Advent Calendar 2021

The Flight into Egypt, from the 12th-century Infancy of Christ window of the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, France. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA, 03.SG.114. To view a zoomable version on Google Arts & Culture, **click on the image**.

22. Flight into Egypt

Three consecutive verses in the Gospel of Matthew (2:13–15) are the only biblical source for the story of the Flight into Egypt. According to Matthew, after the visit of the Wise Men, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him’” (2:13). Although the Bible provides very little information about this episode in the Nativity narrative, it is frequently depicted in art. Usually Mary is shown riding a donkey with Jesus on her lap, accompanied by Joseph and sometimes a servant.

Glencairn’s medieval stained-glass example of the Flight into Egypt formed part of the Infancy of Christ window at the Abbey Church at Saint-Denis. It illustrates an incident in the story not included in the canonical Christian gospels in the Bible. According to the early Christian apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, on the third day of the journey Mary became fatigued by the desert heat, and the Holy Family took refuge under the shade of a date palm. When Mary expressed a wish for some of the tree’s fruit, the Christ Child commanded the palm, saying, “O tree, bend your branches, and refresh my mother with your fruit.” Immediately the tree obeyed and they gathered its fruit (chapters 20–21).

Visit us at Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar.