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From Wikipedia
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The Woman of the Apocalypse or Woman clothed in the Sun, is a figure from
Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation (written ca. AD 95).
In this narrative the woman gives birth to a male child that is attacked by the Dragon identified as the Devil and Satan. When the child is taken to heaven, the woman flees into the wilderness leading to "War in Heaven" in which the angels cast out the Dragon. The Dragon then attacks the woman who is given wings to escape, and then the dragon proceeds to attack her with a flood of water from his mouth, which is subsequently swallowed by the earth. Frustrated, the dragon initiates war on "the remnant of her seed" identified as the righteous followers of Christ.
Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation (written ca. AD 95).
In this narrative the woman gives birth to a male child that is attacked by the Dragon identified as the Devil and Satan. When the child is taken to heaven, the woman flees into the wilderness leading to "War in Heaven" in which the angels cast out the Dragon. The Dragon then attacks the woman who is given wings to escape, and then the dragon proceeds to attack her with a flood of water from his mouth, which is subsequently swallowed by the earth. Frustrated, the dragon initiates war on "the remnant of her seed" identified as the righteous followers of Christ.
The Woman of the Apocalypse is widely identified as the Virgin Mary. This interpretation is held by the ancient Church
as well as in the medieval and modern Roman Catholic Church.
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Both Marian veneration and the interpretation of the Woman of the
Apocalypse are recorded since at least the 4th century, but the specific
veneration of Mary in this form becomes tangible only in the medieval
period. Iconographically, Marian figures associated with the Revelations
narrative are recognizable by the astronomical attributes, specifically
her standing on a crescent moon,
and the crown of twelve stars (while the description "clothed with the
sun" is sometimes rendered by rays emanating from her figure).
Association of Mary with a single star is recorded from the early
medieval period, in the hymn Ave Maris Stella.
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Many depictions of Mary from the Gothic period (14th to 16th century) show her standing on a crescent moon
inspired by the association of Mary with the woman of the Apocalypse.
The motif became so popular in 15th-century Germany that pre-existing
Madonna figures were refitted with a crescent (e.g. Madonna of Bad Doberan, c. 1300, refitted in the 15tMh century). The Virgin of Guadalupe was depicted as the Madonna of the Apocalypse since at least the 16th century.
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The Catholic Church
recognizes the 'woman' as Mary the Mother of the Christ and the Church.
The Church acknowledges what it considers an invitation in the holy
verses for the reader to ponder the mysteries between The Mother of God and the Mother of the Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
also interprets the woman to be the Church, and the man-child to be the
political kingdom that will grow out of the Church prior to or during
the Second Coming of Christ; this interpretation is made clear by Joseph Smith's translation of the
twelfth chapter of Revelation.
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