Alma

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

A Hebrew signifying a "young woman", unmarried as well as married, and thus distinct from bethulah, "a virgin" (see Hebrew Lexicons). The interest that attaches to this word is due to the famous passage of Isaiah 7:14: "the Alma shall conceive", etc. We can only mention some of the various opinions with regard to the meaning of Alma in this verse. She is said to be

the wife of Achaz;
the prophetess mentioned in Isaiah 8:3,
any young married woman, who on account of the promised victory of Judah, could at some near date call her child Immanuel (God with us),
metaphorically, the Chosen People;
the Virgin Mother of the Messiah. This last view is the one adopted by St. Matthew 1:23, and after him by Christian tradition. (See EMMANUEL; MESSIAS.)

Sources

CONDAMIN, and other Commentaries on Isaias.

About this page

APA citation. Butin, R. (1907). Alma. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01326c.htm

MLA citation. Butin, Romain. "Alma." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01326c.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Cloistered Dominican nuns of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus, Lufkin, Texas. Dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.