Testament of Mary

Testamentum Mariae

Standard abbreviation: Test. Mary

Other titles: Transitus Mariae

Other designations: H1 and H2 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions

Clavis numbers: ECCA 855; CANT 176 and CANT 177

Category: Dormition Accounts

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Testament of Mary.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/testament-of-mary/.

Created September 2024.

1. SUMMARY

The story begins 47 years after the ascension. Mary is praying and Jesus (who she does not immediately recognize) appears to her with a palm branch in his hand. He gives Mary the palm branch and tells her the time has come for her to go to her eternal rest and that he will send the apostles to her. Mary worries the palm will cause anger and envy among the apostles but she says that through it great miracles will be accomplished. Jesus takes Mary to the Mount of Olives; the trees bow their tips to ground and adore the palm. She is now convinced that the man is Jesus. He asks her why she did not believe in Egypt when, as a boy, he made the palm tree bend. Jesus retells the story and then sends the palm to paradise. Then he departs and Mary returns to her home.

Once there, Mary prays and dresses in her funeral garments. She delivers a teaching to her companions about angels of righteousness and unrighteousness. Then the apostle John enters. Mary asks him to protect her as she had heard Jews murmuring that they would burn her body. She tells him to place the palm above her bed when her soul departs her body. John says he can only take the palm after discussing it with the apostles so that they don’t contend with him over it especially since Peter is greater than him.

There is an earthquake as the apostles arrive from their various preaching locations. Paul defers to Peter when Peter asks him to pray first; the apostles are happy at his humility. Paul also asks Peter to reveal mysteries to him since he never met Jesus. Peter tells him that Jesus will soon come and reveal such things himself though he does tell Paul some of Jesus’ teachings on fasting every day. Paul asks John and Andrew about the teaching and remarks that he thinks it is too severe and instead advocates less fasting for the weak.

Jesus appears with Michael and declares Paul is right. As a reward, Jesus takes Paul to heaven to reveal mysteries to him. The devil appears in the form of Judas Iscariot and objects that Paul has not fought him like the apostles did, so Jesus tells Paul he must defeat the devil in battle before he goes to heaven. Paul is concerned that his faith is too young; Jesus tells Peter to fight in his stead. With Peter victorious, they all return to the house of Mary.

Mary prays with Jesus outside and then comes in and lays down upon a bed. With the apostles and the host of heaven around her, Mary says her final words and then her soul is taken by Jesus. Led by John holding the palm, the apostles begin the journey to the tomb. A group of Jews attack the bier and are struck blind. One of their number attempts to break the palm in John’s hand and to knock the body off the bier. As a result, his hands separate from his body. Peter restores the man and tells him to take the palm and heal the other men. They reach the tomb where they are met by Jesus and angels. Jesus tells Michael to take Mary’s body to heaven.

The apostles go with Jesus to view paradise and they see there the body of Mary under the tree of life. Then they ask to see hell and are taken on a tour along with Mary and Michael. The people beseech Mary and the apostles for mercy and because of Mary’s tears, they are given three hours rest every Sunday. Mary is returned to the tree of life and the apostles to their locations (provided here in detail). The text concludes with a poem about the burial places of the apostles.

Named historical figures and characters: Adam (patriarch), Andrew (apostle), Bartholomew (apostle), devil, Herod (the Great), James (son of Zebedee), James (the Righteous), John (the Baptist), John (son of Zebedee), Joseph (of Nazareth), Judas Iscariot, Luke (evangelist), Mark (evangelist), Mary (Virgin), Matthew (apostle), Matthias (apostle), Michael (angel), Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Thaddaeus (apostle), Thomas (apostle).

Geographical locations: Achaia, Alexandria, Ammon, Armenia, Boeotia, Edinia, Egypt, Ephesus, Erendis/Erentum, hell, Hierapolis, India, Jerusalem, Lycaonia, Mesopotamia, Mount of Olives, paradise, Parthia, Phrygia, Rome, Sebaste.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Latin (abbreviation that lacks the exchange between Peter and Paul, places Paul’s journey to heaven after the burial of Mary, and shortens the tour of hell to a single sentence)

Dublin, Trinity College, 667 (F.5.3), pp. 143–144 (15th cent.)

Donahue, Charles. The Testament of Mary: The Gaelic Version of the Dormitio Mariae. Fordham University Studies. Language Series 1. New York: Fordham University Press, 1942 (pp. 67–70).

Flahive, Joseph. “Transitus Mariae (Trinity College Latin Version).” Pages 360–75 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019 (text and facing English translation; introduction, pp. 357–59).

3.1.1 Old Irish

O Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 O 48a–b (Liber Flavus Fergusiorum), fols. 48^r–50^v (ca. 1435–1440) ~ =H2/CANT 177; Codecs

Π Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud. Misc. 610, fols. 34^r–38^r (12th cent.) ~ = H1/CANT 176; CATALOG; IMAGES

Q Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, celtique et basque 1, fol. 14^v (15th cent.) ~ fragment; GALLICA

Donahue, Charles. The Testament of Mary: The Gaelic Version of the Dormitio Mariae. Fordham University Studies. Language Series 1. New York: Fordham University Press, 1942 (edition of Π, pp. 28–54).

Breatnach, Caoimhín. “Udhacht Mhuire: Introduction, Edition, Translation, and Commentary.” Pages 247–353 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019 (introduction, pp. 247–75, text and translation based on ΠQO, pp. 278–353).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Breatnach, Caoimhín. “Udhacht Mhuire: Introduction, Edition, Translation, and Commentary.” Pages 247–353 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019 (text and translation based on ΠQO, pp. 278–353).

Flahive, Joseph, and Martin McNamara. “Transitus Mariae (Trinity College Latin Version).” Pages 360–75 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019 (text and translation by Flahive, pp. 360–75).

Herbert, Máire and Martin McNamara. Irish Biblical Apocrypha. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1989 (translation of O, pp. 119–31, notes pp. 183–85).

3.3 General Works

3.3.1 Dormition Narratives

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le X^esiècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.

McNamara, Martin. “Transitus Mariae: General Introduction.” Pages 225–44 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.

Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995.

__________. Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie: Études littéraires, historiques et doctrinales. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 104. Leiden: Brill, 2011 (pp. 166–67).

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

__________. Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VI^e au X^e siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955.

3.3.2 Testament of Mary

Capelle, Bernard. “Vestiges grecs et latins d’un antique ‘Transitus’ de la Vierge.” AnBoll 67 (1949): 21–48.

James, M. R. “Irish Apocrypha.” JTS 20 (1918–1919): 9–16.

__________. “Notes on Apocrypha.” JTS 11 (1909–1910): 288–91.

McNamara, Martin. The Apocrypha in the Irish Church. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975 (pp. 122–23).

Seymour, John D. “Irish Versions of the Transitus Mariae.” JTS 23 (1921–1922): 36–43.

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (p. 33–37).

Willard, Rudolph. “The Testament of Mary: The Irish Account of the Death of the Virgin.” RTAM 9 (1937): 341–64.