Mary’s House in Ephesus November 19, 2006

Jean Fouquet. Second Annunciation.

Mary and St. John …after the Crucifixion…

There were more Gospels written than the four in the New Testament by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John but the other Gospels were not accepted into the New Testament by the early Church. Some of those other Gospels state that Mary died and was buried near Gethsemane. Today there is a Greek Orthodox Church near Gethsemane in which there is a tomb where it is claimed Mary was placed after she died. However there is a stronger tradition that Mary spent the last part of her life in Ephesus in Turkey and died and was assumed into heaven from there. Two centuries ago, the German mystic and stigmatist; Sr Catherine Anne Emmerich, in visions which she received between 1818-1824; saw an image of Mary’s house on a hill near Ephesus. When people looked for it they discovered its remains on Mt Nightingale very near ancient Ephesus, its shape and all other details exactly matched the description of Sr Catherine Anne Emmerich, and it was the only stone house on the hill. Now that house on Mt Nightingale very near ancient Ephesus is restored and venerated as the house where Mary came to spend the last years of her life to avoid the persecution of the Church in Jerusalem. It is in the care of the Franciscans and each year receives one and a half million visitors. The first church ever dedicated to Our Lady was built in Ephesus in the second century and Christians had a principle in the early Church that they only built a church in someone’s honor if that person lived and died or was martyred there. When Jesus was dying on the cross he asked his close friend and disciple John to look after his mother, and John also spent time in Ephesus and is buried there. In 431 AD a big council of the Church was held in Ephesus which declared Mary to be the Mother of God. Naturally the council declaring Mary as Mother of God would not have taken place there if they did not believe Mary had been there. Those who visit the house of Mary say they feel the presence of Our Lady there very strongly. Many graces and healings are received there and you can see many crutches left there by people who were miraculously healed there. The house is also visited by many Muslims because Muslims also have a strong devotion to Our Lady. In it excerpts from the Muslim holy book, the Koran, about Our Lady are plainly seen. It is the only place in the world where Muslims and Christians pray together peacefully. That is what Our Lady as a mother and the New Eve would want, all peoples praying together peacefully. On 26 July 1967 Pope Paul VI visited the house, on 30 November 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass beside the house and in 1991 he called it “the material home of Mary.” (More information on the house and its discovery is in a book entitled Mary’s House by Donald Carroll published by Veritas Books, London in 2000.)

Mary’s assumption into heaven reminds us that the next life is only a wave of the hand away from this life, that there is only a veil between this life and the next. Our second reading today referred to all being brought to life in Christ in their proper order. It is fitting that Mary was the first to be brought to life in Christ sharing the glory of his resurrection being assumed body and soul to heaven. It is a reminder to us of the glory that awaits each of us since we are all sons and daughters of God since our baptism. In his first letter John wrote, “My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

(A video entitled “Mary’s House - All Are Invited” which features Mary’s house in Ephesus is available from Mary’s Media Foundation)

The House of Virgin Mary

The belief that the Virgin Mary had spent her last days in the vicinity of Ephesus and that she had died there, focused attention on a nun named Anna Katherina Emmerich who had livid in the late 18th century (1774-1820). The efforts to find the house were greatly influenced by her detailed description of the Virgin Mary’s coming to Ephesus, her life and her last home there and the characteristics of the city although she had never been to Ephesus.In 1811, Emmerich, who had dedicated her life to God, was taken ill in the nunnery and had to keep her bed. She was hearing voices no one else did, and was having religious visions. On 29 December 1812, as Emmerich was praying in her bed with her hands stretched out, she was suddenly shaken by a divine force; and seized by a high fever, she became deep red in the face. Just at that moment, a bright light coming from above descended towards her and when it reached her the hands and the feet of the sick woman were suddenly covered with blood as if pierced by nails. The people around the bed were stunned with amazement. It was as if she had partaken of Christs agony during the Crucifixion and had become a stigmatized nun. The doctors examining her were greatly astonished. They could not explain this within the science of medicine. A writer named C. Brentano began putting into writing the narrations that Emmerich, who getting gradually worse had become bedridden, revealed in trance after loosing consciousness in 1811.

