The Holy Family: The Emergence of Devotion in the Church

Sr. Aine Hayde, Holy Family of Bordeaux  

Since Jesus, Mary and Joseph were present at the very dawn of the Christian era, most people would probably assume that devotion to the Holy Family would be one of the earliest devotions in the Church. In fact, however, for several centuries after the birth of Christ, the family group of Jesus, Mary and Joseph does not seem to have been directly referred to in any ecclesiastical, theological, spiritual or devotional writings. Of course, there always has been devotion to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as individuals, but not, however, as a family. 

The absence of reference to the family of Nazareth as a group was due mainly to the fact that, until around the beginning of the seventeenth century, the idea of family was much wider than the way we think of it today - father, mother and children. The word 'family' was used in the sense of 'household' and referred to all the people under the authority of the head of the house, including relatives and servants. It could also be used to mean the servants alone, and such groups as the retinue of a nobleman, or the staff of a high-ranking military officer. Thus we find a usage as late as 1641 which states, 'The family consisted of few less than five hundred,' and an even later one saying, 'The proprietor keeps a large family for its defence.' (In English, the first usage of the word with a restricted meaning given in the Oxford English Dictionary is quite late. It is a quotation from Milton, dated 1667, 'As Father of his Familie, he clad Their nakedness'). With such broad understandings of the word, it is hardly surprising that people did not think of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a family until quite late. In fact, even in the world of art, works done on the topic of the hidden life usually included others, for example St John the Baptist, St Elizabeth and Zachary or Our Lady's parents. 

The emergence of the theme of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a family group, in late sixteenth and seventeenth-century spirituality - as well as being due to the change in the meaning of the word 'family' - resulted, for the most part, from the development of an interest in and devotion to St Joseph. It was in the fifteenth century that the first treatises devoted exclusively to St Joseph began to appear and many Lives of him were written. Jean Gerson (1363-1429), the main theologian at the Council of Constance (1414-1418), proclaimed the mission and wonderful holiness of St Joseph in his letters and sermons. He regarded him as patron of families, of nobles, of workers and of the dying. He also called on his protection for the Church which was torn apart by the Great Western Schism. He spoke too of 'a mystery so profound and hidden for centuries, this trinity so worthy of wonder and veneration, Jesus, Joseph and Mary,' and he emphasized the graces which St Joseph received from constantly living with and relating to the child Jesus and his Mother. Popular preachers of the time also took up the theme of St Joseph and played an important role in spreading devotion to him. As the devotion blossomed and as the understanding of the family unit changed, people were led to broaden their reflection to include St Joseph's family life with Jesus and Mary. St Francis de Sales (1557-1662), wrote in a letter to St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) in 1610, 'Live Jesus and his most holy mother! Amen. And praise be to our good father, St Joseph.' Also, when speaking of St Joseph, Francis de Sales was led to refer to the family of which he was head as 'the Trinity on earth which in some way represents the most holy Trinity.' 

Even though St Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) used the term 'Holy Family' in reference to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as early as 1440, and would seem to have been the first to do so, the word 'family' was still not used by authors when referring to them in the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. Rather the words 'Trinity,' 'earthly Trinity' or 'created Trinity' were used. 

During the first part of the seventeenth century, growing attention was given to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and it was probably around 1630 that a devotion started to be organized, even though it was not very widespread. That year a French layman, Jerome Le Royer Dauversiere (15971659), from the diocese of Angers, consecrated himself and his family to the Holy Family. He also organized a Confraternity of the Holy Family to support his projects of the Hospitallers of St Joseph and the founding of Montreal in Canada. The seminary of St Sulpice in Paris, under the influence of Jean Jacques Olier (1608-1657) its founder, developed very early on an attachment 'to the holy Child Jesus and his family' and devotion to the Holy House of Loreto. The connection between the Holy Family and Loreto is that according to an ancient tradition, the house contained in the shrine at Loreto in the north of Italy, is the one where Our Lady lived with her parents and where the Annunciation took place. It was also popularly believed that the Holy Family lived there from the time they returned from their exile in Egypt as Anna and Joachim, Our Lady's parents, had died by then. The house is reputed to have been brought by angels (some say it was brought stone by stone by the Crusaders; others say by a family called de Angelis) from Nazareth, first to Illyrium in 1291 and then to Loreto in 1294. Olier went on pilgrimage to Loreto in 1630 and experienced both physical and spiritual healing there. Also in the first half of the seventeenth century, people began to look to Nazareth for lessons on living family life. 

The theme of Jesus, Mary and Joseph was also beginning to emerge in spiritual writings of the time. This could be seen as a natural consequence of the centrality in religious thought of the Incarnation which, of course, was the whole raison-detre of the home at Nazareth. However, writing relating specifically to the Holy Family as a group was still quite rare. This was partially due to the fact that no liturgical feast of the Holy Family had been established in the Church and preachers and writers of meditations usually followed the liturgical calendar in choosing their topics. In general, those who did refer to the Holy Family invited their readers or listeners to contemplate the exceptional situation of a family whose child was the Word incarnate; the spiritual relationships and sharing of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Holy Family as powerful intercessors. The faithful were also invited to imitate the virtues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and to share in their life of holiness in the ordinariness of their daily life at Nazareth, in their unity and in their prayer life. 

As far as papal documents are concerned, references to Jesus, Mary and Joseph began to appear in the late sixteenth century. However, they are very rare in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and have no doctrinal content. In fact, they are mainly concerned with the setting up of and reaffirming associations and confraternities dedicated to the Holy Family. 

Devotion to the Holy Family continued to develop in varying degrees throughout the world during the succeeding centuries with a liturgical feast finally being established for the universal Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1921. Then, as with many other areas of Church life, Vatican II brought about major changes in the devotional aspects of spirituality. Devotions - among them devotion to the Holy Family - declined immediately after the Council. However, in latter years, especially during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, there has been a renewed awareness of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, especially as models of the Christian family life. Devotion to the Holy Family and spiritualities based on the mystery continue to exist. Like other devotions and spiritualities, their expression has changed somewhat since the encouragement given by Vatican II to place greater emphasis on the word of God and the liturgy.