Jesus's siblings
Jesus's siblings
Saint James (James the Just), brother of Jesus, in an Eastern European icon ©
From the first century to the present day there has been a debate about Jesus having brothers and sisters.
According to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus had at least four brothers who survived into the time when he was an adult. In Mark's Gospel, when Jesus goes to Nazareth to speak in the Synagogue the people in the crowd say to him, "Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?". They also say, "Are not his sisters here with us?" So there are at least two sisters and possibly more.
Regularly mentioned by Paul and sometimes mentioned by other early Christian writers, was Jesus's brother James. James seems to have had a very important role in running the church from very early on in Jerusalem but it's a role that's become forgotten in later Christian tradition.
Later Christian traditions have redefined these brothers and sisters, either as cousins or as Joseph's children by an earlier marriage, in order to preserve the idea of Mary's perpetual virginity.