Emmerich had seen in her visions the Virgin Mary leaving Jerusalem with St. John before the persecution of Christians had become worse and their coming to Ephesus; she had also seen that the house in Ephesus was on a mountain nearby and that the Christians who had settled there before lived in tents and caves. She said furthermore that the house of the Virgin Mary, a stone house, was built by St. John, that it was rectangular in plan with a round back wall and had an apse and a hearth. The room next to the apse was her bedroom and there was a stream of water running it. Emmerich went on as follows:

“After completing her third year here she had a great desire to go to Jerusalem. John and Peter took her there. She was taken so ill and lost so much weight in Jerusalem that everybody thought she was going to die and they began preparing a grave for her. When the grave was finished the Virgin Mary recovered. She was feeling strong enough to return to Ephesus.

After returning to Ephesus the Virgin Mary became very weak and at 64 years of age she died. The saints around her performed a funeral ceremony for her and put the coffin they had specially prepared into a cave about two kilometers away from the house”.

Emmerich narrated that at this point in her vision St.Thomas’ coming there after the death of the Virgin Mary cried with sorrow because he had not been able to arrive in time. Whereupon, his friends not wanting to hurt his feelings took him to the cave; and she went on:

“When they came to the cave they prostrated themselves. Thomas and his friends walked impatiently to the door. St John followed them. Two of them went inside after removing the bushes at the entrance of the cave and they kneeled down in front of the grave. John neared the coffin of which a part was protruding from the grave and unlacing its ties he opened the lid. When they all approached the coffin they were stunned in amazement: Mary’s corpse was not in the shroud. But the shroud had remained intact. After this event the mouth of the cave containing the grave was closed and the house was turned into a chapel.”

A French clergyman named Gouyet who after reading in 1880 C Brentano’s book “The Life of the Virgin Mary” containing the revelations of Anna Katherina Emmerich tried to prove these by his writings but was not successful. Gouyet decided to go Ephesus to see whether the house mentioned as belonging to the Virgin Mary fitted the description in the book or not. Monseigneur Timoni, the archbishop of Izmir of the time, supported him in his idea and gave him a helper. After a journey free from problems in contrast to his expectations, Gouyet saw the house, believed that it belonged to the Virgin Mary and sent his related report to Bishopric authorities of Paris and even to Rome, but he did not receive the attention he had expected.

About ten years after this event, H. Jung, a Lazarist, priest who had read in Anna Katherina Emmerich’s book the chapters relating to the life and death of Virgin Mary in Ephesus, decided that it would be useful to see the house in its place. With the encouragement of Sister Marie de Mandat Grancey, the handnurse of the French Hospital of Izmir, he organized a second research team with the collaboration of Eugene Poulin, a Lazarist priest who was the director of the French College of Izmir and who had studied Emmerich’s book. The team consisting of two priests and two Catholic functionaries set out on 27 June 1891. The team successfully found the House of Virgin Mary, they had discovered a small place of worship with the roof fallen in and the walls in ruin standing a statue of the Virgin Mary with the hands broken off. Nowhere else in the region was there a scene fitting the description as perfectly as this one did. They returned to Izmir. The priest, E .Poulin, although he did not quite believe the narrative of his colleague Jung, decided to go to Ephesus to see out on the journey and on his return he let work begin for the necessary scientific research. With four friends he went up the Bulbul Mountain; again, they took various photographs of the place for a week. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Izmir, Monseignor Timoni, showed interest in the matter. He organized a team consisting of seven priests and five specialists. This team went up to the house of the Virgin Mary in December 1892 and substantiated the situation by a duly signed document ( History of Panaya Kapulu).

After the priest Jung set out on his first expedition, Sister Marie de Mandat Grancey exerted herself for nearly ten months to obtain the right of possession of his land and tried in her own capacity to repair the building and arrange the surrounding area. The restoration and other works continued until 1894. A shelter for visitors was built as an annex to the building.

