Mother of Jesus in Christian Tradition
The New Testament records that Mary was a young woman of Nazareth in Galilee; the angel Gabriel brought her the good news that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear the Messiah, and she answered, "I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me as you have said." Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy hold her in especially high veneration (honoring her as "Mother of God"), with distinct doctrines and feast days; most Protestant denominations stress her rather as a "model of the obedient believer" than as an object of veneration — this difference in the degree of veneration is one of Christianity’s long-standing internal divisions, continuing to this day.
The angel Gabriel appeared and told Mary, "you will conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Jesus. He will be great, and be called the Son of the Most High." Though she did not understand — "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" — she answered in humble obedience. This "Annunciation" is among the most depicted scenes in Christian art, painted by nearly every Renaissance master.
According to the Gospel of John, when Jesus was crucified, Mary stood by the cross and watched her son suffer and die. This scene came to be called the "Pietà"; Michelangelo’s sculpture of that name depicts Mary cradling the body of Jesus, one of the most famous sculptures in the history of Western art.
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy hold higher traditions of veneration for Mary (such as the Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption), while most Protestant denominations stress rather her historical role as the mother of Jesus and do not hold to special veneration of her — a common example of denominational difference within Christianity, which this site does not adjudicate.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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