A widow who saved her only son from execution by hanging when she prayed to the Virgin Mary

Summary of the first translation

A poor widow committed her one and only son to Mary’s service in exchange for his protection. When her son grew up, he became involved with a band of robbers. The people eventually arrested the robbers and sentenced them to crucifixion. When the widow learned of her son’s fate, she prayed to Mary, demanding that she uphold her side the bargain and protect her son. Soon, a great clamor arose in the church, and the woman’s son suddenly appeared there wearing a crown. He explained that a woman had come to him just as the executioners prepared to nail him to a tree. Miraculously, their nails refused to puncture his skin. Then the woman helped him down and told him to find his mother in the church.

First Translation

Translated by Jeremy Brown with Ekaterina Pukhovaia from H-Berlin (BS) 42, f. 36v, in 2024.

A miracle performed by Mary, the Mother of God. May her prayers and her blessings be with us, amen.

A poor widow had only one son. That widow would enter the church and stand in front of the icon of Mary. She would say, “Our dear Lady, I have only this son. Now I am dedicating him to you; protect him.”

She would pray like this every day whenever she entered the church.

Later, her son grew up. He grew into a young man. He went to the robbers and joined up with them without his widow-mother knowing.

After a while, the people arrested the robbers. That young man was seized with them. The official commanded them all to be crucified.

[At the time,] that woman still did not know what had happened to her son. She stood in the holy church pleading on behalf of her son, as she usually did.

Another person who entered church heard her. He said to her, “Don’t you know what has happened to your son?”

She said to him, “No.”

He told her, “The official has arrested your son with his fellow robbers, and now they are crucifying him.”

When the woman heard this, she screamed loudly and wept bitterly. She lifted her eyes to [the icon of] Our Lady Mary. She said to her, “Look, they have arrested my son—the one I dedicated to you and asked you to protect—with the other robbers. If you were able to protect him, he would not have joined with the robbers. Now, if you do not rescue my son, I will take your son from your lap in his place.”

While the woman was walking toward [the icon of] Our Lady Mary, there was a great clamor. Many people were standing at the doors of the church. When the widow heard her son, she turned and saw him standing with a crown in the church. She ran and hugged him.

The people gathered [and] asked him, “How are you? What happened to you? How were you saved?”

He told the people, “When they set out to crucify me, they began to hang me and to nail my body to the tree. Then I saw a woman. She came to me. The nails were unable to touch my flesh. After this, the woman lowered me from the tree. They caught me [again]. She said to me, ‘Go to the church to your mother. Look, she wants to take my son from me in your place.’”

When the gathered people heard this, they shouted loudly and praised Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Virgin Mother, the Mother of Mercy.

As for that woman and her son, they continued to serve until their dying day in the church of Mary, the Rescuer of all who place their hope in her.

May God have mercy on us through her prayer. Amen.

To cite this first translation

Jeremy Brown with Ekaterina Pukhovaia. 2024. "ID 152: A widow who saved her only son from execution by hanging when she prayed to the Virgin Mary." From H-Berlin (BS) 42, f. 36v. Täˀammərä Maryam (Miracle of Mary) Stories, edited by Wendy Laura Belcher, Jeremy Brown, Mehari Worku, and Dawit Muluneh. Princeton: Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Miracles of Mary project. https://pemm.princeton.edu/stories/152.