Who received at the initial outpouring of holy spirit on the day of Pentecost? There are several schools of thought regarding this question. While I am not sure what the Roman Catholic Church teaches about this, the Catholic pictures that I have seen depicting this event show Mary the mother of Jesus receiving holy spirit along with the twelve apostles. Pentecostals for the most part teach that "about an hundred and twenty" people mentioned in Acts 1: 15 all received and others teach that at the initial outpouring of holy spirit only the twelve apostles were present and received.
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, "which", saith He, "ye have heard of Me."
After the ascension of Jesus Christ, the apostles returned to Jerusalem in accordance with his instructions.
Acts 1: 12,13 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
While their living quarters were in the upper room, the apostles apparently spent much of their time in the Temple.
Luke 24:52,53 And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Only eleven of the apostles returned to Jerusalem since Judas, at some unspecified, time previous to this, went out and killed himself. Once in Jerusalem, the eleven were continually in the Temple (hieron , the Temple courts). The Word of God is not more specific about when or how often they were there. Were the apostles alone in their vigil? Acts 1: 14 makes it quite clear that they were not. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14).
Mary, Jesus' mother, was there. So also were Jesus' four brothers, who had not believed him during his ministry. On at least one occasion, Jesus' brothers had mocked him (John 7:1-7); on another, they had participated in an attempt to kidnap him, thinking that he was insane (Mark 3:20,21, 31-35). What changed their minds about him?
The only thing mentioned in the Word of God that could have brought about so dramatic a change in so short a time was Jesus' personal appearance after his resurrection to his brother James. This appearance is briefly mentioned in I Corinthians 15:7. No details are given, and we have no idea as to what happened. Nevertheless, its effect on James must have been great, because he and his brothers apparently did a total about-face and joined the apostles in obeying Jesus' final instructions to them.
"The women" are mentioned quite matter-of-factly, as though we are supposed to know without further explanation who these women were. In fact we should, because we were introduced to them in Luke, who, remember, also wrote Acts.
Luke 8:1-3 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
Luke 23:55,56 And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
It is these women who are referred to in Luke 24:1-9, and verse 10 specifies some of whom they were. "It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles."
It should not be at all surprising that these women, who faithfully followed Jesus from Galilee, who supported His work financially, who stood beside the cross as He died (John 19:25), whose number included the women who sought to embalm His body, and who were the first to learn of and witness to
His resurrection, would join the apostles whom they already knew well in faithfully carrying out Jesus' final instructions to them.
In Acts 1: 15-26, the meeting of the "about an hundred and twenty", which occurred during this time, was distinctly separate from the vigil of the believers in the Temple. The "about an hundred and twenty" were not the group that "continued with one accord" in the Temple, though it included those who did. Rather, this group dealt with the specific problem of choosing a successor to Judas, who had killed himself. The "about an hundred and twenty" did not all receive holy spirit at the initial outpouring on the day of Pentecost. However Matthias, who was chosen by this group to replace Judas, bringing the number of the apostles to twelve, did receive.
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Grammatically and literally, the word "they" in verse 1 does not absolutely have to refer to only Matthias and the eleven apostles. The words "all" and "with one accord" point us back to Acts 1: 14. The same people who began waiting together "with one accord [like passion]" for the promise of the Father after Jesus' ascension were all still waiting together ten days later on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When the multitude gathered together in the Temple after word spread about what had happened there, the people noted that all who were speaking were Galileans. In fact, all twelve of the apostles present, Jesus' mother and brothers and all of the women were from Galilee.
When the people began asking questions about what was going on, only Peter and the other apostles stood up to explain things to them. (By the way, in verse 13 "these men" in the KJV is in the text "they.") Why was this, if so many others were present? Should the women have stood up and answered? In that culture, it would have been considered highly improper for them to have done so. Should Jesus' brothers have spoken up? They had been following Jesus for less than six weeks. Was it not probable they would hold their peace and allow the much more experienced apostles to speak? It is also interesting to note that in Peter's quote from Joel, it says "sons and daughters" in verse 17, and ³servants and handmaidens" in verse 18.
Who received at the initial outpouring of holy spirit on the day of Pentecost? The apostles, Jesus' mother and brothers, and the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee.