1. The Immaculate Body of the Virgin Mary issued from the most
blessed womb of Her mother Saint Anne, through the natural pas-sage proper
to birth. There was, however,
no pain, nor were there the other inherent circumstances, consequences of
sin and proper to fallen human nature.
And, although the parents of the Divine Child were redeem-ed, Mary,
in accord with Her nature as Irredeemed, had been conceived Immaculate and
besides was born with the gifts and virtues of a glorified body.
That is the reason why Her birth was for Saint Anne sublimely clear
and resplendent, full of heavenly sweetness and delight.
2. From the moment of Her Conception, the Divine Infant possessed
the fullest use of reason with most perfect human discernment.
Thus it would have been natural for Her to see, feel and know the
pro-cess of Her birth. However,
raised to the heights of ecstasy, She entered the world in full
contemplation of God, Her senses removed from all that was taking place at
Her birth.
3. The Holy Doctor Saint Mary of Jesus of Agreda devotes a
brilliant page of her book to the sublime Nativity of Mary.
She says that Saint Anne knew by divine inspiration the moment when
birth would take place, and that, when the time had come, she was filled
with heavenly joy, falling to her knees in prayer as she experienced the
natural movement of birth. Saint
Anna Catherine Emmerick completes this doctrine with her vision of that
wonderful event. She says
that Saint Anne was enveloped in supernatural light, which we interpret to
have been God Him-self, who appeared visibly to give approval to the
Nativity of Mary.
4. When the Divine Child was born, She appeared in hea-ven in
virtue of Her glorious state of body.
There She adored the Infinite Majesty of God with most loving acts
of gratitude for having been placed in the world in order to carry out in
full the supreme mission God had given Her.
The Most Holy Trinity took pleasure in contemplating that most
exquisite Work of the Hand of God, now perfectly complete, while
presenting Her to the whole celestial court, which with unspeakable joy
and jubilation sang praise to the Sweet and Most Holy Name of Mary, as She
was called from the moment Her Divine Soul was created; for at that Mo-ment
the Name of Mary was wrested from the heart of God.
After the Name of Jesus, the Name of Mary is the most noble, holy
and beautiful of all that can be found, the Name that enshrines most
meaning and mystery. Mary
means Ocean of Grace, and also Ocean of Sorrow.
Mary is the Sea that confines the infinite, immutable Ocean of the
Divinity. Mary signifies the
Beloved of God and She who loves God.
Above all the Name of Mary ex-presses the Divine Maternity and Her
Universal Maternity, since
the Name Mary, in its deepest sense, means Mother.
The Holy Doctors of the Church proclaim and sing the glories of the
Most Sweet Name of Mary in beautiful and varied style.
5. From Heaven, the Divine Princess went to the Limbo of the Just,
and filled with light, joy and hope that abode of saints, where were also
Adam and Eve, to announce the imminent Redemption.
Mary did not wish to leave unconsoled the souls of Purgatory.
She also visited that holy place of expiation, alleviating all with
Her presence, lib-erating many who were detained there, and giving others
hope of prompt release. Mary
accomplished all these visits without ceasing to be pre-sent visibly on
earth, thus manifesting Her omnipresence.
Nature itself celebrated the Nativity of the Queen of the Universe
with a conspicuous increase of vitality and bloom.
The heavenly bodies shone more inten-sely, and the whole visible
creation was moved with jubilant manifesta-tions.
The infernal regions trembled at the crushing power of Mary's
om-nipotent heel, and the demons, more furious than ever, intensified
their own torments in that volcano of inextinguishable fire.
But for sinful humanity, the Nativity of Mary redounded beyond
measure to their benefit, because in Her was found the Mother of Grace and
the mainstay of Redemp-tion.
6. With the birth of Mary, Her Mystical Body was also born, and as
She grew physically and prepared for the Incarnation of the Word, Her
Mystical Body also grew in strength.
Here we put in relief the sublime mission of Saint Anne, since hers
was the grace to conceive in Mary the Church of that time and then to give
birth to it. The Glorious and Most Holy Anne was the Mother of the
Mystical Body of Mary, since she clothed with her flesh the physical Body
of her Divine Daughter and also conceived her Mystical Body.
