…that the house where ”the Word became flesh‘ still exists today?
Thanks to a long-standing tradition, ancient manuscripts and recent archaeological studies, we now have more information about the house of Nazareth – the place where the Blessed Virgin lived since childhood and received the announcement from the Archangel St. Gabriel – which was miraculously transported by Angels during the Muslim invasion of Palestine in 1291. The Holy House, as it came to be known, first appeared in Illyria – in the north-western region of the Balkans – and three years later in the Italian city of Loreto, which was then part of the Papal States.
The original construction consisted of three walls built in front of a small grotto, which acted as the fourth wall and storage for the house, according to the style of the time. In Loreto we find the three stone walls which, according to rigorous archaeological studies in the 1960s, bear a unity of structure with the part that remained in Nazareth, in the Church of the Annunciation.
While the house was still in Galilee, the Lord’s first disciples transformed it into a place of worship by raising its walls, and successive structures were erected to shelter the precious relic in order to protect it from deterioration. In the 14th century, in Italy, numerous artists vied for some upper part of the walls of the modest residence – of lesser historical and devotional value – on which to paint frescoes of the Virgin and Child and, in the Renaissance, a richly sculpted exterior marble screen was added. In 1922, an altar was erected on the site of the fourth wall with the inscription: “Here the Word became flesh.” ◊
…why the Evangelists are represented by four living beings?
Around four enigmatic figures, often sculpted or painted in churches, some questions often arise: What do these mysterious beings signify? What is their relationship with the authors of the Holy Gospels alongside whom they appear?
These allegorical representations have been present in Catholic iconography since the 2nd century and are based on this passage from the Book of Revelation: “And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures […]: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle” (4:6-7).
Christians saw these figures as a symbol of the Holy Evangelists. The human-looking being represents St. Matthew, who especially emphasizes the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in his account. The lion, which makes its majestic roar heard in deserted places, is attributed to St. Mark, because this animal evokes the figure of John the Baptist, the character who opens the Second Gospel crying out in the desert to announce the arrival of the Messiah. Represented by the ox or bull, St. Luke begins his account with the sacrifice of Zechariah in the Temple, in an allusion to the sacrifice of the Redeemer Himself. Finally, the eagle expresses the supreme elevation of St. John’s theological thought, which particularly proclaims Jesus’ divinity. ◊
