The Flight into Egypt is symbolised by the second sword of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
In the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew, it is stated that an angel informs Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and the very young Jesus. The reason given is that Herod the Great (73 BC-4 BC), King of Judea (37 BC–4 BC), is killing children aged 0 to 2 years old, as the Saviour must be among them, and he feels threatened by this. Egypt then belonged to the Roman Empire, but Herod the Great had no authority over that territory. The Holy Family, consisting of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, resided in Egypt for seven years. The journey to Egypt, a journey of several hundred kilometres, was undertaken by Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Jesus together. The evangelist Luke writes that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus return from Bethlehem, via Jerusalem to Nazareth, about 5 weeks after Jesus's birth. Thus, the evangelists Matthew and Luke do not recount the same story.
The Flight into Egypt is a long journey for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus through difficult terrain, with a donkey helping them to progress. If the Holy Family stays in Egypt for as long as seven years, it is highly remarkable that the evangelists write so little about it.
After the seven-year period, Joseph wants to return with Mary and Jesus. However, he learns that the son of the murderous King Herod the Great, Herod Archelaus (c. 22 BC – c. AD 18), rules over Judea as ethnarch (governor, 4 BC – AD 6) and is just as murderous as his father. Because of this, the Holy Family decides to travel to Nazareth in Galilee.
The Flight into Egypt has been depicted by many painters, and there are also writers who report on the journey. For instance, Jacobus de Voragine (1228-1298) wrote the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) and also the Legenda Sanctorum (Lives of the Saints). Jacobus de Voragine mentions that the Holy Family stayed in Egypt for seven years. During their stay in Egypt, they visit Cairo, following Coptic custom. The Coptic Church of Abu Serga, dedicated to Bacchus and Sergius, was built in the 4th century on the spot where the house of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus once stood. The German theologian Ludolphus of Saxony (1300-1377) also describes in the Vita Christi (Life of Jesus) in 1374 how the Holy Family travelled to Egypt.
In the 14th-century “Meditationes Vitae Christi” (Meditations on the Life of Christ), dating from around 1360, it states that Joseph is visited in his sleep by an angel of God. Joseph is instructed to flee with Mary and Jesus, because Emperor Herod wants to kill all young children. Joseph wakes Mary up and tells her about his experience with the angel. She is startled, gets up, and is immediately ready to leave. This happens in the middle of the night, and then the journey to Egypt begins. Throughout the entire route of hundreds of kilometres, Mary carries her baby. The journey to Egypt is difficult because the roads are in poor condition. The difficult-to-traverse paths go through forests, open plains, and past precipices. As a result, the journey lasts about two months. It is a tough undertaking, not only because of the distance to be covered, but also due to uncomfortable overnight stays and the very limited availability of food. The members of the Holy Family go to the city of Heliopolis, rent a small house there, and live there for 7 years in poverty as refugees. Mary keeps house and provides for their upkeep by spinning wool and subsequently selling the spun wool. Jesus asks bystanders if his Mother can perform some work for them. Joseph, on commission, crafts furniture. The journey out of Egypt is a bit easier because Jesus is no longer a baby. For the return journey, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus again use a donkey. The Holy Family settles in Nazareth, where Jesus helps his Mother. The “Meditationes Vitae Christi” was translated into English somewhat later by Nicolas Love/Nicolas Luff (died c. 1424), a monk in England.
The first paintings of the Holy Family appear in the Italian city of Siena around 1350. This coincided with the appearance of the “Meditations on the Life of Christ”. Mary is depicted multiple times as a humble woman, engaged in needlework. A miniature from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves (1417-1476) shows a walker, allowing the warm little Jesus to take steps. Here too, an exemplary family is shown. The Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves from c. 1440 contains texts and is richly illustrated. It was made by an unknown artist, referred to as the “Master of Catherine of Cleves”. A Book of Hours contains written texts as well as illustrations. It is used for the devotion of private individuals, often nobles, as such an edition is very costly.
