Mary

also called  Saint Mary  or  Virgin Mary 

The Virgin Adoring the Child, oil on wood panel by Fra Filippo Lippi, …

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

the mother of Jesus, an object of veneration in the Christian church since the apostolic age, and a favourite subject in Western art, music, and literature. Mary is known from biblical references, which are, however, too sparse to construct a coherent biography. The development of the doctrine of Mary can be traced through titles that have been ascribed to her in the history of the Christian communions—guarantee of the Incarnation, virgin mother, second Eve, mother of God, ever virgin, immaculate, and assumed into heaven.

Virgin and Child, also called the Poligny Virgin, limestone, polychromy, and gilding, attributed …

Photograph by AlkaliSoaps. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Rogers Fund, 1933 (33.23)

The New Testament account of her humility and obedience to the message of God have made her an exemplar for all ages of Christians. Out of the details supplied in the New Testament by the Gospels about the maid of Galilee, Christian piety and theology have constructed a picture of Mary that fulfills the prediction ascribed to her in the Magnificat (Luke 1:48): “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”

• ·
  Introduction
• ·
  Biblical references
• ·
  Dogmatic titles
• ·
  Cultural importance
• ·
  Additional Reading