This place of pilgrimage visited by thousands of tourists every year, maintains its holiness for the Moslems as well as for the Christian world. People believing in the godly qualities of the Virgin Mary came here; and drinking from the water believed to be sacred… they make wishes in the mystic and quite atmosphere of Mount Aladag.

‘ I , ]ohn… was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of ]esus. 1 was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches. ‘’ Rev. 1:9-11
Read the letters to the Seven Churches !

In the book of Revelation of the Bible are written messages to seven of the most promi¬nent churches of the Roman Province of Asia, which are located in western Turkey. When we use the word “church” we mean a group of Christians, not a building.

LOST HOUSE OF VIRGIN MARY.. THE MEETING… POINT OF THE CELEBRATION OF JESUS 2002

Most scholars agree that the Virgin Mary lived for a time in Ephesus although some dispute that she died there. The evidence in favour of Mary having spent her last years in Ephesus is both factual and logical. The first factual evidence is the biblical historical documentation of Mary’s relationship to St. John the Apostle. The Beloved John, brother of St. James, was the youngest of the twelve Apostles and, from John’s own modest testimony, “the one He loved the most.” The fact that he was favored is evident from his place next to Jesus at the Last Supper, and his being asked by the other Apostles to inquire of Jesus as to which of them would be tray Him. He was the first to identify Jesus after His Resurrection on the shore of Lake Tiberias. He is the only Apostle known to have been present at the Crucifixion. There is no dispute among historians that John, after the death of Jesus, went to Ephesus. While one might argue that Mary would not leave her homeland, with all its memories of the Apostolic life of her Son, it is much more plausible to believe that when the persecutions broke out against the Christians in Jerusalem her safety would be paramount and that she would obey the command of her Son and follow John to Ephesus. Further evidence that Mary lived in or near Ephesus is…the fact, that the third Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church was held in Ephesus. This council, which met in a large cathedral known as the Double Church of St. Mary, was primarily called to formalize the doctrine known as “Theotokos”, Greek for “Mary, Mother of God.” In a letter from the Council Fathers, addressed to all the clergy announcing this doctrine, it added that the Council was conducted in Ephesus ‘in which place John the Theologian and the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God were.” The word “were” is interpreted as meaning “until death”.

PILGRIMAGES

The first Pilgrimage to Virgin Mary took place in 1896, five years after the discovery of “The House of the Virgin”. Two trains brought pilgrims from Izmir to Ephesus. Most of them made the ascent on foot or on horseback or by donkey. The first pilgrims from abroad came in 1906 led by Prof. Miner and Fr. Kayser. There were 47 people of whom 10 were Protestants. Between 1914 and 1927 no mass was celebrated at the shrine and in 1929, Fr. Euzet found that the chapel floor was covered in cow dung. Between 1937 and 1949 there were no pilgrimages to Virgin Mary. In 1949, Archbishop Descuffi and a group of Children of Mary celebrated mass in the roofless chapel.

A new period in the history of Meryem Ana Evi began in 1950. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary was defined in Rome. Dr. Karl Gshwind of Basle, who had been trapped in the day of the Istanbul by the war and who had used the time to make a study of the antiquities of Asia Minor, planned to lead a pilgrimage to the shrine on 1st November 1950, definition of the dogma.

This pilgrimage was also announced in the Turkish press and the Turkish Ministry of Tourism had a road constructed so that vehicles could go up to the chapel. Since then the number of tourists, and pilgrims has increased.
From: Google Directory…. Mary and John/Ephesus

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Death of the Virgin. 1564. Oil on panel. Upton House, Bunbery, Oxfordshire, UK

Death of the Virgin is told in apocryphal texts: Mary, who lived till old age, longed to be with her son again. An angel visited her and foretold her death in the next three days. She prayed to be allowed to see all the apostles again. Apostles by that time were scattered over the world, but by divine power they were all brought to the bed of the dying Virgin. In three days she died and was met in heaven by Jesus, angels and saints, martyrs and virgins.