Holy Kinship
Holy Family is in the iconography of a fixed term for the representation of the relatives of Jesus. This is not a pedigree, as erroneously stated often. There are no relatives who have lived in succession, but almost at the same time; some anachronistic representations to St. Anne and their husbands are allowed.
The Anne cult and a sense of family in the late Middle Ages
Middle of the 15th century spread to Germany from the Anne cult. Many fraternities and Anne Anne altars were established. The Vesper picture of Anne with Two Others became very popular. The bourgeoisie was regaining strength after the first plague. The cohesion of a family was highly valued. So it is no wonder that St. Anne, the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus, as a family patron to honor high.
Moreover, in the late Middle Ages, but also a fundamental interest of society to observe in genealogical constructions. The identity was often expressed at this time by referring to kinship relationships; Noble houses, but also the bourgeois upper class were keen to explore their ancestry. Also, the general enforcement of the Church's marriage law since the 12th century encouraged this development, because here much emphasis was placed on ensuring that relatives up to the fourth degree were not allowed to marry.
Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?
In the gospels, many a time it is said that Jesus had siblings. So stands at Mt 13,55 EU: "Is not he the carpenter's son? ? Not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas "Some people in the Holy Kinship must be lashed biblical; others, including St. Anne, occur in the apocryphal writings or in the then widespread Legenda aurea. In the Catholic West and the Orthodox East was retained intact the virginity of Mary.
To address this contradiction, it came to the construction of the so-called Trinubiums of St. Anne: After the death of her first husband, Joachim, she married a second time, the Cleophas, he states that he was a brother of St. Joseph; and after his death Salomas was her third husband. From each of these marriages she had a daughter. All three called her Mary. To distinguish the second had the nickname of Cleophas, and the third Salome. This also becomes clear in an old song line: " Anna was a blessed wife, three Mary gave birth to her body."
The Family Circle
The pivotal point of this group is so Anna. Around them, the husbands, the daughters and sons and then the grandchildren will be shown: Anna, Joachim, Cleophas, Salomas, Mary, Joseph, Mary Cleophas, Alpheus, Mary Salome, Zebedee, Simon the Zealot, Judas Thaddeus, James the Less, Joseph and the sons of Zebedee, James the Elder and John. So the closest family circle comes to 17 people.
From the New Testament we know that Mary went over the mountain to greet her pregnant Base Elizabeth. Elizabeth was married to Zacharias, both are parents of John the Baptist. Even so this is a relative of the Lord.
So there are more detailed descriptions, such as in the Schedel's World Chronicle of 1493, involving the parents of St. Anne with and in four generations 26 people show, but at the two images:
Example: The Holy Family of Loxstedt
In the St. Mary's Church in Loxstedt in the district of Cuxhaven, a very well preserved representation of the Holy Kinship is. At its founding in 1371, after the so-called Kinderpest, the church was initially a chapel, subsidiary of Beverstedt. So the vault above the altar was the common practice there to be resettled representation of the Last Judgement (before 1451 ).
When the church was the parish church in 1451, it was extended to the east to a square choir. About the new altar and a representative picture now had to occur. Finally, there were the faithful throughout the worship service in mind. With the then incipient Anne cult you were here with the then prevailing taste right at the cutting.
Anna is shown here as a central figure as Anna selbdritt with Jesus and Mary on her lap. All around them, the three husbands and son Joseph. To the right, Mary Salome and Zebedee connect with her two sons, left we see Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus with their four sons. The 17 people are grouped into three groups in families that causes the group picture look very harmonious.
Specifically, the following persons are to be seen from left to right: 1.Simon Zealot, Thaddaeus 2.Judas, 3.Maria Cleophas with 4.Joseph, the righteous on the arm, 5.Alphäus the husband and father with 6.Jacobus minor; 7.Cleophas, 8.Joachim, 9-11 Annaselbdritt: Anna with Maria and Jesus on her lap, 12.Salomas 13 Joseph; 14 Zebedee, 15, his wife Maria Salome with 16.Johannes Evangelist on the arm, 17.Jacobus major.