Was Mary an only child?

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SAVINGRACE

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My neighbour asked me this today and I realised I had no idea. Cannot find any information on it either.
 
Yes! Mary was the only child of St. Ann and St. Joachim. God Bless. 🙂
 
DaveBj said:
I’m sorry, but the verse that I cited shows that your knowledge is incomplete.
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Tradition suggests that Our Most Holy Mother as indeed the only child of Sts. Joachim and Ann. Would Our Lady’s biological sister also be named Mary? Would they name both their daughters Mary? Would be a bit confusing around the house I would think :P. Most likely this is some female relative of Our Lady’s (perhaps a cousin). I can’t be certain which Greek word was used in the original text in this particular passage, but in the case of Our Lord’s “brothers”, the Greek word can refer to any close male relative.
 
DaveBj said:
I’m sorry, but the verse that I cited shows that your knowledge is incomplete.
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The Protoevangelium of James seems to indicate she was an only child. This verse could be refering to a cousin. The bible says Jesus had brothers and we know he didn’t. But perhaps she did have a sister.
 
twf said:
Tradition suggests that Our Most Holy Mother as indeed the only child of Sts. Joachim and Ann. Would Our Lady’s biological sister also be named Mary? Would they name both their daughters Mary? Would be a bit confusing around the house I would think :P. Most likely this is some female relative of Our Lady’s (perhaps a cousin). I can’t be certain which Greek word was used in the original text in this particular passage, but in the case of Our Lord’s “brothers”, the Greek word can refer to any close male relative.
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If you read all four accounts of the attendants at the cross, and put all the information together, it becomes 95% certain that Mary’s sister was actually Salome, not the other Mary.
 
This is an interesting thread. I have heard arguments on both sides, some say she was an only child, some say she had a sister and I have heard too that Salome was her sister, but I have never found a good catholic source to support each one. I think st faustina’s diary gives the impression she was an only child. Anyway I am curious too and I’m interested in reading other’s posts.
 
marymary1975 said:
This is an interesting thread. I have heard arguments on both sides, some say she was an only child, some say she had a sister and I have heard too that Salome was her sister, but I have never found a good catholic source to support each one. I think st faustina’s diary gives the impression she was an only child. Anyway I am curious too and I’m interested in reading other’s posts.
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I have never even thought about that. I must confess that most of my knowledge comes from The Bible and the CCC and I can not recall anyone even mention any close relatives to Our Blessed Virgin. It however is very possible. People from that time did not use NFP or any other way to controll the number of kids they had. So, it is very possible that Our Blessed Virgin had sisters and brothers. More likely then unlikely. But this seem to a be a very interesting thread and I hope it have a long and fruitfull life. I will rate this thread with the highest possible points.
 
Some traditions says that Mary’s sister is Mary Cleophas.
An early tradition within the Roman Catholic Church, first visible in the writings of Papias, identify her sons James and Joses/Joseph referred to in scripture as the “brothers of Jesus” as his biological cousins, Mary of Clopas being the sister (or sister-in-law, or even cousin) of Mary the Mother of Jesus. Other traditions outside the Church make her the mother of the “brethren of the Lord”.

In medieval legend the three Marys (Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome, and Mary of Clopas) were adrift in a boat that miraculously arrived off the coast of Provence, now called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. In that legend Mary of Clopas is the mistress of her Egyptian servant Sarah, venerated by Gypsies.

In the Roman Martyrology she is remembered with Saint Salome on April 24. Some have regarded Mary as the daughter of Clopas, who was in turn one of the husbands of Saint Anne.
 
The bottom line is that – to my knowledge – there is no official answer to this question.
 
Very little is known about the parents of our Blessed Mother. Impossible to state as fact if She did or did not have brothers or sisters. Why would this be important? Not sure.
 
I’ve heard indications that Mary’s “sister” Mary could have been a sister of Joseph (because they didn’t really have surnames, they wouldn’t have named two children the same name). Others have said that she could have been Mary’s close cousin or friend.
 
