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I was wondering if Jesus had any blood brothers or sisters?and was Joseph’s and Mary’s marriage consummated.Also was Joseph married before he met Mary?(if so what happened to his first wife)
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I was wondering if Jesus had any blood brothers or sisters?and was Joseph’s and Mary’s marriage consummated.Also was Joseph married before he met Mary?(if so what happened to his first wife)[/quote:24qvd8h5]I hear a lot of different opinions or theories about all of that. What is the offical position of the Catholic Church? I can guess and if I’m correct, I agree.
I’m not so sure if the Church has an official position on brothers of Jesus, but I’m pretty sure that since the official position is that Mary remained a virgin even after his birth that Jesus had no brothers or sisters.
We have an article on this site about it: http://www.aboutcatholics.com/faith_bel … ers_jesus/
I don’t know if Joseph was married previously. I do not believe there is any historical record of whether he was or not so there is only speculation that he was a widower since he was believed to be much older than Mary.
Official Teaching (explicit or derivative):
Jesus has no blood brothers or sisters.
Joseph and Mary’s marriage was never consummated.
Pious Legend:
Joseph was a widower. This is attested in the ProtoEvangelion of James, a 1st century document that tells us about Joseph and Mary before they were married. It is not, however, Church teaching.
Sacred Scripture does not provide many details about the life of St. Joseph. Turning to tradition, we gain the following perspective. First, it is certain by matter of the dogma of Mary’s perpetual virginity (already defined by solemn council in the early Church) that her marriage to St. Joseph was never consummated. Thus, it is clear that Jesus would have had no blood brothers or sisters. It is possible that St. Joseph was older and had been married prior to his betrothal to Mary. Thus, he could have had other children who would be half-siblings of Jesus. However, the references to brothers and sisters of Jesus in Sacred Scripture must be understood in the cultural context. Even to this day, in the Middle East it is quite common to refer to cousins and even more distant relatives as brothers or sisters. The notion of family is much more broad than the Anglo-Saxon model and the use of language is subsequently more general. Jesus’ parting gift on the Cross of giving Mary to St. John (“Behold your mother” and “behold your son”) is fairly strong evidence that there were no siblings at all (half or otherwise). Those siblings would have automatically been responsible for Mary’s welfare rather than what actually occurred when St. John “took her into his home from day.” I hope that this sheds some light on your question. God bless you!
Rev. Joseph R. Johnson
Assistant Chancellor
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Tel. 651-291-4401 Fax 651-290-1637
[email protected]
Yes, that was a e-mail ? I ask them and that was there reply
I went to the “The Cathedral of Saint Paul” website and at bottom of page is a e-mail address and I asked my ?
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