Miguel Augusto (*)
With the feast of the Epiphany, the Church celebrates the manifestation of Jesus to the world. “Epiphany,” of Greek origin, means “outward manifestation,” “appearance.” “For the Church which believes and prays, the Wise Men from the East who, guided by the star, made their way to the manger of Bethlehem, are only the beginning of a great procession which winds throughout history. Thus the liturgy reads the Gospel which relates the journey of the Wise Men, together with the magnificent prophetic visions of the sixtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah and Psalm 71, which depict in bold imagery the pilgrimage of the peoples to Jerusalem. The men from the East embody the world of the peoples, the Church of the Gentiles – the men and women who in every age set out on the way which leads to the Child of Bethlehem, to offer him homage as the Son of God and to bow down before him. The Church calls this feast ‘Epiphany’ – the appearance of the Godhead” (Pope emeritus Benedict XVI).
According to St Matthew’s account, the Magi first visited Herod (the Roman king of Judea) when they arrived in Jerusalem, to ask where the king who had been born could be found, for they had seen his “star appear.” Herod did not know the prophecy of the Old Testament (Micah 5:1) and asked his sages where the Messiah should be born so that he too could worship him.
Matthew presents Jesus as the light and glory of God to the people of Israel, to whom the people come in adoration, in a universalist perspective, which is also present in the thought of St Paul in the second reading of Sunday of the Epiphany of the Lord.
Guided by the star, the Magi arrived at Bethlehem, which is about ten kilometers from Jerusalem. Matthew says that once they found the child in the manger, they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). The gifts were symbolic: gold (for kings) was an offering to Jesus as king, frankincense (which burns before the gods) was a gift to Jesus as God and myrrh (used for embalming the dead) was offered to Jesus as a man, prophesying His salvific death.
Having been warned in a dream to say nothing to Herod, they returned to their lands by another road. “When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi” (Matthew 2:16).
The evangelist does not say who these Magi are or how many they were, but tradition holds that they were three and gave them the names of Melchior, Balthasar and Gaspar.
The three kings are called “Magi” not because they dedicated themselves to magic, but because they had a vast knowledge of astrology.
Besides the Gospel of St Matthew, there are apocryphal documents in the Vatican, very ancient and of great value, which relate the visit of the Magi to the Infant Jesus. There is a mosaic of the sixth century, in Italy, with the names of the three Magi.
St Augustine also commented on the adoration of the Wise Men who came from the East: “O child, to whom the stars submit! Of whom is such greatness and glory to have, before their own cloths, Angels that watch, kings that tremble and wise ones that kneel! Who is this, who is such and such? I admire looking at cloths and looking at the sky; I burn with love when I see in the crib a beggar who rules over the stars. May faith come to our rescue, because natural reason fails.”
The relics of the Magi – According to St John Chrysostom († 407), martyr and doctor of the Church, Patriarch of Constantinople, the three Magi were later baptised by the Apostle St Thomas and worked hard for the expansion of the Faith.
According to the story divulged by the website of the Cathedral of Cologne (Germany), the mother of Emperor Constantine, Saint Helena, found the relics of the Magi in the city of Sheba and transferred them to the capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, now Istanbul.
Today, the Shrine of the Magi of the East is in the Cologne Cathedral and is one of the most significant reliquaries of the Middle Ages. The ornamentation of the sanctuary includes gold and silver, filigree panels, precious stones, columns and arches. The images reflect episodes of the History of Salvation from the beginning of time to the Last Judgment.
Astronomer defends the existence of the star of Bethlehem – Astronomer Mark Thompson, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, conducted a scientific study explaining the nature of the star that led the Magi to Bethlehem, confirming the story of the Gospel of St Matthew.
On the star of Bethlehem that the Magi saw, several hypotheses were constructed: initially it was said to have been a comet, but studies of astronomy reveal that it was due to the conjunction of the planets Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces.
In this sense, the Magi may decide to travel in search of the Messiah because, in ancient astrology, Jupiter was regarded as the star of the world’s Prince; the constellation of Pisces, as the sign of the end of time; and the planet Saturn in the East, as the star of Palestine.
That is, it is presumed that the “sages of the East” understood that the Lord of the end of time would appear that year in Palestine.
Using historical records and computer simulations to map the position of stars and planets around the time Jesus was born, Thompson argues that there was an unusual astronomical event at that time.
According to him, between September of the year 3 BC and May of the year 2 AD, there were three “conjunctions” where the planet Jupiter and the star Regulus passed close to each other in the sky of the starry night. Thompson said: “Curiously in the world of ancient astrology, Jupiter is considered the king of the planets and Regulus, which is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo, is considered the queen of stars. The three Magi, he added, were regarded by some as Zoroastrian priests who were renowned astronomers at the time and when the king of the planets passed so close to the queen of the stars, and on three occasions, they must have found it to be a very significant fact interpretable as the birth of a new King.”
His theory, however, is not entirely new. It agrees with those presented by other astronomical authorities at different times. The star of Bethlehem has always intrigued philosophers, theologians and scientists. The idea that the famous star had been the result of a conjunction of stars of first magnitude had already been defended by respected authorities of astronomy.
Thompson concluded: “It is not for me to say whether the Bible is right or wrong, I am presenting the map of the facts before me.”
The star who guided the Magi of the East more than two thousand years ago is today Mary Most Holy. Let us ask God for the grace that Our Lady – heavenly light between us – leads us to meet the Lord, the true light of the world and our soul!
We take a few words by Scott Hahn, as a thought to meditate on for this coming Sunday liturgy: “As the magi adored Him in Bethlehem, let us renew our vow to serve Him, placing our gifts – our intentions and talents – on the altar in this Eucharist. We must offer to Him our very lives in thanksgiving. No lesser gift will suffice for this newborn King.”
(*) with Luiz da Rosa (academic and theologian), and Aleteia.
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