KrazyKat said:
Very little is known about the parents of our Blessed Mother. Impossible to state as fact if She did or did not have brothers or sisters. Why would this be important? Not sure.
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At least to me the importance of this was mostly to rebute protestant’s arguments (or other people) that Jesus had brothers and sisters. If you do.some research as to jesus’s famous brothers and sisters everything points out that his brothers (specially James, Joses, Judas thaddeus, etc.) Were cousins. Many protestants argue that St. Judas thadeus was the son of the Virgin Mary because it appears that he was related to Jesus through Mary not through St Joseph, but there are some sources that say in those days cousin on the mother’s side were seen more as siblings, explaining why he was one of jesus’ brother. However most of what I read seems to point that he was the son of one of the Virgin’s cousins, other places say from Mary’s sister.

But in the end, as you say, very little is known about st Anne and st joachim so it is hard, but at least to me the value is more to have a solid response to false allegations.
 
bzkoss236 said:
I’ve heard indications that Mary’s “sister” Mary could have been a sister of Joseph (because they didn’t really have surnames, they wouldn’t have named two children the same name). Others have said that she could have been Mary’s close cousin or friend.
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I have read that too, and that seems to be the main issue the lack of surnames. All Joseph’s relatives may have be called the same as Mary.
 
marymary1975 said:
At least to me the importance of this was mostly to rebute protestant’s arguments (of other people) that Jesus had brothers and sisters. If you do.some research as to jesus’s famous brothers and sisters everything points out that his brothers (specially James, Joses, Judas thaddeus, etc.) Were cousins. Many protestants argue that St. Judas thadeus was the son of the Virgin Mary because it appears that he was related to Jesus through Mary not through St Joseph, but there are some sources that say in those days cousin on the mother’s side were seen more as siblings, explaining why he was one of jesus’ brother. However most of what I read seems to point that he was the son of one of the Virgin’s cousins, other places say from Mary’s sister.

But in the end, as you say, very little is known about st Anne and st joachim so it is hard, but at least to me the value is more to have a solid response to false allegations.
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A very good reason ! Perhaps my faith is too simple. 🤷
 
Steveabrous said:
The Protoevangelium of James seems to indicate she was an only child. This verse could be refering to a cousin. The bible says Jesus had brothers and we know he didn’t. But perhaps she did have a sister.
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I was unaware that the above referenced work was considered to be a reliable source of information in this regard.
 
Mike30 said:
I was unaware that the above referenced work was considered to be a reliable source of information in this regard.
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The Protoevangelium of James is often sited by Catholic apologists to prove that the early church believed in Mary’s perpetual virginity. It is not on the level of scripture. But it is an early writing, mid 2nd century. And the people at that time would have known better then us about Mary. So it is not irrelevant, or unreliable
 
Steveabrous said:
The Protoevangelium of James is often sited by Catholic apologists to prove that the early church believed in Mary’s perpetual virginity. It is not on the level of scripture. But it is an early writing, mid 2nd century. And the people at that time would have known better then us about Mary. So it is not irrelevant, or unreliable
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I don’t think the protoevangelium is a reliable source. It has many contradictions with catholic teaching and contradictions with historians. In this case it says that James was the son of St Joseph, that st Joseph was an elderly man who was a widower with children who marry Mary and James, Joses, Jude and Simon were his sons, therefore brothers of Jesus. Besides the point that the teaching of the church is that Jesus was an only child, two historians Jerome and Eusebius report that St James and Joses were the sons of clofas, brother of st Joseph, and that st Jude was “brother of Jesus according to the flesh,” which meant his relationship to Jesus was through Mary, this makes the entire story of the protoevangelium wrong.
 
marymary1975 said:
I don’t think the protoevangelium is a reliable source. It has many contradictions with catholic teaching and contradictions with historians. In this case it says that James was the son of St Joseph, that st Joseph was an elderly man who was a widower with children who marry Mary and James, Joses, Jude and Simon were his sons, therefore brothers of Jesus. Besides the point that the teaching of the church is that Jesus was an only child, two historians Jerome and Eusebius report that St James and Joses were the sons of clofas, brother of st Joseph, and that st Jude was “brother of Jesus according to the flesh,” which meant his relationship to Jesus was through Mary, this makes the entire story of the protoevangelium wrong.
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“brother of Jesus according to the flesh,” simply means that they were blood relations. Other types of brothers are such as those who are members of the Knights of Columbus (they refer to each other as “Brother Knight”). These are not brothers of the flesh.

So Thomas might be a brother of Jesus (not of the flesh) in that he looked like Jesus (hence called Dydamus, the Twin).

But James may be from the same tribe or clan, and thus be a “brother of the flesh”.
 
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