It was called the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.
The 19th-century book The Life and Glories of St. Joseph offers a brief history of this feast.
The next important addition to the public honor of our saint is the Proper Office for the feasts of the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, accorded first to various religious orders, dioceses and provinces and ultimately extended to the whole Church. Gerson, who had been very urgent for the establishment of this feast, composed an office for it, which seems to have been only partially used. Permission however after his time was granted by Paul III to the Franciscans and also subsequently to other religious orders to celebrate the feast using the Office of the Nativity but substituting the word Espousals for Nativity. They kept it on various days…Benedict XIII conceded this office to the States of the Church and to the kingdoms which had solicited it, fixing its celebration universally for the 23rd of January.
It was a feast that fell into disuse over the years and was eventually eliminated in 1961 with the formulation of the new liturgical calendar.
However, Oblates of St. Joseph made a request to continue celebrating the feast.
In 1989 the feast of The Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph, was reintroduced into the proper calendar of the Oblates of St. Joseph, with its proper texts for Mass and for the Liturgy of the Hours.
Recently Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno issued a letter stating that he would celebrate a Mass on “Friday, January 29” as the “Feast of the Holy Spouses” in his local diocese.
It was called the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.
The 19th-century book The Life and Glories of St. Joseph offers a brief history of this feast.
The next important addition to the public honor of our saint is the Proper Office for the feasts of the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, accorded first to various religious orders, dioceses and provinces and ultimately extended to the whole Church. Gerson, who had been very urgent for the establishment of this feast, composed an office for it, which seems to have been only partially used. Permission however after his time was granted by Paul III to the Franciscans and also subsequently to other religious orders to celebrate the feast using the Office of the Nativity but substituting the word Espousals for Nativity. They kept it on various days…Benedict XIII conceded this office to the States of the Church and to the kingdoms which had solicited it, fixing its celebration universally for the 23rd of January.
It was a feast that fell into disuse over the years and was eventually eliminated in 1961 with the formulation of the new liturgical calendar.
However, Oblates of St. Joseph made a request to continue celebrating the feast.
In 1989 the feast of The Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph, was reintroduced into the proper calendar of the Oblates of St. Joseph, with its proper texts for Mass and for the Liturgy of the Hours.
Recently Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno issued a letter stating that he would celebrate a Mass on “Friday, January 29” as the “Feast of the Holy Spouses” in his local diocese.
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