Matthew 2:1 (WEB)
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
Catechism · 2
"Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary"
- §486Paragraph 2 · "Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary"Read at vatican.va
“The Father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is "Christ", that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit, from the beginning of his human existence, though the manifestation of this fact takes place only progressively: to the shepherds, to the magi, to John the Baptist, to the disciples.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Mt 1:20; 2:1-12; Lk 1:35; 2:8-20; Jn 1:3 1-34; 2:11.
The Mysteries of Christ's Life
“The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Saviour of the world. the great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East, together with his baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee.” — Catechism footnote: Mt 2:1; cf. LH, Epiphany, Evening Prayer II, Antiphon at the Canticle of Mary.
Fathers and councils · 53
Tertullian
“Let those Eastern magi be believed, dowering with gold and incense the infancy of Christ as a king; and the infant has received “the power of Damascus” without battle and arms.” — editor's note: See Matt. ii. 1–12.
Read the whole comment“Let the shepherds take better care of their flock, and let the wise men spare their legs so long a journey; let them keep their gold to themselves.” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1.
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Augustine of Hippo
“Thus, too, Herod, who himself also was a king, is [said there to be] afraid of the royal child, and to put so many little children to death in order to make sure that the one might be slain.” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1–18.
Read the whole comment“Now, when Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled.” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1–3.
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John Chrysostom
“Matt. II. 1, 2.” — the author cites it
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Leo the Great
“Although I know, dearly-beloved, that you are fully aware of the purpose of to-day’s festival, and that the words of the Gospel have according to use unfolded it to you, yet that nothing may be omitted on our part, I shall venture to say on the subject what the Lord has put in my…” — editor's note: Secundum consuetudinem evangelicus sermo reseraverit. The Roman Gospel for the day was apparently then, as now with us, S. Matt. ii. 1–12: but the…
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Hippolytus of Rome
“And the Magi (afford similar testimony) when they gaze wistfully upon the (Saviour’s) star.” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1, 2.
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Cyprian of Carthage
“For we have seen His star in the east, and we have come with gifts to worship Him.”” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1, 2.
Read the whole comment“Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.”” — editor's note: Matt. ii. 1, 2.
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
After the miraculous Virgin-birth, a God-man having by Divine power proceeded from a virgin womb; in the obscure shelter of such a cradle, a narrow stall, wherein lay Infinite Majesty in a body more narrow, a God was…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
In the beginning of this passage of the Gospel he puts three several things; the person, “When Jesus was born,” the place, “in Bethlehem of Judaea,” and the time, “in the days of Herod the king.” These three…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
We think the Evangelist first wrote, as we read in the Hebrew, ‘Judah,’ not ‘Judaea.’ For in what other country is there a Bethlehem, that this needs to be distinguished as in ‘Judaea?’ But ‘Judah’ is written,…
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
There are two Bethlehems; [Josh 19:15] one in the tribe of Zabulon, the other in the tribe of Judah, which was before called Ephrata.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Concerning the place, Bethlehem, Matthew and Luke agree; but the cause and manner of their being there, Luke relates, Matthew omits. Luke again omits the account of the Magi, which Matthew gives.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Let us see to what serves this designation of time, “In the days of Herod the king.” It shews the fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy, wherein he spake that Christ should be born after seventy weeks of years. For from…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
Otherwise, he mentions the foreign king to shew the fulfilment of the prophecy. “The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” [Gen 49:10]
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Matthew
It is said, that some Idumaean robbers coming to Ascalon, brought with them among other prisoners Antipater. [ed. note: The same account of Herod’s parentage is given by Africanus, Euseb. Hist. i. 7. but Josephus…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
“Herod the king,” mentioning his dignity, because there was another Herod who put John to death.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
“When He was born . . . behold wise men,” that is, immediately on His birth, shewing that a great God existed in a little one of man.
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Magi are men who enquire into the nature of things philosophically, but common speech uses Magi for wizards. In their own country, however, they are held in other repute, being the philosophers of the Chaldaeans,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
What were these Magi but the first fruits of the Gentiles? Israelitish shepherds, gentile Magians, one from far, the other from near, hastened to the one Corner-stone.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Jesus then was manifested neither to the learned nor the righteous; for ignorance belonged to the shepherds, impiety to the idolatrous Magi. Yet does that Corner-stone attract them both to Itself, seeing He came to…
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
These Magi were kings, and though their gifts were three, it is not to be thence inferred that themselves were only three in number, but in them was prefigured the coming to the faith of the nations sprung from the…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
It should be known that opinions vary respecting the Magi. Some say they were Chaldaeans, who are known to have worshipped a star as God; thus their fictitious Deity shewed them the way to the true God. Others think…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
They knew that such a star would rise by the prophecy of Balaam, whose successors they were. But whether they were Chaldaeans, or Persians, or came from the utmost ends of the earth, how in so short a space of time…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
Some used to answer, ‘No marvel if that boy who was then born could draw them so speedily, though it were from the ends of the earth.’
