Virgin Mary's House Info
St. John is believed to have travelled with the Virgin Mary to Ephesus about four to six years after the death of Christ. Preferring to live quietly, some distance from downtown Ephesus, she settled on the green slopes of the Bulbul Mountain ("Mount Nightingale") in a simple stone house characteristic for the day. The house
today is only a short drive into the countryside from the main Ephesus ruins.
Rediscovery: On October 18th, 1881, a French priest, the Abby Julien Gouyet of Paris, discovered a small stone building on a mountain overlooking the Aegean Sea and the ruins of ancient Ephesus in Turkey. He believed it was the house where the Virgin Mary had lived in the final years of her life on earth as described in the visions of the German nun Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) (who had never been to Ephesus during her lifetime) published in detail in a book by Clemens Brentano. His discovery was not taken seriously at the time but ten years later, in 1891, two Lazarist missionaries from Smyrna rediscovered the building, using the same source for a guide. It was then learned that the four-walled, roofless ruin had been venerated from time immemorial by the members of a distant mountain village who were descended from the Christians of Ephesus. They called it Panaya Kapulu ("Chapel of the Most Holy" see Panagia), believed it was there that she had died and had every year made a pilgrimage to the site on August 15th, the date on which the rest of the Christian world celebrated Mary's Assumption from Jerusalem.
Archaeology: The remnants of the discovered structure have been dated to 6th - 7th centuries, with parts of the foundation and coal found on the site dated to the 1st century. The current chapel at the site is the result of a restoration work completed in 1950 built on top of original remains, for making the site suitable for pilgrimage after it has been declared an official Catholic pilgrimage site. The restored part of the chapel is distinguished from the original remnants of the structure by a line running in between, painted in red.
Authenticity: The Roman Catholic Church has, from the blessing of the first pilgrimage by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, taken a very positive attitude towards the probability that the house was in fact the last home of the Theotokos (Mother of God). Pope Pius XII, in 1951, following the definition of the dogma of the Assumption in 1950, elevated the house to the status of a Holy Place, a privilege later made permanent by Pope John XXIII.Official visits by Popes: Pope Paul VI visited the shrine on July 26, 1967, and 'unofficially' confirmed its authenticity. Pope John Paul II also visited the shrine, on November 30, 1979. Pope Benedict XVI visited this shrine on November 29, 2006 during his four-day pastoral trip to Turkey.
The site maintains its holiness for the Muslims as well as for the Christian world. People believing in the sanctity of the Virgin Mary come here and drink from the spring running under the house which is believed to have healing properties. A liturgical ceremony is held here every year on August 15, to commemorate Virgin Mary and her passage into Heaven.
Those believing the Virgin Mary lived her last years and died in her hut near Ephesus base their theory on two main points:
- The presence of the Tomb of St. John and St. John's Basilica in Ephesus: Jesus Christ, before dying on the cross,
entrusted to St. John his mother (19:26-27). It is believed that after the crucifixion of Jesus, St. John left Jerusalem and came to Ephesus, one of the biggest and safest cities of its time (capital of the Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire), and built a small hut for Virgin Mary just outside Ephesus in order to protect her from the non-Christian community of Ephesus.
- The presence of the Church of Mary, the first basilica in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus: In the early centuries of Christianity, places of worship were dedicated only to persons who lived or died in the locality.