Saint Anne is as well the Grand-mother of the Mystical Body of
Christ. Saint Joachim, in
turn, was the Father of the Mystical Body of Mary, and he is the
Grandfather of the Mystical Body of Christ, for having begotten the
physical Body of Mary.
7. We shall now treat the manner in which the Most Sweet Name of
Mary, which they were to give their Divine Daughter, was reveal-ed to the
Most Holy Spouses, Anne and Joachim, by the Archangel Saint Gabriel. For this purpose we turn to the mystical doctors Saint Mary
of Jesus of Agreda and Saint Anna Catherine Emmerick, whose doctrines do
not entirely coincide but rather complement each other. We elaborate our doctrine harmonizing the texts of both.
The Archangel Gabriel made to each of the spouses, at the same
time, the first an-nouncement of the good news that they would have a
daughter. At that moment
Saint Anne was in Sephoris and Saint Joachim at a property of his on Mount
Hermon in the north of Galilee. Both
undertook the journey to Jerusalem as ordered by Saint Gabriel, Anne
lodged at the home of Saint Zachary, and Joachim by the Temple. While Saint Anne was praying in her apartment, and her Spouse
likewise before the altar of incense, each was visited by a heavenly
messenger who communi-cated once more to them the good
news, adding that the fruit of their union should be given the Name
of Mary. This Holy Council
rejects all those accounts that do not agree with what is here defined.
8. During the fortnight that followed birth, Saint Anne and her
Divine Daughter remained in isolation, according to the Law of Moses. The Holy Doctor Anna Catherine Emmerick tells us that on the
twentieth day there was a family feast at which several priests from
Naza-reth were present and that among these there was a certain principal
one. These we affirm to have
been the High Priest Eliud and other Essenian priests.
During the ceremony the Most Sweet Name of Mary was given
pub-lically to the Divine Child. Saint
Mary of Jesus of Agreda adds that a multitude of angels appeared carrying
a shield with the Name of Mary. This
was seen by Saint Anne and by the Child.
There is a discrepancy be-tween the two Doctors on the date of the
ceremony. However this Holy
Council affirms that the date given by Saint Anne Catherine Emmerick is
the true one since it is not opposed to the Law of Moses.
At the end of the eightieth day of birth of the Divine Child, She
was taken to the Temple of Jerusalem by Her Most Holy Parents for the rite
of purification of Saint Anne, as prescribed by the Law, and besides, by
divine inspira-tion, for the rite of presentation of their Child, when the
Name of Mary was inscribed in the official registry of the Temple.
This ceremony was performed by the aged Sain-t Simeon, who was a
Levitical priest.
9. His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII has defined that, during the
greater part of the life of the Divine Mary, God suspended the gifts and
virtues of Her glorious Body, since She wished to suffer with Christ for
us. This Holy Council affirms and defines that the Most Pure
Virgin Mary wished to suffer hunger and thirst, and therefore was sub-ject
to the extrinsic necessity of taking nourishment, when there was no
essential need for Her to do so in order to live, given that the natural
state of Her Body was of glory. What
She ate and drank, She eliminated in marvellous manner through a fragrant
perspiration. The body of
Saint Anne, in what pertains to the elimination of aliments and of other
excesses, enjoyed the same quality of the state of glory, during the nine
months the Child was in her womb, a privilege granted in view of Mary's
sublime dignity.
10. In the bosom of the family, the Divine Child showed Her
parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, the most selfless submission and
obedience together with the most tender filial love, while humbly
accepting the education and instruction they gave Her, model daughter that
She was. Although Mary did
not need to learn anything, since She knew everything in virtue of Her
infused knowledge, which She possessed in the highest degree, She wished
to reveal Her knowledge gradually as She grew in order to give us an
example of humility. When God
suspended Her infused knowledge, we are not to understand in its totality,
but principally in what concerned Her supreme mission.
11. The mystical Doctor Saint Mary of Jesus of Agreda teaches in her revelations that the Archangel Saint Gabriel
informed Saint Anne and Saint Joachim of the desire of the Most High for
Mary, in Her childhood, to be entrusted to the Temple, thus to fulfill the
vow made by Her parents. We
add here that it was also for Her own ardent desire, since She was
consecrated to God by the perpetual vow of Virginity.
The Palmarian Creed teaches that Her Presentation at the Temple
took place when Mary was three years old, and that She caused the
admiration of the priests and of all those in the service of God, being
Herself model and example of religious life.
