Birth of Mary Also called Genna Marias, Genealogy of Mary, and Descent of Mary. A noncanonical work mentioned by the early church father Epiphanius, who called it a forgery (Panarion 26.12.1). Not to be confused with the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of the Birth of Mary, or the Protevangelium of James. The Birth of Mary was never widely authoritative in the early church period.