WASHINGTON: A historian has identified the great-grandmother of Jesus.
According to Florentine medieval manuscripts analyzed by a historian , the great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Saint Ismeria. Saint Ismeria likely served as a role model for older women during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The legend of Saint Ismeria sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14thcentury Florence. "I don't think any other woman is mentioned" as Mary's grandmother in the Bible, Catherine Lawless, author of the paper said. "Mary's patrilineal lineage is the only one given," Discovery News quoted Lawless as saying.
"Mary herself is mentioned very little in the Bible," added Lawless, a lecturer in history at the University of Limerick. "The huge Marian cult that has evolved over centuries has very few scriptural sources," she said.
Lawless studied the Saint Ismeria story, which she said has been "ignored by scholars," in two manuscripts : the 14th century "MS Panciatichiano 40" of Florence's National Central Library and the 15th century "MS 1052" of the Riccardiana Library, also in Florence.
The legend of Saint Ismeria has been published in the current Journal of Medieval History.
According to Florentine medieval manuscripts analyzed by a historian , the great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Saint Ismeria. Saint Ismeria likely served as a role model for older women during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The legend of Saint Ismeria sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14thcentury Florence. "I don't think any other woman is mentioned" as Mary's grandmother in the Bible, Catherine Lawless, author of the paper said. "Mary's patrilineal lineage is the only one given," Discovery News quoted Lawless as saying.
"Mary herself is mentioned very little in the Bible," added Lawless, a lecturer in history at the University of Limerick. "The huge Marian cult that has evolved over centuries has very few scriptural sources," she said.
Lawless studied the Saint Ismeria story, which she said has been "ignored by scholars," in two manuscripts : the 14th century "MS Panciatichiano 40" of Florence's National Central Library and the 15th century "MS 1052" of the Riccardiana Library, also in Florence.
The legend of Saint Ismeria has been published in the current Journal of Medieval History.
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