12. As is deduced from certain biblical passages as well as from
mystical-prophetical revelations, there existed in an annex to the Temple
of Jerusalem, a religious community, which we define as a Carmelite
convent, where the Child Mary lived as a true religious in faith-ful
observance of the rule, with most austere penance, continual prayer and
contemplation of God.
Here are certain historical facts and some proofs of our doctrine:
13. In the book of Exodus chapter XXXVIII, verse 8 men-tions
certain women who "watched at the door of the Tabernacle". This we interpret to mean that they kept watch in turns of
prayer and that they performed certain religious duties proper to women.
Other biblical texts also refer to these women.
In the second book of Machabees (II Mach. III: 20) we see again
according to our interpretation that there existed a community of virgins
living in an enclosure annexed to the Temple.
14. Saint Anna Catherine Emmerick mentions several de-tails in the
life of that religious community, namely that they lived in cells with
little oratories from which they could see the interior of the Temple
without being seen themselves. There
they prayed and meditated. She
mentions also that they performed certain holy occupations.
All these details defi-nitely point to monastic life.
Reflecting further on these revelations, we deduce and affirm that
the women who followed authentic religious life, lived in quarters more
apart and austere, whereas others who remained for a certain time before
their marriage, lived in another section, though with strict observance of
certain rules of life and of instruc-tion, completely separated from the
world, and taking part in much of the prayer and penance of their
religious educators and performing services in the Temple.
It was, then, a convent of strict observance where the religious
took charge of certain classes of pupils according to their age and
prepara-tion. The same Holy Doctor, speaking of the life of the Virgin Mary
in the Temple, says that the women gathered in sacred service were all
Essenes, which proves that a Carmelite community resid-ed there.
15. In the light of the Holy Ghost this Holy Council affirms and defines that, after the reconstruction of the
Temple, the High Priest Josue requested of the Essenian High Priest the
foundation of a community of Carmelite religious in the apartments annexed
to the Temple of Jerusalem, for the purpose of directing and educating
young women, consecrated to serve God there according to the vocation of
each, in large part, eldest daughters from the tribes of Juda and Levi;
since, among devout Jews there was the hidden hope that of one of the
virgins educat-ed in the Temple, the Messias would be born.
Some of these virgins, af-ter a certain time, entered the
community. Others - and this
was more common - were espoused before leaving.
16. The women religious, in what concerns their life in community,
were subject exclusively to the Superior General of the Essenes and
received spiritual direction from an Elian priest, who celebrated the
Essenian rites within the enclosure.
In what concerns their services in the Temple, they were under the
authority of the Levitical High Priest, who delegated another Levitical
priest. This latter was chosen by the supreme Essenian authority, and
he had to be a tertiary of the Order of Carmel.
In regard to the girls and young women dedicated to service in the
Temple, these same rules applied. They
were admitted by joint consent of the Levitical priest mentioned above and
the mother superior of the community.
17. When Mary was brought by Her parents to the Temple, the Priest
Zachary accompanied them from Nazareth, according to our in-terpretation
of the works of Saint Anna Catherine Emmerick.
She was re-ceived by the aged Holy Simeon and by Saint Anna the
Prophetess, as was revealed to Saint Mary of Jesus of Agreda.
The Divine Child expressed the firm purpose to follow integrally
the religious life of Carmel and to remain there all Her life, and, during
the time required, to accept instruction and education as did the other
girls. The superiors,
illu-minated by God, assented to this.
At the time, Saint Anna the Prophetess governed the women's
community as superior. The
principal instructress was Noemi, aunt of Lazarus of Bethania.
The aged Saint Simeon, who was a Levitical Priest and at the same
time member of the Essenes, exercised the authority there that had been
delegated to him. He was much
loved and venerat-ed for his virtues and gift of counsel.
There was also among the wards Seraphia, known later as Saint
Veronica.
18. There are no words to measure the sacrifice of Mary in the
Temple. Chosen to be the
Mother of God, the one who commanded the Prophet Elias to found the
Carmelite Order, She Herself, its Queen and Beauty, nevertheless lived
there submissive and obedient in the greatest silence and veiling of Her
Most Holy Person. Mary had in Herself the greatest virtue of asceticism
possible to a pure creature. She
edified all and moved them to greater austerity.
