AN EXACT PORTRAIT OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
In the College of Jesuits at Valencia a picture of the Virgin by Juanes is looked upon with immense admiration. The tradition runs that Father Alberto was on the eve of the Assumption waited on by the Blessed Virgin herself, who required him to cause her portrait to be taken in the dress she then wore, which was a white frock or tunic, with a blue cloak; and Christ was to be represented also in the design as placing a crown on her head, while the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove hovered over the group. Alberto therefore gave the commission to Juanes, who, appreciating the honour, devoutly set himself to work, and put forth all his skill on the composition. The first sketch did not please Alberto; but the Father assisted the artist so effectually with his prayers, that at last the artist’s pencil seemed to succeed at every stroke; and in the end the Father, taking credit himself for much of the work, was highly pleased with the happy result. During the work Juanes was one day seated on his scaffold finishing the upper parts of the picture, when the structure gave way, and he was in the act of falling, when the Holy Virgin stepped suddenly out of the canvas, and, seizing his hand, preserved him from instant death. This being done, the Blessed Virgin returned to her canvas, and has continued there ever since, all the supplicants and worshippers who look on it devoutly believing in this being an exact counterpart of the original. This great artist died in 1579; and Valencia contains many of his masterpieces, for he ranks high in the school of Raphael.
THE MARRIAGE OF JOSEPH AND THE VIRGIN MARY.
The legend of the marriage of the Virgin Mary is thus given in the “Protevangelion” and the “History of Joseph the Carpenter”: “When Mary was fourteen years old, the priest Zacharias inquired of the Lord concerning her what was right to be done; and an angel came to him and said, ‘Go forth and call together all the widowers among the people, and let each bring his rod (or wand) in his hand; and he to whom the Lord shall show a sign, let him be the husband of Mary.’ And Zacharias did as the angel commanded, and made proclamation accordingly. And Joseph the carpenter, a righteous man, throwing down his axe and taking his staff in his hand, ran out with the rest. When he appeared before the priest and presented his rod, lo! a dove issued out of it—a dove dazzling white as the snow—and after settling on his head, flew towards heaven. Then the high priest said to him, ‘Thou art the person chosen to take the Virgin of the Lord and to keep her for Him.’ And Joseph was at first afraid, and drew back; but afterwards he took her home to his house, and said to her, ‘Behold, I have taken thee from the temple of the Lord, and now I will leave thee in my house, for I must go and follow my trade of building. I will return to thee, and meanwhile the Lord be with thee and watch over thee.’ So Joseph left her, and Mary remained in her house.”
THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.
Milman says that the murder of the innocents by Herod’s orders is a curious instance of the reaction of legendary extravagance on the plain truth of the evangelic history. The Greek Church canonised the fourteen thousand innocents; and another notion, founded on a misinterpretation of Rev. xiv. 3, swelled the number to one hundred and forty-four thousand. The former, at least, was the common belief of the Church, though even in the English Liturgy the latter has in some degree been sanctioned by retaining the chapter of Revelation in the “epistle for the day.” Even Jeremy Taylor admits without scruple or thought the fourteen thousand. The error did not escape the notice of the acute adversaries of Christianity. Vossius was the first divine who pointed out the monstrous absurdity of supposing such a number of infant children under two years in so small a village.
THE ANGEL GUIDING THE VIRGIN TO EGYPT.
The journey of the Holy Family to Egypt, being about four hundred miles, must have occupied five or six weeks. It is related in the legend as follows: “We are told that, on descending from the mountains, they came upon a beautiful plain, enamelled with flowers, watered by murmuring streams, and shaded by fruit trees. In such a lovely landscape have painters delighted to place some of the scenes of the flight into Egypt. On another occasion, they entered a thick forest, a wilderness of trees, in which they must have lost their way had they not been guided by an angel. As the Holy Family entered this forest, all the trees bowed themselves down in reverence to the Infant God; only the aspen, in her exceeding pride and arrogance, refused to acknowledge Him, and stood upright. Then the Infant Saviour pronounced a curse against her, as He afterwards cursed the barren fig tree; and at the sound of His words the aspen began to tremble through all her leaves, and has not ceased to tremble even to this day.”
HEROD HEARING OF THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.
Another legend about the journey of the Holy Family to Egypt is this: “When it was discovered that the Holy Family had fled from Bethlehem, Herod sent his officers in pursuit of them. And it happened that when the Holy Family had travelled some distance, they came to a field where a man was sowing wheat. And the Virgin said to the husbandman, ‘If any shall ask you whether we have passed this way, ye shall answer, “Such persons passed this way when I was sowing this corn.”’ For the Holy Virgin was too wise and too good to save her Son by instructing the man to tell a falsehood. But, behold, a miracle! For, by the power of the Infant Saviour, in the space of a single night the seed sprang up into stalk, blade, and ear, fit for the sickle. And next morning the officers of Herod came up, and inquired of the husbandman, saying, ‘Have you seen an old man with a woman and a Child travelling this way?’ And the man who was reaping the wheat replied, ‘Yes.’ And they asked him again, ‘How long is it since?’ And he answered, ‘When I was sowing this wheat.’ Then the officers of Herod turned back and left off pursuing the Holy Family.”