Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/219

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was a man whose name was Joseph, sprung of a family of Bethlehem, a city of Judah, and the city of David the King. The same being well instructed in knowledge and doctrine, was made a priest in the temple of the Lord. Moreover, he understood the carpenter's trade, and like all men, married a wife. He also begat sons and daughters, that is to say, four sons and two daughters; and these are their names,—Judas, Justus, James, and Simon; the names of the two daughters were Assia and Lydia. At length the wife of Joseph the Just deceased, intent upon divine glory in all her works. Now Joseph, that just man, my father according to the flesh, and the spouse of Mary my mother, went with his sons to his calling, following the trade of a carpenter.

when Joseph the Just became a widower, Mary my mother, blessed, holy, and pure, had already accomplished twelve years. Her parents offered her in the temple at three years old, and she remained nine years in the temple of the Lord. Then, when the priests saw that the holy virgin, who feared the Lord, was grown up, they talked together, saying: Let us seek for a just and pious man to whom Mary