Models for sacrament of marriage

January 23 marks a little-known feast—the Feast of the Holy Spouses—also referred to as the Feast of the Espousal of Mary and Joseph.

The feast honoring the marriage of Mary and Joseph was first celebrated in the fifteenth century. The feast gained some popularity and was celebrated across much of Europe in the 1700s and its liturgical use was allowed in the United States in the 1840s. Although many are unfamiliar with this feast as it is not on the universal liturgical calendar of the Church, it is celebrated at various shrines and holy sites dedicated to St Joseph and by certain religious communities.

While there are many feasts of Mary and Joseph as individuals, and more recently also a feast of the Holy Family, no feast honoring their marriage is part of the universal liturgical Church calendar. In 1961, a movement to simplify the universal liturgical calendar suppressed this and other particular feasts. This requires special permission requested by groups or communities wishing to commemorate it.

The Cathedral Knights of Columbus have recently received permission from Bishop Kagan to celebrate the feast day on Jan. 23. All are invited to attend at 6 p.m. with Bishop Kagan as the main celebrant at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the feast is to recognize the holy marriage of Joseph and Mary and uphold married life as a path to holiness. It’s no secret that marriage is under attack in our culture with fewer people seeing the necessity for marriage and the continuing rise of divorces. This special Mass offers us a contemplation on the union of Joseph and Mary helping us to understand the dignity of the sacrament of marriage and emulate the holy spouses in their total surrender to God’s will and their trust in His love, mercy and provision.

Devotion to St. Joseph

The year 2020 brought special attention to St. Joseph. It was the 50th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared the universal patron and protector of the Church by Pope Pius IX and the 100th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II, seen as the “pope of the family.” In his apostolic exhortation, “Redemptoris Custos,” promulgated on Aug. 15, 1989, St. John Paul II discusses the importance of St. Joseph’s role in the Holy Family as the first guardian and protector of Jesus and how that serves as a model for marriage and family.

That winter of 2020, a group of men from the Bismarck-Mandan area completed consecration on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, in person with Fr. Josh Waltz at the Church of St. Joseph in Mandan. This prompted an even greater devotion among the men including John Berger, Grand Knight of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit Council #6540. John recently wrote a letter to Bishop Kagan, on behalf of the Knights Council, to request permission to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Spouses.

“I’d like to personally encourage folks to consider consecrating themselves to Saint Joseph,” John said. “And yes, you can do this even if you have completed the consecration to Holy Mother Mary. Saint Joseph is our spiritual father, and the union of Saint Joseph and Mary is the model of marriage in a suffering and confused world.”

Up next was the year 2021 proclaimed, by the Holy See, as the Year of St. Joseph for the Universal Church. In the same year as that proclamation, Father Donald Calloway released the book “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father.” The book’s 33-day consecration to St. Joseph emulates the preparation method employed by St. Louis de Montfort in his Marian consecration, and it is estimated that well over two million individuals throughout the world have now completed the consecration to St. Joseph.

In September 2022, it was announced that the Vatican had turned down a request from some U.S. bishops to add the Feast of the Holy Spouses celebrating the marriage of Joseph and Mary to the Church’s universal liturgical calendar. The feast, however, can be celebrated in places or institutes which have a special devotion to St. Joseph, or where the feast has gotten support from the diocesan bishop.

—Staff report