Thus She merited very special graces that enriched reli-gious life,
through her members attaining greater holiness.
19. During Her residence in the Temple, the Divine Child in more
extraordinary manner sanctified the Tabernacle which had housed the Triple
Benediction, as She Herself was the true, living Ark of the Covenant. Through prayer and divine contemplation, by reason of Her
religious state, Mary was always truly present in the Holy of Holies in
most special and singular manner, though not visibly, while at the same
time She performed the duties of Her religious state.
In the same manner as in the Tabernacle, Mary, during the same
period, was present in the Cave of Elias on Mount Carmel.
20. On many occasions, the Exalted and Most Holy Child Mary, during
Her sublime and most tender colloquies with Her Divine Spouse, attained so
high a rapture that She was raised to Heaven in Body and Soul and entered
that abode of glory, since Eternal Bliss had never been closed to Her.
21. The Holy Doctor Mary of Jesus of Agreda says that when Mary had
been a half year in the Temple, Her father the Patriarch Saint Joachim
died at the age of sixty nine. His
years passed in this manner: At the age of 46 he was espoused with Saint
Anne. In the 20th year of
their marriage, they received their Child, Mary Most Holy.
Three and one half years later, his death occurred.
The Holy Doctor also tells us that the Divine Child knew by divine
revelation the moment when Her father would die.
To which we add, moved by the Holy Ghost, that, with-out leaving
the Temple, She was present at the bedside of Her dying fa-ther.
Saint Anne was there as well as the Most Divine Soul of Christ in
bodily form, and assisted Saint Joachim at that most happy death.
This took place 20 March in the year 5,185 of the Creation, at
Jerusalem, where the Parents of the Virgin had a house where they stayed
at certain seasons.
22. The same Holy Doctor mentions several aspects of the life and
death of Saint Anne. This
Holy Council selects those that correspond to the facts.
At 24 she was espoused to Saint Joachim, and for twenty years she
had no child. At the age of
44 she gave birth to her Divine Daughter.
We complete these details by adding the date of her death in
Jerusalem, 26 July in the year of Creation 5,198, when she was 60 years of
age, and Mary 16, a half year before the Espousals of her Daughter with
Saint Joseph. At the death of Saint Anne the Virgin Mary was present and
the Most Divine Soul of Christ appeared visibly under bodily form, as at
the death of her Spouse Saint Joachim.
Most Holy Anne, shortly before dying, was absorbed in a most loving
ecstasy in which she beheld many great mysteries of the Redemption, and
died serenely in the arms of her Divine Daughter.
The most holy bodies of Anne and Joa-chim, until the moment of
their translation into heaven, remained buried in the same place where
many years later would be found the sepulchre where the Body of Mary
reposed for three days in sublime Dormition, in the valley of Josaphat by
the Garden of Olives.
23. When Mary was 17 years of age She was espoused to a just man of
the house of David, whose name was Joseph, as is given in the Palmarian
Creed. This Holy Council,
after a profound study of Sacred Scrip-ture and of mystical-prophetical
revelations, presents the follow-ing teaching on the Espousals of the
Divine Virgin Mary:
24. After the death of Saint Anne, it was revealed to the aged
Simeon in sleep that he was to give a spouse to the young Mary, who was
then a religious of the Carmelite convent at the Temple.
There were summoned for the purpose men of the House of David,
those most wor-thy for their nobility as well as for holiness.
Each received a dry rod, and all remained in prayer in the Temple,
imploring the August Trinity to deign to cause the rod to flower of the
one chosen to be Spouse of Mary. It
was the rod of Saint Joseph that flowered, and at the same time the Holy
Ghost, in the form of a dove, descended from heaven and rested upon his
head. Before the event, the
Divine Mary already knew that Joseph Most Holy was chosen by God to be Her
Spouse, predestined for Her from eternity, and, moreover, that he also was
bound by vow of chastity. Mary
fully accepted the divine disposition and, submitting to the aged Saint
Simeon, obeyed with in describable surrender and immolation of Her own
will, at the same time absolutely confident that She would always remain a
Virgin, even in marriage, as was Her desire.
It was customary among the Jews, nearing the Advent of Christ, to
celebrate two ceremonies at their weddings.
