The Divine Childhood 

Sacred Scripture indicates that the Holy Innocents were taken from a larger area, not only from Bethlehem and 

the adjacent towns. 

The Holy Family in Egypt 

    According to Blessed Anne Catherine, the Holy Family arrived in Egypt after a journey of about 20 days.

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Since they departed Nazareth on the evening of February 29 of 13 

B.C.

, they probably arrived in Egypt on 

Friday, March 20. They traveled into Egypt and a few days later settled in Heliopolis.

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 This town was located 

a little to the east of the present day city of Cairo, Egypt. Heliopolis is also called  On.  It was located about 

15 miles north of the city of Memphis, on the eastern side of the Nile river, at the southern tip of the Nile Delta 

(a fertile region).

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     After staying in Heliopolis for a year and a half, until Jesus was about two years old, the Holy Family left 

the city because of lack of work and various persecutions. 

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 The Holy Family arrived in Egypt in March of 

13 

B.C.

, when Jesus was about 16 months old. Heliopolis was the first town they settled in. So, if the Holy 

Family remained there for about a year and a half, then Jesus would have been about 34 months old, when 

they moved to another town. Blessed Anne Catherine says that Jesus was 2 years old when the Holy Family 

left Heliopolis, but He must have been nearly 3 years old. 

    The Holy Family moved from Heliopolis to a nearby town which is called Matarea.

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 This move likely 

occurred in late autumn of 12 

B.C.

, which is about a year and a half after they arrived in Egypt. They lived in 

Matarea for several years.

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 During the time that the Holy Family lived in Matarea, Jesus was told by an angel 

about the death of Herod. Blessed Anne Catherine says:  I am not sure whether it was in His fifth or seventh 

year. 

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 (The conclusion that Herod died during Jesus' seventh year, between His sixth and seventh Birthdays, 

when He was just over six years old, is explained in chapter 12, and also below in the section on the Return 

from Egypt.) 

The Childhood of John the Baptist 

     I was shown how Elisabeth, warned by the angel, once more fled into the desert with the little John to 

escape the Massacre of the Innocents. 

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     When she went home, an Essene from the community on Mount Horeb came to the boy in the wilderness, 

brought him food, and gave him all the help he needed .but in a short time John no longer needed help, for 

he was soon more at home in the wilderness than among men. It was ordained by God that he should grow up 

in the wilderness without contact with mankind and innocent of their sins. Like Jesus, he never went to 

school; the Holy Ghost taught him in the wilderness. 

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    John was staying in the wilderness in southern Israel, between Hebron and the Dead Sea.

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 The Essene 

who lived on Mount Horeb visited him  as first every eight days. 

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 The Essenes lived a very simple and poor 

life, so the Essene who visited John most likely traveled by walking. Mount Horeb would then be only a day 

or two's walk from southern Israel. If it were three or four day's walk from Mount Horeb to the place in Israel 

where John was staying, then it would be 6 to 8 days round trip. The Essene would not have spent three or 

four days in travel from where John was to his home, only to have to turn around again within a day or so to 

travel for another three or four days to visit John again. 

    Also, the  eight days  probably refers to the length of time from one day of the week to the same day of the 

following week. For example the time from one Saturday to the next Saturday is counted as 8 days inclusive. 

Inclusive counting was commonly used among the Jewish people. So the Essene likely visited John on the 

same day of the week each time. 

    Would the Essene have celebrated the Sabbath with John or with His community? Most likely with His 

community. He may have had religious obligations within his community. The Essenes lived a very strict and 

devout life, in seclusion even from most other Jews. But in any case, he would not have spent the Sabbath 

traveling to or from visiting the child John. Perhaps he traveled after the Sabbath on Sunday and Monday, and 

before the Sabbath on Thursday and Friday, visiting John about mid week. 

    So, according to the words of Blessed Anne Catherine, Mount Horeb, where Moses saw the burning bush 

and received the Ten Commandments, must be located within a day or two's walk from southern Israel. But 

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