> The great literary templates for persons predicted to be holy even
> before
> their birth are the stories of the nativities of John the Baptist and
> of
> Jesus himself in the Gospel of Luke, and the story of Christ's
> nativity in
> the Gospel of Matthew. The influence of these texts upon
> hagiographic
> composition is not to be underestimated.
Quite so. And these texts themselves depend to some extent on a number
of OT examples, among which are:
SAMSON
"You will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for
the boy shall be God's nazirite from his mother's womb." [Judges 13:5]
SAMUEL
"Yahweh Sabaoth! If you take notice of the distress of your servant,
and bear me in mind and not forget your servant and give her a
man-child, I will give him to Yahweh for the whole of his life and no
razor shall ever touch his head." [1 Samuel 1:11]
JEREMIAH
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth
I consecrated you." [Jeremiah 1:5]
Oriens.
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