(_Detail_)
In the town of Nazareth many centuries ago lived a pious old couple,
named Joachim and Anna. It is said that they "divided all their
substance in three parts: " one part "for the temple," another for "the
poor and pilgrims," and the third for themselves. The delight of their
old age was their only child Mary, who afterwards became the mother of
Jesus. She had been born, as they believed, in answer to their prayers,
and they cherished her with peculiar devotion.
That Mary was a good and lovable child beyond common measure we can have
no doubt: she was set apart for a strange and holy service. The
beautiful story of her early life is told in an old Latin book called
the "Legenda Aurea," or the "Golden Legend." This was a collection of
old legends written out for the first time by Jacopo de Voragine, an
Italian archbishop of the thirteenth century. The early English
translation by Caxton, in which we still read the book, preserves the
quaint flavor of the original. There is one portion of it describing the
dedication, or presentation, of the Virgin in the temple. Before Mary
was born, the mother, Anna, had promised the angel of the Lord that she
would present the coming child as an offering to the Lord. Long before
her day, a certain Hannah had made a like vow under similar
circumstances. Her son Samuel, a "child obtained by petition," was
"returned," or "lent," to the Lord as long as he lived.[6] A child thus
dedicated was early carried to the temple to be educated within its
precincts for special service to God.
The presentation of Mary was on this wise: "And then when she had
accomplished the time of three years ... they brought her to the temple
with offerings. And there was about the temple, after the fifteen psalms
of degrees, fifteen steps or grees to ascend up to the temple, because
the temple was high set. And nobody might go to the altar of sacrifices
that was without, but by the degrees. And then our Lady was set on the
lowest step; and mounted up without any help as she had been of perfect
age, and when they had performed their offering, they left their
daughter in the temple with the other virgins, and they returned into
their place. And the Virgin Mary profited every day in all holiness, and
was visited daily by angels, and had every day divine visions."[7] We
see at once the picture there is in the story, the little girl ascending
alone the long flight of steps, with the fond parents gazing after her
in wonder. Many artists have put the subject on canvas, and among them
our Venetian painter Titian. His is an immense picture, from which the
central figure only is reproduced in our illustration.
[Illustration: Picture from Carbon Print by Braun, Clément & Co.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.