LUX VERITAS

Apocrypha · Chapter 13 of 25

Protoevangelium of James 13

Infancy of Mary

When Mary reached the sixth month of pregnancy, Joseph returned from his constructions and, upon entering the house, noticed that she was pregnant. Then he struck his own face, threw himself on the ground upon a blanket and wept bitterly, saying: 'How am I going to present myself now before my Lord?'

2And, rising up, Joseph called Mary and said to her: 'Favored as you were by God, how could you do this? Have you perhaps forgotten the Lord your God? How could you vilify your soul, you who were raised in the holy of holies and received food from the hands of an angel?'

3And she wept bitterly saying: 'I am pure and know no man.' 'Whence, then,' Joseph replied, 'comes what you carry in your womb?' To which Mary answered: 'By the Lord, my God, I swear that I do not know how it happened.'

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About Protoevangelium of James

The childhood of Mary, the choosing of Joseph and the birth in a cave. It is the source of nearly all later Marian devotion — including the names Anne and Joachim.