Mary, Blessed Virgin. The mother of Jesus, counted pre-eminent among the saints. She is prominent in the ‘infancy stories’ in Matthew 1–2 and especially Luke 1–2. According to both gospels, she conceived Jesus while a virgin (see VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST). She appears in the background during his career (Mark 3. 31; Luke 11. 27–8; John 2. 1–11), then at the foot of the cross (John 19. 25), and with the apostles after Easter (Acts 1. 14).

By the earliest Church fathers Mary is mentioned rarely and usually in contrast with Eve. Mariology (devotion to Mary) probably owed much of its impetus to two currents of early and medieval Christian thought: (i) the predilection for celibacy and virginity as a style of life superior to marriage; and (ii) the removal of Jesus from the human level, particularly in breaking the entail of sin (see ORIGINAL SIN). The first of these was congenial to the tradition of Mary's ‘perpetual virginity’ (i.e. even after giving birth to Jesus), which was current by the time of Athanasius, and later to the doctrine of the immaculate conception, according to which Mary was without stain of original sin from the moment of her being conceived. The second current of thought may be observed in the canonization of the title Theotokos (‘Mother of God’) for Mary at the council of Ephesus (431). She eventually became known in the W. Church as ‘co-redemptress’ and ‘mediator of all graces’, the latter title being popularized by St Alphonsus Liguori. The doctrine of her bodily assumption into heaven was first formulated in orthodox circles by Gregory of Tours (d. 594), and was defined as Catholic dogma in 1950.

At the Reformation there was a strong reaction against Marian devotion, partly owing to the rejection of the cult of saints, and partly in keeping with a more positive view of sex and of the married state. The main feasts of Mary are the Assumption (15 Aug.), Nativity (8 Sept.), Annunciation (25 Mar.), Purification (2 Feb.; Candlemas), and Visitation (2 July; in the RC Church now 31 May).

In Islam, Maryam is the mother of ʿĪsā (Jesus); the name is probably derived from Syriac-Christian usage. Sūra 19 of the Qurʾān, ‘Maryam’, relates a version of the annunciation, followed by an account of Maryam's giving birth, alone, at the foot of a date palm (19. 17–33; cf. 3. 45–51, a slightly different version of the annunciation). The ḥadīth relate that Maryam and ʿĪsā were preserved from the ‘touch of Satan’ which affects all children at birth, i.e. were free from sin; further, she is considered one of the four best women of Paradise, along with Fāṭima, Āsiyā (Pharaoh's wife), and Khadīja.