18]

This confused interpretation of the figure I V V III might have been caused by the fact that A.C.E. thought that the Holy Virgin died in Ephesus,[19] where the Holy Virgin stayed until the year 48 AD: after the crucifixion the Holy Virgin lived for 3 years on Mount Zion (33 AD-36 AD), for 3 years in Bethany (36 AD-39 AD), and for 9 years in Ephesus (39 AD-48 AD).[20] However, the end of the sojourn in Ephesus was not due to the death of the Holy Virgin but due to her definite return to Jerusalem (where she died in 54 AD).[21]

 


[1] Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:634: “dans l’année 55 du Seigneur.” Maria de Agreda reckons the years of the Lord beginning from 1 BC. For instance, she dates the departure of James the Greater for Spain in the year 35 of the Lord, 1 year and 5 months after the crucifixion (ibid., 6:157). Since Christ was crucified at Passover 33 AD, the year 35 (occurring 1 year and 5 months after the crucifixion) corresponds to 34 AD.

[2] Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:592-593.

[3] Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:593.

[4] A.C.E. said that James the Less died “7 or 8 years after James the Greater’s martyrdom, which took place in 54 AD, 5 or 7 years after the death of the Holy Virgin.” A.C.E., Visionen Juli 1821, 90: “Sie sagt, das Todesjahr Jakobi [the Greater] bestimmen wollend, sie habe gesehen eine Zahl, die 5 und eine die 4 bedeute, mit römischen Zahlen. Später meint sie LIV. […] Sie sagt, sieben Jahre nach ihm sei Jakobus der Kleinere gemartert (das deutet auf 54), sie sagt, fünf oder sieben Jahre nach Mariä Tod. Doch ist dieses alles unentschieden und aus trüber Erinnerung”; 93: “Sie gab wieder die Buchstaben LIV als Todesjahr an [for James the Greater …]. Jakobus stirbt nach ihr im Jahr 7. Jakob Minor nach ihm etwa im Jahr 7 – 8”; 121 (concerning James the Greater): “Sie sieht fortwährend die Zahl LIV.” A.C.E. is here confused because she at first thought that James died after the Holy Virgin. A.C.E. later corrected this and said that James the Greater died first. A.C.E., Vie, 6:337-338 (the vision of 27 December 1820): “Jacques le Majeur fut martyrisé huit ans environ après l’Ascension ; Marie ne mourut que beaucoup plus tard. Elle était fort âgée. Ainsi que je le vois maintenant de la façon la plus nette, Jacques ne fut pas présent à sa mort ; j’y vois à sa place un disciple d’un certain âge.” The year 54 AD relates to the death of the Holy Virgin instead of to the death of James the Greater.

[5] Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:593.

[9] A.C.E., Mary, 372.

[10] A.C.E., Mary, 375: “I saw the coffin lifted on to a bier and carried out of the house […]. It was already dusk, and four lights were carried on poles round the coffin”; 376: “Night had fallen when the Apostles closed the entrance to the tomb.”

[11] Though A.C.E. (Mary, 357) says that the liturgical date for the death of the Holy Virgin (14/15 August) is the historical one, she (Mary, 368) also says that the Holy Virgin died earlier.

[12] A.C.E., Mary, 346: “She reached the age of sixty-four years all but three and twenty days: I have just seen the figure X six times, then I, then V; is not that sixty-four?” Analogously, A.C.E. says that the Holy Virgin was in her 63rd year at the time of death: A.C.E., Visionen August 1820, 124: “Maria sei […] gestorben, im 63. Jahr ihres Alters”; A.C.E., Visionen Juli 1821, 93: “62 – 63 Jahre alt.”

[13] A.C.E. is sometimes confused when interpreting numbers. For instance, she (Vie, 6:405) first interprets the numbers C IX of Quadratus’s age as 109, but then corrects it into 91 (C less IX).

[14] A.C.E., Mary, 367-368: “See this number, a stroke and then a V, does not this make four? Then again V and three strokes, does not that make eight? This is not properly written out; but I see them as separate figures because I do not understand big sums in Roman letters. It means that the year 48 after Christ’s Birth is the year of the Blessed Virgin’s death. Then I see X and III and then two full moons as they are shown in the calendar, that means that the Blessed Virgin died thirteen years and two months after Christ’s Ascension into Heaven.”

[15] A.C.E., Visionen August 1821, 108; A.C.E., Mary, 361. A.C.E., Visionen Juli 1821, 89: “vierzehn Jahre und drei Monate”; 93: “Maria stirbt nach Ihm: 14 und ein Viertel.”

[16] The New Moon occurred on Tuesday 23 July at 09:21 UT (astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phases0001.html). Reingold and Dershowitz situate 1 Av on Wednesday 24 July; Parker and Dubberstein (1956: 47) on Thursday 25 July (with 6 August coinciding with 13 Av).

[17] Christ ascended into heaven on 25 Iyar 33 AD = Thursday 14 May.

[18] A.C.E., Visionen August 1820, 123-124: “[Maria] sei 15 Jahre nach Christi Himmelfahrt gestorben”; A.C.E., Visionen Juni 1821, 9/1 (Nachtrag): “Maria sei im Anfang des 15. Jahres nach Christi Himmelfahrt gestorben”; A.C.E., Life, 4:39, 42. Cf. Bridget of Sweden, Rev. 7.26 (trans. TAN): “After my Son ascended to Heaven, I lived in the world fifteen years – the time from my Son’s Ascension to my death.”

[19] A.C.E., Visionen Juli 1821, 121: “Ephesus, wo Maria im Jahr 48 gestorben.”

[20] A.C.E., Visionen August 1820, 141; A.C.E., Visionen Juli 1821, 121; A.C.E., Mary, 346.

[21] The Holy Virgin definitively left Ephesus for Jerusalem when the Council described in Acts 15 took place: Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:305. The house of the Holy Virgin in Ephesus has been discovered (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary#cite_ref-Vatican_2-0), but traces of a tomb have not been found there, whereas there is the tomb of the Holy Virgin in Jerusalem.