The first and essential was that of espousal, by which they were
validly married and which took place before the religious au-thorities of
the place of residence. The other, complementary, was the reception of the bride,
leading her to the home of her spouse.
The first ceremony of the marriage of Mary and Joseph took place in
the Temple, 23 January, in the year 5,199 of the Creation of the world, in
the pre-sence of the aged Saint Simeon, with Saint Zachary also present.
Some days later, the newly espoused left for Nazareth accompanied
by several Essenian religious, men and women, as well as several
relations. During the
journey, Mary went with the women's caravan and Saint Joseph with that of
the men. At Nazareth, all
gathered at the house of Mary, which She had inherited from Her parents,
and to which came the Elian High Priest Eliud, who at the time,
providentially was visiting an Essenian community in the neighborhood.
All accompanied the Most Holy Spouses to the house of Saint Joseph,
near that of Mary, thus completing the sec-ond part of the nuptial
ceremonies. Once there, the
newly espoused, be-fore the High Priest Eliud, expressed their immediate
wish to live apart for a certain time, according to Essenian custom.
Thus Saint Joseph re-mained at home alone, while Mary withdrew to
live in Her own house.
25. His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII has defined that the Fiat of
Joseph Most Holy was necessary for the Incarnation of the Divine Word in
the Most Pure Womb of the Virgin Mary.
26. One of the reasons why the Holy Ghost submitted the Work of the Incarnation of the Word to the assent of
Saint Joseph is be-cause, by divine law, the husband has power over his
wife, and God re-spects the law He Himself has established.
That is why the Archangel Saint Gabriel appeared first at the house
of Joseph Most Holy, request-ing his Fiat, to which the Just Man gave his
assent. Then the same
Archangel appeared to Mary at Her house, announcing to Her the Mystery of
the Incarnation, as the Evangelist Saint Luke narrates. And She also pronounced Her Fiat, through which was realized
the Conception of the Word of God in Her Virginal Womb. Her Most Holy Spouse Saint Joseph, in sublime vision from his
house, contemplated the Annunciation by the Heavenly Messenger to Mary,
and at that very moment sensed his supreme re-sponsibility to go to his
Spouse and take Her with him in order to pro-tect Her as Head of the Holy
Family. However, in his great
humility, he considered himself unworthy to live with Mary now. Therefore, with un-speakable sorrow, he thought of not doing
so, and considered leaving Her secretly.
While in that state of indecision, Saint Gabriel appeared to him in
sleep and ordered him to remain in Mary's company, that is, to remain
together with Her as Head of the Family.
And so the Holy Patriarch, with inexpressible joy, went to the
house of his Spouse and took Her with him.
27. With the doctrine given above, this Holy Council resolves the
apparent ambiguity of certain phrases in chapter I of Saint Matthew:
28. The Evangelist mentioned presents the Incarnation of the Word
in the following phrases: "When his Mother Mary was espous-ed to
Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy
Ghost" (Matt. I: 18). This
verse presents no difficulty.
29. But verse 19, at first glance does so: "And Joseph her
husband, being a just man, and not willing to defame her, was minded to
leave her secretly". Correctly
interpreted, this text presents per-fectly clear teaching, and this we
explain. After Saint Joseph
had given his Fiat for the Incarnation, God permitted that Most Holy Man
to suffer a dark night of the soul. His
infused knowledge with other sublime gifts which ordinarily he enjoyed
were suspended, and he remained in the com-mon state of the virtues.
For that reason Saint Joseph, at the moment he had to decide
whether to fetch his Spouse or continue to live apart, fell prey to a
series of scrupulous objections about the position he ought to take, since
the Lord had not manifested His will.
30. As providentially the Most Holy Spouses were living apart at
the time, Joseph thought that God's will might be for him to continue to
do so, in order to show the world the fulfillment of Isaias' prophecy:
"The Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold the Virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel".
Saint Joseph thought that, if he were living with Her, it would
seen an ordi-nary marriage and the world would not believe that
Mary was a virgin, and that would be to defame Her.
31. On the other hand he thought perhaps that God wish-ed him to
hide the Mystery of the Incarnation and that he should receive his Spouse.