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, they had dromedaries and Arabian horses, whose great swiftness brought them to Bethlehem in thirteen days.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, they had set out two years before the Saviour’s birth, and though they travelled all that time, neither meat nor drink failed in their scrips.
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, if they were the descendants of Balaam, their kings are not far distant from the land of promise, and might easily come to Jerusalem in that so short time. But why does he write “From the East?” Because surely…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Or, whence the day springs, thence came the first-fruits of the faith; for faith is the light of the soul. Therefore they came from the East, but to Jerusalem.
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
Yet was not the Lord born there; thus they knew the time but not the place of His birth. Jerusalem being the royal city, they believed that such a child could not be born in any other. Or it was to fulfil that…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Many kings of Judaea had been born and died before, yet had Magi ever sought out any of them for adoration? No, for they had not been taught that any of these spoke from heaven. To no ordinary King of Judaea had…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
It should be known that the Priscillianists, heretics who believe every man to be born under the aspect of some planet. cite this text in support of their error; the new star which appeared at the Lord’s birth they…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
And, according to Faustus this introduction of the account of the star would lead us rather to call this part of the history, ‘The Nativity,’ than ‘The Gospel.’
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
But far be it from the hearts of the faithful to call any thing, ‘fate.’
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
For by the word, ‘fate,’ in common acceptation, is meant the disposition of the stars at the moment of a person’s birth or conception; to which some assign a power independent of the will of God. These must be kept…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
If then any should become an adulterer or homicide through means of the planets, how great is the evil and wickedness of those stars, or rather of Him who made them? For as God knows things to come, and what evils…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
How vain moreover is prayer for those who live by fate; Divine Providence is banished from the world together with piety, and man is made the mere instrument of the sidereal motions. For these they say move to…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
It cannot be said to be utterly absurd to suppose that sidereal afflatus should influence the state of the body, when we see that it is by the approach and departure of the sun that the seasons of the year are…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
But if we will not subject the nativity of any man to the influence of the stars, in order that we may vindicate the freedom of the will from any chain of necessity; how much less must we suppose sidereal influences…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
The object of astrology is not to learn from the stars the fact of one’s birth; but from the hour of their nativity to forecast the fate of those that are born. But these men knew not the time of the nativity to have…
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
‘His star,’ i.e. the star He created for a witness of Himself.
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
To the Shepherds, Angels, and the Magians, a star points out Christ; to both speaks the tongue of Heaven, since the tongue of the Prophets was mute. The Angels dwell in the heavens, the stars adorn it, to both…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
To the Jews who used their reason, a rational creature, i.e. an Angel, ought to preach. But the Gentiles who knew not to use their reason are brought to the knowledge of the Lord, not by words, but by signs; to the…
Read the whole comment - Leo the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
Christ Himself, the expectation of the nations, that innumerable posterity once promised to the most blessed patriarch Abraham, but to be born not after the flesh, but by the Spirit, therefore likened to the stars…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
This was manifestly not one of the common stars of Heaven. First, because none of the stars moves in this way, from east to south, and such is the situation of Palestine with respect to Persia. Secondly, from the…
Read the whole comment - Remigius of AuxerreCatena Aurea on Matthew
Some affirm this star to have been the Holy Spirit; He who descended on the baptized Lord as a dove, appearing to the Magi as a star. Others say it was an Angel, the same who appeared to the shepherds.
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
“In the east.” It seems doubtful whether this refers to the place of the star, or of those that saw it; it might have risen in the east, and gone before them to Jerusalem.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Will you ask, from whom had they learned that such an appearance as a star was to signify the birth of Christ? I answer from Angels, by the warning of some revelation. Do you ask, was it from good or ill Angels?…
Read the whole comment - Leo the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
Besides that star thus seen with the bodily eye, a yet brighter ray of truth pierced their hearts; they were enlightened by the illumination of the true faith.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
They might think that a king of Judaea was born, since the birth of temporal princes is sometimes attended by a star. These Chaldean Magi inspected the stars, not with malevolence, but with the true desire of…
Read the whole comment - Leo the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
What they knew and believed might have been sufficient for themselves, that they needed not to seek to see with the bodily eye, what they saw so clearly with the spiritual. But their earnestness and perseverance to…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Were they then ignorant that Herod reigned in Jerusalem? Or that it is a capital treason to proclaim another King while one yet lives? But while they thought on the King to come, they feared not the king that was;…
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Cross-references · 15
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VII.15.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VII.15.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VII.15.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VII.15.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VII.15.
Cited together in Catechism §528.
Cited together in Rabanus Maurus on Matthew 2:1–2 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Catechism §528 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Catechism §528.
Cited together in Catechism §528.
Cited together in Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 2:1–2 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Ambrose of Milan on Matthew 2:1–2 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 2:1–2 (8) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews II.13.
Cited together in Remigius of Auxerre on Matthew 2:1–2 (4) (Catena Aurea).