13 I - THE SIGN OF THE STAR and child. This sign enables us to identify the scene: The star is the one that guided the Magi from the East to the newborn Jesus, according to the Gospel of Matthew, and the young woman is Mary, his Mother. What about the figure standing beside them? He holds in his left hand one of those scrolls on which biblical texts were written back then: He is a prophet, one of those who prepared the Jewish people for the coming of Christ. Most commentators agree in identifying him as ( Prophet with star and Virgin with Child, fresco in the Catacomb of Priscilla, in Rome, first half of the 3rd century) On the left, the prophet points out with his finger the almost indiscernible star-flower. On the right, the Infant turns away from his Mother’s breast to look at us. Above them are the branches and fruits of a tree of life.
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