But then another problem would arise when he found himself in the
embarrassing position of being asked if he was the father of the Child,
and of having to say that the Child was not really his son according to
the flesh, as he had not begotten Him, but that it was rather through the
Action of the Holy Ghost. Saint
Joseph was Just and could not lie. Therefore when no one would believe him, it would compromise
Mary's honour.
32. Besides, as the Palmarian Creed tells us, he "con-sidered
himself unworthy to live in company with the Mother of God, and to
represent the Eternal Father legally".
Saint Joseph thought that if he appeared publicly as Jesus' Father
when the Child was born, in order to fulfil the Law, he would have to name
Him. Nevertheless, without
in-fused knowledge at that moment as already stated, he did not know the
extent of his paternal authority over the Child Jesus, something that the
prophecies had not made clear. The
great humility and excelling prudence of Saint Joseph did not let him
presume the right to live with the Mother of God and exercise Legal
Paternity over the Child, without having first received a sign from God to
do so.
33. For these reasons, in spite of his sublime intel-ligence, Saint
Joseph did not know how he ought to fulfil the mission the Most High had
given him without defaming the Most Holy Virgin Mary.
And as long as God's will was not shown him, he was minded not to
bring Mary to his house until Providence had determined what he ought to
do. That is the sense of
Saint Matthew's phrase: "he was minded to leave her secretly". With this correct interpretation of Saint Matthew's phrase,
we reject all those interpretations that attribute to Saint Joseph the
intention to separate from his Most Holy Spouse and leave for some other
place. Such an act would have
been incompatible with the prudence and holiness of the Most Chaste
Patriarch, because it would have given rise to endless suspicion and
gossip amongst the people, with the consequent defamation of Mary.
This Holy Council also rejects any other interpre-tation that
departs from the doctrine given above on verse 19 of chapter I of Saint
Matthew.
34. In verse 20 the Archangel Saint Gabriel tells Joseph:
"Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is
con-ceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost"; and verse 24 tells us that
Saint Joseph received his Spouse. In
both verses it is seen clearly that the Holy Spouses were living apart in
differ-ent houses.
35. The last phrase of verse 20 presents an apparent perplexity and
ignorance on the part of Saint Joseph as to the cause of Mary's
conception. However this was
not so, because he understood
the mystery of the Incarnation, and never doubted the virginal purity of
Mary, as stated in the Creed. The
words of the Angel are to be under-stood as an exhortation for him to
exercise his legal paternity over Jesus as the Eternal Fa-ther's
representative, which is confirmed in verse 21, where Joseph is ordered to
impose the Child's name: "And thou shalt call his name Jesus".
Through these words Joseph recognized the whole extent of his legal
paternity over the Child, since the imposition of the name manifested
paternal authority, and gave him the right to call Jesus his Son, and as
such present Him to others.
36. In relating this passage, Saint Matthew wishes to show us
Joseph's holiness in the ordinary state of the virtues, his absolute trust
in the Lord, his true humility and, above all, his most exemplary
prudence, - when he did not presume to perform so divine a minis-try
without knowing first that it was God's will for him to do so.
37. We conclude the present chapter by mentioning that the
Incarnation of the Word, and the sleep of Saint Joseph when he was ordered
to remain in the company of his Spouse, took place within the same day,
the 25th March. On the
following day both Spouses undertook the journey to the house of Zachary
and Elizabeth in the town called at the time, Juda, today Ain Karem, in
the neighborhood of Jerusalem. There
the Mystery of the Visitation took place.
In order to identify correctly that Holy Place, we turn to the
revelations of the Holy Doctor Mary of Jesus of Agreda, who says: "It
was expressly revealed to me that the town was called Juda, and that the
Evangelist calls it by its proper name; although the learned expositors
have understood by this name of Juda the province in which that town was
situated. The confusion arose
from the fact that some years after the death of Christ the town Juda was
destroyed... I add that the house of Zachary and Elizabeth, where the
Visitation took place, stood on the very spot where today those di-vine
mysteries are venerated", - that is, the Sanctuary found in the
out-skirts of the town of Ain Karem.
As Zachary and Elizabeth also had a house at Hebron, according to
Mary of Jesus of Agreda, to which they withdrew after the birth of the
Baptist, some seers and commentators have thought that the Visitation took
place at Hebron. We confirm the state-ment of the Holy Doctor Mary of Agreda
and reject any contrary opinion.
