The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-12-18

born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the
East " Could the Jews have convinced them they had
seen that OF which 1T was foretold by the prophet Balaam,
"A star shall advance from Jacob. " Barring a special
divine revelation, this is a possibility.
The stage was therefore set for the drama of the Magi.
TO SAY THE LEAST. it is doubtful the Magi reached
Bethlehem IL days after Our Lords birth. The dates as
signed to Christmas and Epiphany by the Church are again
not intended as historical. Caravan travel to Jerusalem
from either Persia or Arabia, took the better part of a year,
nothing did Herod order the killing of all male children
TWO years or under. Our Lord was probably over a year old
then II is also likely He was no longer in a stable.
HE REST IS WELL known, from HerodS tWOfaced
instructions to the Magi after the Sanhedrin's scriptural
identification of the Messiah's birthplace directed them to
bethlehem, to the Magis homeward journey by another
route and the frustrated HerOds slaughter of the Innocents
(which is recorded also by the fourth century pagan writer
Macrobius).
The mysterious travellers disappear from history. But
the Gospel narrative was too bald and unvarnished to suit
the STORYTELLING y Middle I%nl Ages
subsequent Christian converts (Which is possible) and even
into saints but never officially. %Unnumbered, untitled,
nameless, ageless, country-less, they became three kings
with names, ages and countries.
In the East, they were more than three, and we can
not repeat the variety of tonguetwistingn names they bore
in Armenia, Greece, Palestine or Syria. But the names wide
ly accepted in the West are Caspar Tor Gaspar), Balthassar
ana Melchior. There was one old, one middle-aged and one
THEY WERE TURNED into representatives of the sup
posed descendants of Noahs sonS-the Semites lat least
the n%on-Jewish ones. the non-Semitic White peoples and
the Negroes. Their kingdoms varied, and, today, Arabia,
EtnlOpla, Haq, Somalland, Sudan and Yemen can all claim
one of the three Wise Men as a former ruler.
In modern times, the kingdoms extended ever out
wards. In the 18th century, the author of Ben Hur made
Balthassar an Egyptian, Gaspar a Greek and Melchior an
East Indian.
1T IS INCREASINGLY common nowadays to see Kings
of three races-one black, one white, one yellow. In Massie's
Mills, Virginia, a recent Negro school play production even
altered the names to fit the Kingdoms. Gaspar became the
Ethiopian khasabah, Balthassar became the Chaldean Bel
Shazar and Melchior became the Chinese Mel Kyo.
Are these legends, ancient and modern, something to
scott at? BY no means. The legend-makers knew what they
were doing. It was higher truths they sought.
CHRISTMAS "CRIB" today Incorporates the legends.
Consider what is seen there.
There is a poor carpenters family, with a housing prob
lem. There are roughly clad shepherds kneeling next to
g~orgeously dressed astronomer-kings. There are those who
work with the body and those who work with the mind.
There are the rich and the poor, the young and the old.
There is the White and the Negro and, often now, the
Oriental. There is Jew and Gentle. There is a medley of
nations.
NO ONE THERE is envious of the other or ashamed
of what he himself is. No one feels unwanted, nor does any,
one think the other is not good enough to be near him
Side by side they are, and in their midst Is God-madelman,
who receives them all equally.
Some say humility, compassion, dedication, interTacial
and international brotherhood, love, friendship, faith, wor-
ship do not need legends. True, but the Magi folktales,
like the parallels of our Lord, make those Christian teach
ings concrete. Therein lies the glory-and the truth-of
the legend of the Wise Men.