ELIZABETH. - Name of two biblical women. The etymology from the Hebrew Elíšéba is "God of the oath," "My oath is God."
1. E., wife of Aaron (v.), daughter of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, mother of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar, sister of Nahshon. The Septuagint in Ex. 6:23 and Num. 2:3 calls her 'Ελισάβεδ.
2. E. (saint), wife of Zechariah, mother of John the Baptist ('Ελισάβετ). She was of priestly stock (of the daughters of Aaron, Lk. 1:5), a relative of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it seems on her mother's side. Nicetas Callistus (Hist. Eccl., II, 3: PG 145, 760), relying on apocryphal legends, claims that the mother of the Madonna, Anne, and that of E., named Sobe, were sisters in the strict sense. The Greek Menologion (Sept. 8) also shares this idea.
St. Luke informs us that E. and her husband were "righteous, blameless" (1:6 ff.). E. was barren, and both were old, without hope of offspring. But the angel Gabriel, appearing to Zechariah, had foretold to him: "Your wife E. will bear you a son whom you shall call John" (1:13).
After conceiving him, E. hid herself for five months (it seems, in order to be more closely united to God); in the sixth she received the visit of the Virgin Mary, who had been informed by the angel of her pregnancy. In the encounter with the Virgin E. was filled with the Holy Spirit, perceived a mysterious exultation of the unborn child, greeted Mary as "blessed among women" and "mother of my Lord" (1:42 ff.). The Madonna answered her with the Magnificat (v.), which a few secondary codices attribute to E.; she remained with her for three months until the birth of the son, whom E. wished to call John. The mythical school of Strauss claimed that the story of E. was a myth modeled on the account of the wife of Aaron, E., and of Mary, his sister (Ex. 6:23; 15:20); a tendentious and arbitrary assertion.
The Latin Church celebrates the feast of E. and Zechariah on Nov. 5. V. VISITATION.
Bibliography2 works
Pietro De Ambroggi