Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

For example, she thought that the length of Christ's life was to be counted from His Birth, but the vision about 

the length of Christ's life came during other visions on the Incarnation. The length of the life of Jesus Christ 

should certainly be counted from His Holy Conception, for life begins at conception. There are other examples 

of her misunderstandings which will be presented later in this book. 

    Secondly, there are a few errors introduced by Clemens Brentano, who wrote down Blessed Anne 

Catherine's visions as they were told to him. For example, in one place he concludes that Jesus was born on 

the 12th of Kislev (by the Jewish calendar).

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 In another place, he states it was the 10th of Kislev.

4

 Yet Blessed 

Anne Catherine never gives the date of the 10th or 12th of Kislev as having come from her visions. This was 

merely a conclusion drawn by Clemens Brentano. She herself says only,  I think Christ was born in the month 

Kislev. 

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    Despite the possibility of error in Blessed Anne Catherine s writings, I consider her writings to be at least as 

reliable as the writings of ancient historians, such as Josephus, Dio, Tacitus, and others. Her source for her 

assertions is her visions from God. Josephus lived in the last half of the first century and was not a direct 

witness to most of the events which he chronicled. Dio lived at an even later time (late second century 

A.D.

). 

These ancient historians were not generally eye witnesses to most of what they wrote. They based their 

histories on various sources (most of which are unknown to us today). Therefore, there could be errors in their 

source material, as well as errors in their understanding of their sources. 

    On the other hand, Blessed Anne Catherine's visions came from God, Who is Infallible. By means of her 

visions from God, Blessed Anne Catherine was in a sense a witness to these events she describes. She could 

misunderstand the information given to her by God, but her source of information is sure. Even so, this book 

looks at Blessed Anne Catherine's chronological statements with a critical eye. Her visions are subject to 

various interpretations, as are the writings of Josephus and other ancient historians. Each of her chronological 

statements is evaluated by comparison with other statements she made, with the chronological information 

given in Sacred Scripture, and with other sources.

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Ancient Historians 

    Jesus Christ was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus (Lk 2:1) and His ministry took place during the 

reign of Tiberius Caesar (Lk 3:1). But ancient historians, such as Josephus, Dio, and Tacitus, lived at a later 

time, years after Tiberius' reign had ended. They were not themselves eyewitnesses to events during the reigns 

of Augustus and Tiberius. Most of what these ancient historians wrote was based on source material which we 

do not have available to us today. Since we cannot examine the source material of these ancient historians, we 

must admit the possibility that their source material, or their conclusions based on their source material, may 

have contained some chronological errors. That such errors were sometimes present is clear from certain 

contradictions in their histories, such as the varying dates given by Josephus for the rebuilding of the Temple.

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Some errors could have been introduced by a misunderstanding on the part of the historian, but other errors 

could certainly have come from their source material. 

Generally accepted Dates 

    In sincere pursuit of the truth, we cannot merely assume that the generally accepted dates for events during 

the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius are correct. Every historian today would, I think, give 44 

B.C.

 as the year 

of Julius Caesar's death and 

A.D.

 14 as the year of Caesar Augustus' death. Yet if we build a chronology on 

the premise that the generally accepted dates for events of this time period are correct, any conclusions reached 

would be limited by such assumptions. This book does not begin with the unexamined premise that the 

generally accepted dates for events during the first century 

B.C.

 and first century 

A.D.

 are necessarily correct. 

    In recent years, some scholars have challenged some of the most widely accepted dates for historical events 

during this time period. For example, Dr. E. Jerry Vardaman makes the argument, based on archaeological 

evidence, that Pilate's reign over Judea occurred about ten years earlier than is generally believed.

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 Also, the 

dates given by various scholars specifically for the Birth and Crucifixion of Christ vary widely. There is, in 

fact, no general agreement among scholars or theologians as to the dates for various events in the life of Jesus 

Christ.  Handbook of Biblical Chronology,  by Jack Finegan, clearly illustrates this point by presenting the wide 

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