NAZARETH
City of Galilee where Jesus lived in hidden life with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. The name is variously written and interpreted. Ναζαρεθ or Ναζαρετ, corresponding to the Syriac Nāṣrat and the Hebrew Nasreth, seems to mean “watchtower, guard.” St. Jerome derives it from נֵצֶר (nēser) meaning “flower, shoot.” The form Ναζαρε (Lk 4:15; Mt 4:13) appears to be a Hellenization of Ναζωραῖος, the name given to Christians, not without contempt. In the time of Our Lord the city was of no importance (Jn 1:46), but it later gained significance because of the events of Jesus’ life (Mt 4:13; Lk 1:26; 2:4-39, 51; 4:16) and because of the title “prophet of Nazareth” applied to Him (Mt 21:11; Acts 10:38). In the 2nd century A.D. the city was inhabited by Jews, among whom Count Joseph of Tiberias built a church for Christians. The Jews remained at least until the 6th century despite Christianization.
In 634 Nazareth was occupied by the Arabs, who a century later made life very difficult for Christians. In the 12th century the Crusaders raised Nazareth to the rank of a bishopric, transferring it from Bejsān, but when the city fell again into Muslim hands it suffered greatly, especially under the fierce Baibars in 1263. In 1291 the translation of the Holy House of Loreto from Nazareth is placed (v.). In 1390 the Franciscans were able to open a convent there, but it had a short life because of Arab harassment; they returned to Nazareth definitively in 1620. In modern times many other religious communities have settled in Nazareth, forming an active center of Christian life. In 1948 it was occupied by Jewish forces, which still hold it today. The inhabitants, because of the war, number about 19,000, including residents and refugees, the majority of whom are Christian.
The position of ancient Nazareth must be placed, contrary to the opinion of Kopp, on the hill where the sanctuaries of the Annunciation and St. Joseph are built, with the Franciscan convent, which still forms the center of Nazareth today. This is supported by the many Roman-era tombs found on the rocky hillside around it, including a fine one with a circular stone at the entrance on the property of the Dames of Nazareth, as well as by the remains of silos, cisterns, and other antiquities discovered there, and finally by the tradition attested in literary sources.
The principal monuments of Nazareth are: 1) the sanctuary of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), which the anonymous Piacenza pilgrim (v.) in 570 says is “domus s. Mariae basilica est.” Excavations carried out in 1899 and 1909 uncovered a Byzantine pavement near the sacred grotto, traditionally held to be the house of Mary; also remains of a large three-aisled church built by the Crusaders, in which the grotto remained in the north aisle. Above these the present church was rebuilt in 1730 so that the grotto remained beneath the high altar. 2) The sanctuary of the Nurture or house of St. Joseph, rebuilt in 1914 on the Crusader plan. Inside are remains of an oil press with a mosaic pavement and a two-story grotto. It is believed to be identifiable with the church “super duos fundata cancros” mentioned by Arculf (v.) in 670. 3) The church of St. Gabriel, rebuilt in the 17th century on what appears to be a Crusader foundation; it is connected with the story of the apparition at the spring narrated by the Protoevangelium of James (I, 1). 4) Later the spring was diverted farther south and is now in a rudimentary building near the road leading to Tiberias. 5) The Precipice (Lk 4:30), indicated by the Commemoratorium de casis Dei of 808 as a mile from Nazareth and precisely at the present Gebel Qafzeh, where remains of an apse can be seen. 6) The Tremor, a sanctuary connected with the previous one and dedicated to the Virgin, whose existence is attested by the Poggibonsi in 1347. 7) The synagogue, now the Melkite church, built, it seems, on the site of the ancient one mentioned in the apocryphal writings.
NAZARETH - Rescript said to be of Nazareth on the • Violatio sepulchri •
(From Fliche-Martin-Frutaz, I, pl. 2)
(From Fliche-Martin-Frutaz I, pl. 2)
Greek inscription with the title Διάταγμα Καίσαρος, carved on stone (0.60 x 0.375 m), sent from Nazareth to Paris in 1878, preserved since 1925 in the Froehner collection at the Musée des Médailles, interpreted and published in 1930 by F. Cumont.
The imperial edict concerns the violation of tombs and prescribes that all tombs remain intact and that no one dare disturb, exhume, or remove “by wicked deceit” corpses or inscriptions. It concludes: “to no one, absolutely, shall it be permitted to transfer remains, otherwise I decree that he shall be condemned to capital punishment.”
F. Cumont suggested the hypothesis that the Edict was the response to the report sent by Pilate on the trial of Jesus and the disappearance of the body, which, according to the calumny spread by the Sanhedrin, was said to have been stolen by the disciples (Mt 28:11-15). The procurator of Judea, having received the order, would have had it transcribed in Greek and displayed in Nazareth, the native city of Jesus. Against Cumont’s explanation the following objections have been raised: there is no positive proof of an official report from Pilate to Tiberius on the trial of Jesus; the name “Caesar” in the inscription could refer to Augustus, Tiberius, or Gaius (Caligula); the occasion for the decree may have been, more than a specific case, the general practice of tomb violation; the provenance from Nazareth does not ensure its first destination; the Greek language suggests a Hellenistic city.
Although the form of the inscribed letters could date to the 1st century, the inscription itself offers no positive elements for a secure dating.