Apocalypse 12:1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:
In the palace
- PatristicHow Shall the Ark of the Lord Come to Me? The Ark of the Covenant and the Mother of the Lord
- TraditionalA Throne Was Set for the King's Mother: The Queen Mother of David's House and the Queen of Heaven
- InterpretiveA Faithful Witness in Heaven: The Moon of David's Covenant and the Woman with the Moon Under Her Feet
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et signum magnum apparuit in cælo : mulier amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus ejus, et in capite ejus corona stellarum duodecim :
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Καὶ σημεῖον μέγα ὤφθη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, γυνὴ περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῆς στέφανος ἀστέρων δώδεκα,
Haydock's commentary
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. By this woman, interpreters commonly understand the Church of Christ, shining with the light of faith, under the protection of the sun of justice, Jesus Christ. The moon, the Church, hath all changeable things of this world under her feet, the affections of the faithful being raised above them all.
A woman: the Church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady[the Virgin Mary]. The Church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet; and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. (Challoner)
Under the figure of a woman and of a dragon, are represented the various attempts of Satan to undermine the Church.
On her head....twelve stars, her doctrine being delivered by the twelve apostles and their successors. (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter IV
Chapter IV. Exhortation to the Cultivation of Virginity; A Passage from the Apocalypse is Proposed to Be Examined.
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter IV
John, in the course of the Apocalypse, says: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne. …
St Victorinus of Pettau Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, From the twelfth chapter
1. “And there was seen a great sign in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried out travailing, and bearing torments that she might bring forth.”] The woman clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet, and wearing a crown of twelve stars upon her head, and travailing in her pains, is the ancient Church of fathers, and prophets, and saints, and apostles, which had the groans and torments of its longing until it saw that Christ, the fruit of its people according to the flesh long promised to it, had taken flesh out of the selfsame people. Moreover, being clothed with the sun intimates the hope of resurrection and the glory of the promise. And the moon intimates the fall of the bodies of the saints under the obligation of death, which never can fail. …