Washington, Dec. 11: According to Florentine medieval manuscripts analysed by a historian, the great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Saint Ismeria. Saint Ismeria likely served as a role model for older women during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The legend of Saint Ismeria sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary’s family and also on religious and cultural values of 14th century Florence.
“I don’t think any other woman is mentioned” as Mary’s grandmother in the Bible, Ms Catherine Lawless, the paper’s author, said. “Mary’s patrilineal lineage is the only one giv-en,” Discovery News quoted Ms Lawless as saying.
“Mary herself is mentioned very little in the Bible,” added Ms Lawless, a lecturer in history at the University of Limerick. “The huge Marian cult that has evolved over centuries has very few scriptural sources,” she said.
The legend of Saint Ismeria has been published in the current Journal of Medieval History.