Meet The Holy Family
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Meet the Holy Family
The Holy Family is made up of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph and generally recalls the “Hidden Years of Jesus”; that is, the years of Jesus’s life before he was baptized by John the Baptist and began his public ministry. Scripture relates to us only a few things about Jesus’s life during that time including his circumcision (Lk 2:21), his presentation in the Temple by Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:22-40), the flight into Egypt and return to Nazareth (Matt 2:13-23) and the Finding in the Temple (Lk 2:41-52).
The first depictions of the Holy Family in art began at the close of the fifteenth century. During that time artists began to depict Jesus, Mary, and Joseph not only in the scripture passages noted above but also engaged in daily activities including working, cooking, playing, traveling, and praying. The Holy Family thus became a model and a source of inspiration for ordinary family life.
Official devotion to the Holy Family began in the 17th century by St. Francis de Laval who founded a Society of the Holy Family in Quebec and promoted the Holy Family as a model for all Christian families, a position which was later confirmed by both Pope Leo XIII and Pope Benedict XV.
Devotion to the Holy Family highlights the virtues of family life or, what St. Francis de Sales, called the “Little Virtues.” These virtues are patience, gentleness, humility, simplicity, tenderness toward our neighbor, chastity, obedience, temperance, honesty, and integrity and they are called ‘little’ because with a little effort, we all can practice them every day. In the Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves but little ones are frequent.” When we, in our families, practice the Little Virtues, we are following the example of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
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