From teenage mother to superstar: Who was Maria really?

Our Lady comes from a socially disadvantaged area. Nazareth was a mouse-poor Jewish village in the Roman province of Galilee around the year 0. The majority of residents worked as day laborers in the nearby prosperous town of Sepphoris. People lived in clans in caves. Mary’s surroundings are thought to be relatively well researched historically. What about himself? Was there really Mary of Nazareth? Or is it just a good story?

Gregor Emmenegger (51) is professor of ancient church history at the University of Freiburg. “From a historical perspective, there is a high probability that Mary existed,” He says. Historical studies of antiquity can hardly offer more than possibilities. Absolute evidence is rare in this era. But the historical evidence is impressive enough that it changes the image we have of Mary today. “We must assume that Mary was no more than twelve years old when she gave birth to Jesus.” Today Maria was the case of the child and adult protection authority (Kesb); but in pre-Christian times it was normal for clans to marry their female descendants as soon as they became sexually mature. “At that time, the woman’s body belonged to the family,” says Emmenegger. Mary’s husband, Joseph, was probably several years older, as was common at the time. It is also plausible that the names Meryem and Yusuf are common in the region. However, this does not change the fact that historical sources are weak. Even in the Bible, traces of Mary are few and far between: she appears in only 142 of the 7,957 verses of the New Testament, primarily in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. He plays a small supporting role. “Whenever Mary shows up, it’s really about Jesus,” says Emmenegger. In summary, we can say this: Mary probably existed. She was not the queen of heaven. She is just a poor Jewish girl and a young mother.

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Mary became pregnant without a man. It says so in the Bible. Today, Mary is seen as a symbol of chastity and abstinence, especially among conservative Christians. So where does this cult of virginity come from? Gregor Emmenegger says it wasn’t like that from the beginning: “In the time of Jesus, she was a virgin, an unmarried woman.” The story of Jesus’ birth is largely based on a story about Emperor Augustus (63 BC – AD 14), which was quite popular at the time. According to legend, his father was the Roman god Apollo, and his mother was Atia, the daughter of a Roman senator (85-43 BC). Emmenegger says: “The story of the birth of Jesus is a so-called counter-gospel to Emperor Augustus. Many points from the emperor’s biography were included. Only Jesus was born not in Rome, but in a stable.” At that time, Mary’s virginity was more of an indicator of Jesus’ divinity. «Everyone knew the legend of Augustus. Thus, it was necessary to tell the outside world who Jesus was, that he was the Son of God. They captured Christians for the sake of it,” says Emmenegger. In the multi-religious Middle East, different religions fought for their followers.

The image of virginity began to change by the 4th century. Until then, it was undisputed among Christians that Mary gave birth to other children after Jesus. So Josef was a patchwork father. But later ascetic forms of Christianity became popular and the Virgin Mary became the patron saint of abstinence. Jesus’ brothers and sisters became cousins. From there, things get complicated. In AD 451, the Church stated at the Council of Chalcedon: Jesus is fully God and fully human. So how does the Immaculate Conception fit into this? If you came into being through God’s sperm donation, can you be fully human? The church does not address the myth of virginity, because Mary is popular among the people and is increasingly drawn towards heaven as the Mother of God. She is gradually becoming the queen of heaven. The reformers broke this ruthlessly. “The Catholic Church is relying even more heavily on the cult of Mary to distinguish itself from the Protestants,” says Emmenegger. And so, according to Emmenegger, Mary is almost declared as co-redeemer and thus as the fourth part of the Trinity. In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the Mother of God. From the second half of the 19th century, it received its own subject in Catholic theology: Mariology. Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) was a great devotee of Mary. In Switzerland, Lugano is considered the center of Mariology. German professor Manfred Hauke ​​focuses on Mariology at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lugano – among other things, he fights against the priesthood of women and marriage for all.

Natalie Fritz (44), a theologian and lecturer on media ethics at the University of Applied Sciences in Graubunden, who is interested in the cultural significance of the Mary figure, says: “Maria is the first media star of the church!” says. What he means by this: The role of the Virgin Mary in the Bible is marginal, but as a pictorial representation she became extremely popular in the Middle Ages at the latest. People carry images of saints with them, and depictions of the Virgin Mary can be seen in churches. «Maria is human and mother. “This makes it much more accessible to believers than highly complex theological concepts such as the Trinity.”

Mary becomes a heroine of popular belief. Until today. “People pray to Mary when they want something,” says Fritz. There are also two ancient sites of Marian veneration in Switzerland: the 15th-century Black Madonna in Einsiedeln and the late 14th-century Mariastein monastery, which still attract crowds today. And this goes beyond religious boundaries. Hindu Tamils ​​also make pilgrimages to two places. In Mariastein, access was even supposed to be limited. “Maria is a global figure,” says Natalie Fritz. She also played an important role in the Christianization of Latin America and Africa. How come? «Because almost all cultures have points of connection with local gods. For example, the indigenous mother deity, Pachamama, was fused with aspects of Mary,” says Fritz. Even today, Mary still works when it comes to conversion. For example, in China, where the figure of Mary is extremely popular among believers, according to Fritz.

Mary is everywhere in the 21st century, including popular culture. The last superstar to present herself as a Marian figure was Beyoncé. In 2017, she revealed herself as an amalgamation of the Christian Mother of God and Oshun, a fertility goddess from the West African Yoruba culture. In one performance, she asked: “Do you remember when you were born? (…) Are you thankful for the womb that was opened for him? There is little chastity in this 21st century Madonna. “The example of Beyoncé shows how the image of Mary transcends cultures, times, and how meaning can adapt,” says religious scholar Natalie Fritz. In the 20th century, this development was largely influenced by a singer with the name Our Lady: Madonna, whose full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone. Raised as a strict Catholic, he began playing with Marian iconography as an artist at an early age. The video for the song “Like a Prayer” caused a scandal because Madonna appeared in front of burning crosses and with stamps reminiscent of Jesus on her hands. She also approached the figure of a dark-skinned saint. His first daughter’s name was Lourdes, after the Marian pilgrimage site in France. Madonna makes Our Lady a strong woman of unbridled sexuality. This has consequences: representatives of Rome are calling for Madonna to be excommunicated. Beyoncé and Madonna also show that Our Lady is bigger than religion. For church historian Emmenegger, one thing is clear: “Mary was always the reflecting surface of questions: What does it mean to be a woman? What does femininity mean?”

A poster was hung in the university chapel in Freiburg im Breisgau (D) in May 2019. It depicted a Virgin whose cloak had fallen so that its shape resembled a vulva. In May 2023, the Vatican’s news portal “Vatican News” reported that Pope Paul II. He released a CD containing John Paul’s meditations dedicated solely to Mary. These two events show how Mary is idealized by completely opposite currents in the church today for their own purposes. Mary, who resembles a vulva, was a provocation from the circle of the progressive women’s movement in the Catholic Church, which called itself Mary 2.0 and has followers in Switzerland. Initiators repeatedly attract attention with campaigns. They want to erase the image of the servant, silent Mary and give the Mother of God her femininity back and use this as an argument for women’s equality in the Catholic Church. Among other things, activists posted theses on church doors in Switzerland. First: “In our church, everyone has access to all offices.”

Progressives and conservatives identify with the figure of the Virgin Mary. Everyone wants Maria for themselves.