Few verses of the Bible have echoed as widely through art and devotion as the one in which the Gospel of Matthew describes the Magi who, entering the house, saw the child with Mary his mother, bowed down, opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Two of these three gifts are aromatic substances, and all three have become symbols.
What the text says
The story is found in the second chapter of Matthew and is surprisingly restrained. The Magi come "from the east", follow a star, stop in Jerusalem at the court of King Herod and then reach Bethlehem. The text does not say how many there were, does not call them kings and does not give their names.
The number three became established in tradition precisely because of the gifts: three offerings suggested three givers. In the ancient world the term magoi referred to Persian priests and sages, and more generally to experts in the stars and in hidden wisdom.
Why these gifts
Gold, frankincense and myrrh were among the most precious goods of the ancient world, and two of them came from southern Arabia. The Hebrew Scriptures already contain texts that prepare the image:
- the prophet Isaiah announces that from Sheba they will come bearing gold and incense;
- Psalm 72 describes kings of distant lands, Sheba among them, bringing gifts and tribute to the righteous king.
These passages explain why the Christian tradition soon turned the Magi into kings: reading Matthew, Isaiah and the Psalm together, interpreters saw in them the fulfilment of prophecy.
The reading of the Fathers
From the earliest centuries Christian writers interpreted the three gifts as a statement about the nature of Jesus. Irenaeus of Lyon in the second century and Origen in the third proposed a reading that would become classic:
| Gift | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Gold | Homage to the king |
| Frankincense | Worship of God |
| Myrrh | Recognition of the mortal man, destined for burial |
Frankincense, then, is the gift reserved for divinity, because in the ancient world it was burned before the gods. Myrrh, used in preparing the dead, anticipates the Passion, and indeed it returns in the account of the burial in the Gospel of John.
Other authors proposed moral readings: gold as wisdom or charity, frankincense as prayer, myrrh as mortification and self-mastery. These interpretations do not exclude one another; they build up in layers.
From Magi to Three Kings
Over the centuries the Magi received names, ages and places of origin. In the sixth-century mosaics of the basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, the three figures appear with the names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, dressed in Eastern clothing and Phrygian caps. Later the tradition linked them to the three ages of life and to the three continents then known.
The relics of Cologne
The supposed relics of the Magi had an eventful history. Kept in Milan, in 1164 they were moved to Cologne by Archbishop Rainald of Dassel, chancellor to Frederick Barbarossa, after the conquest of the Lombard city. In Cologne they were kept in a great golden reliquary, the Shrine of the Three Kings, and became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe. The city's Gothic cathedral was built partly to house them worthily.
The symbolic meaning for the seeker
For those approaching the symbols of tradition, the story of the Magi offers a powerful figure: the seeker who reads the signs of the sky, sets out on a journey, crosses foreign lands and in the end offers what is most precious. From this perspective the three gifts can represent three dimensions of the person, offered together:
- gold, what we possess and the value we recognise;
- frankincense, the aspiration upwards and prayer;
- myrrh, the acceptance of limits and of transformation.
Burning frankincense and myrrh together on the day of Epiphany, as is done in some household traditions, can become a way to remember this story and meditate on its meaning.
In short
- Matthew's Gospel speaks of Magi from the east, without giving their number or calling them kings.
- The number three derives from the three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
- Irenaeus and Origen read them as homage to the king, worship of God and announcement of death.
- Isaiah and Psalm 72 helped turn the Magi into kings from distant lands.
- The supposed relics, taken from Milan to Cologne in 1164, became a pilgrimage destination.
