JISCMail - MEDIEVAL-RELIGION Archives

During the Middle Ages, Mary's house was overwhelmingly considered to have been located in the Holy Land, but Ephesus apparently contested this occasionally, seemingly on the basis of the presence there of a church dedicated to Mary in which the Council of Ephesus was held in 431, at which Mary was declared the Theotokos. This church either was or was eventually thought to be the first church ever dedicated to Mary, and the connection between Mary and Ephesus was strengthened by the presence there of St John the Evangelist, who had quite a bit to do with Mary. The building now considered her house in Ephesus, however, was only identified as such in the late 19th century, and it is only fairly recently that Ephesus has managed to mount any credible case, over the Holy Land, as the site of Mary's house. The best account I've read of this is from Kevin J. Wright, Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe: A Pilgrim's Travel Guide (Liguori, Missouri: Liguori Publications, 1999), pp. 287-90, which I have excerpted below. He further cites Joseph P. Quatman, House of Our Lady (Lima, Ohio: The American Society of Ephesus, 1991), which I have not read.

... at the end of a long and narrow path in the city of Ephesus is the house believed to have been the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary during her last days on earth. More than a million pilgrims make the journey to this holy place every year. Recently, the little building has received considerable attention because of the latest research and excavations that support the long-held beliefs about those who once lived there. According to tradition, the apostle John took Mary into his care and later brought her to Ephesus to avoid the persecutions of Christians in Jerusalem. Scripture affirms that Christ spoke from the cross to entrust his mother to St John. After the deaths of both Mary and John the house they occupied apparently fell into ruin, but the foundation remained intact. Although the belief that the Virgin Mary resided in Ephesus was widespread through the centuries, the discovery of her home did not take place until 1881 and then again in 1891. The house of the Virgin was first discovered in 1881 by a French priest through the study of the revelations of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun who was favoured with numerous visions of the life of Our Lady. His findings, however, went unpublished and were generally discounted. Ten years later, inspired by the detail of Emmerich's writings, a group of explorers under the leadership of Father Jung of the Order of Lazarists again followed her descriptions to relocate the Virgin Mary's home. After combing the hills and talking to local peasants and authorities, they came upon the site and ruins of the Virgin Mary's house as described by Emmerich. After excavating the area, the explorers were amazed to find that their discoveries conformed very closely to the descriptions provided by Emmerich. For example, Catherine had revealed that the Virgin Mary prepared her meals at a fireplace located in the centre of the room and that spring water was present. Excavations confirmed the presence of ashes and spring water. After they presented their discoveries to the archbishop of Smyrna in 1896, a formal declaration of the discovery was published. In subsequent years the Vatican allowed religious ceremonies to be celebrated at the site. Before and after the discovery of the house, many of the popes had offered their implicit recognition of the site as being the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-58) in his treatise on the Feast of the Assumption once wrote that John had taken Mary to Ephesus, "where the Blessed Mother at length proceeded from this life into heaven". Pope St Pius X (1903-14) granted plenary indulgences for pilgrimages to the shrine and sent his apostolic blessing to all those involved in the restoration of the house. In 1951 Pope Pius XII (1938-58) declared Mary's home an official sanctuary for pilgrims and confirmed the plenary indulgences for those who made the journey to the shrine. Before being elected to the Chair of Peter, Pope John XXIII had visited Ephesus. In 1961 he reaffirmed the plenary indulgences for pilgrims visiting the home. Six years later, Pope Paul VI (1963-78) made a pilgrimage to the holy shrine. After being elected pope in 1979, John Paul II also visited the Virgin Mary's home and again confirmed the significance of the house as a place of worship. So popular has the shrine become since then that approximately 10,000 people of all faiths visit the shrine each week. As Muslims recognize Mary as the Mother of Jesus, the house remains especially sacred to them also. Some who have visited the holy site have felt Mary's presence and walked away with a feeling that this is indeed a holy place. The site upon which the Virgin Mary's house stands is now a Selçuk municipal park – better known as Meryemana. The shrine is particularly busy on feast days associated with the Virgin Mary. On 15 Aug. each year the archbishops of Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir celebrate Mas for the pilgrims at the shrine. Near the spring, visitors can buy small plastic bottles for their holy water.