Saint John, Son of Mary (VII)

When the persecution ended, the Apostles made their way back to Jerusalem in 41 A.D., but John's brother James, the other son of Zebedee, was taken by surprise and decapitated by Herod Agrippa. He was the first Apostle to give his life for the Christian faith, and it surely must have made a deep impression on John, to whom Jesus promised "you shall drink my cup."

The Apostles eventually joined up again in 48 A.D., and then around the year 49, this time with Paul for the so-called Council of Jerusalem (or Apostolic Conference), the first known meeting of the new community's leaders. The purpose of the meetings was to resolve the disagreement about circumcision and the Gospel was reviewed and verified. It was probably at this time that the Blessed Virgin Mary, with John, transmitted the events of Jesus' childhood, the Parables and the Passion narrative, before joining her Son Jesus in Heaven by her Assumption some time later.

Pope John Paul II explained that "the first Christian communities gathered Mary's recollections together about Our Lord's mysterious conception and birth. In particular, the Annunciation responds to the disciples' desire to have the deepest knowledge of the events connected with the beginning of the Risen Christ's earthly life.

In actual fact, Mary was at the origin of the revelation of the virginal conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. This truth, included among the key affirmations of their faith showing Jesus' divine origin, was immediately grasped by the first Christians for its great significance."