How old was the Virgin Mary when she gave birth to Jesus?

Wasn't she supposed to be around 30?

The Blessed Virgin was 14 when she gave birth to Jesus.

Beat me again Misti !!!


Her betrothal to Joseph

The apocryphal writings to which we referred in the last paragraph state that Mary remained in the Temple after her presentation in order to be educated with other Jewish children. There she enjoyed ecstatic visions and daily visits of the holy angels.

When she was fourteen, the high priest wished to send her home for marriage. Mary reminded him of her vow of virginity, and in his embarrassment the high priest consulted the Lord. Then he called all the young men of the family of David, and promised Mary in marriage to him whose rod should sprout and become the resting place of the Holy Ghost in form of a dove. It was Joseph who was privileged in this extraordinary way.

whooda thunk the bible would be so freaky!

bib,

When I have the time I'll re-ask all those bible trivia questions we did before.

If you read between the lines, it's a trip lol.

I wonder if Timothy Leary's relatives had a hand in any of that.

There I go thinking again...

I thought she was fifteen. Isn't her birthday in September 8th? She was affianced to Joseph when she was fourteen, but she was not yet pregnant. Takes 9 months.

I just copied that out of the Catholic Encyclopedia Piffka.

We did a lot of date changing in this house to make it look good.
It did say they met when she was 12 tho in one version.

how old was Virgin Mary
In the Jewish tradition young girls were betrothed between the age of 12 to 12 1/2 and were wed a year later - at 13 to 13 1/2 - leaving a potential birth 3 months shy of 14 or a birth at 14 1/2 if my math is correct. However who is to say when the immaculate conception occured. So it looks lilke she was either pre-adolescent or early teens when she was chosen. Considering Jospeh was not the father she had a lot of explaining to do

Wouldn't I love to have my daughter 'try' to do that kind of explaining...I can see the look on her face now as she's telling me the story. lol

Hello everyone.
I see that some of you are reasonably knowledgable on this question - I'm impressed!

You've mentioned 12, 13, and 14 years old as Mary's possible age at childbirth. Now let me open this question up a bit more.

How does this square up with various Christian teachings which frown upon girls marrying or having sex when they are under the age of sixteen, and with certain laws which could throw a man in jail if he had sex with a girl under the age of sixteen?

If it was OK for Mary to conceive at an under 16 age (and with God's approval) then why not any girl who is under the age of 16?

My grandma was married and had a baby at fifteen. Are you saying this is a bad thing!

I think you failed to note that it is quite unlikely Jesus was born in December. Don't most Biblical scholars believe that to be sometime in Spring?

Modern Christians would say "Well, customs were different in those times- people died a lot younger and had to start earlier."
or, "Mary was Jewish, not a Christian. She hadn't been trained in Christian morality"
or, "Twelve represented the twelve tribes of Israel"


or, "God needed a virgin. I rest my case"
or, "God is really into young chicks. What can I say?"

How old was Mary
Age of consent laws originated in Victorian England to circumvent white slavery and child prostitution. The age was changed from 12 to 13 in 1875 In 1895 Parlement passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act which raised the age of conent from 13 to 16 which strenghtened existing legislation against prostitution and proscribed all homosexual activities.

Besides, the minimum age of consent in one state isn't necessarily the same as the minimum age for marriage in another - and not just in states, but in countries as well. We may say that it's immoral for very young girls to be wed, yet it may be the law elsewhere - and often, here in the US, the minimum age requirements can be circumvented with the couple's parents' consent.

How old was Mary
Although the age of consent differs from state to state, a male can travel to a state where the age of consent is, say, 15 - have intimate relations, return to his state where the age of consent is 16 and be subject to arrest based on his state laws.

Okay, so maybe we're not talking about a virgin birth after all...

how old was mary
Who knows Mikey - maybe she was 'TAKEN".

Doesn't look like a Virgin birth to me,