Testimony of the Synagogue to the Virtues of Joseph

The Divine Word, when appearing upon earth to redeem and renew our fallen race, would not, in assuming the nature of man, touch anything that was defiled, but willed to be born of an Immaculate Virgin. This Virgin, however, as the Fathers have observed, must first be espoused to a husband, that he might be the shield and protector of her honor, which would otherwise be exposed to injurious aspersions when she became a mother, as well as to conceal for a time the secret of the Incarnation. That mysterious cloud which in the desert covered, as with a white veil, the Ark of the God of Israel, presents us with a striking figure of the office of Joseph, the most glorious of the Patriarchs, divinely elected to be the husband of Mary, the most highly gifted among all the daughters of Eve, in order to hide from every profane eye the adorable mystery which was to be effected in that true ark of the Living God, the bosom of Mary, wherein He was coming to abide as in His Tabernacle. God, who willed to accomplish this two-fold object, had in His wisdom provided His holy Mother with a spouse who, while united to her in the marriage bond, should not only be the guardian of her virginal purity, but be himself a virgin, and with the love of virginal purity so deeply rooted in his heart that it was to be like to her own, and receive additional luster from it, as does the white cloud from the rays of the orb of day which it veils from our view.

Such was to be this greatest and most perfect marriage. And we may well believe that it also entered into God’s designs to honor and exalt the marriage-state in the espousals of Mary and Joseph. The Author of nature at the commencement of the ages had in Eden Himself instituted the marital bond, and had bestowed His blessing upon it and upon the first married couple; and the Author of grace, when pronouncing that tie indissoluble, also enriched it with such heavenly gifts that under the Gospel dispensation it was to be raised to the dignity of a sacrament. Adam and Eve, although adorned with original justice, had fallen and become sinners before being parents, and thus had marred this divine institution. Now, the Incarnate Word, who came to repair all that the first man’s sin had ruined, could not but restore honor to that which is the basis of the human family and of society. God would institute another marriage in reparation of His glory, and to remedy the defect of the first. Choosing, therefore, the most just of men, He gave him the most perfect of women for his spouse, who not only would not place him in danger of sinning, but would aid him to attain the highest summit of perfection. The glory of God required this; since, if Mary was to be His Mother, Joseph was to be His father, though not by nature, yet by virtue of his office. He was to be His reputed father, fulfilling all the duties and obligations belonging to that relationship. The glory of God, therefore, required that He should give him a consort who would be truly an aid to him, as Eve was designed to be to Adam.

Seeing, then, that the knitting of this new tie was not only a most important work, but the most important ever as yet transacted in the world, God was pleased to employ in effecting it those persons who occupied the highest position in the Jewish Church. It is the universal opinion of the Fathers that it was the doctors, priests, and heads of the Synagogue who proposed and brought about this alliance. St. John Damascene, indeed, asserts that Mary was espoused to Joseph, not merely by the advice, but by the authority of the Synagogue; and that the priests were not content with determining the marriage of the Virgin, nor with selecting her spouse, but esteemed it an honor to conduct her themselves to Joseph, and consign her into his hands. It is certain, as St. Jerome says, that the priests were not in the habit of charging themselves with the establishment of the maidens confided to them for education in the Temple, but were wont to restore them to their parents at a suitable age, that they might provide for their marriage. But in this case they acted differently, whether from a particular inspiration, as was the opinion of St. Gregory Nazianzen, or that, the parents of the Blessed Virgin having died during her abode in the Temple (as is generally believed), they considered that it devolved upon them to provide for this holy maiden’s future. She was a daughter of the house of David, and was, moreover, the heiress of whatever had belonged to Joachim and Anne. In such cases, where the woman represented her family and inherited property, the ancient law was particularly stringent concerning her marriage with a member of her own tribe, in other cases allowing a certain latitude.

We have reason to suppose that to many in Judea it must have been known that miraculous circumstances were connected with the birth of Mary; and, if we are to credit in this respect the author of the Book of her Nativity which has been by some attributed to St. Jerome,¹ her birth was preceded and followed by many prodigies indicating her surpassing excellence. What the priests of the Lord had witnessed must have strengthened in their minds, we may well suppose, the impression which may have been produced by such reports. They must have well remembered how when Mary arrived at the Temple, in age an infant of three years, but mature in grace and dignity, she had ascended the steps of the sacred edifice on the day of her Presentation with the devotion and fervor of a seraph. Moreover, the life which she had led for eleven or twelve years in this holy retirement was one of such perfection, such regularity, and was so marvelous in its character, as to inspire them with indescribable respect; so much so that some of the Fathers have asserted that she was admitted more than once to worship in the inner portion of the Temple, commonly forbidden to women. Be this as it may, the admiration excited in the minds of the priests by the sight of her virtues and the cognizance of supernatural facts connected with her life must have made them the more solicitous to select for this heavenly maiden a spouse who might be worthy of her.

And now the question occurs, did Mary, whose ardent desire it was to devote all her days to the service of God, and who, moreover, had consecrated to Him her virginity by vow, when made aware that it was the purpose of her tutors and governors, the doctors and priests of the Temple, to give her in marriage, allege as an obstacle the solemn promise she had made? Some, and among them ranks Canon Antonio Vitali, are of opinion that she did so, and would certainly have confided her dismay to her near relative, Zachary, who, as we know from the Gospel, took his regular turn of officiating in the solemn service of the Temple; indeed, he seems to take for granted that she had made her vow with his cognizance and sanction; but, as he does not allege any authority or tradition in favor of this view, we are at full liberty to form our own judgment in the matter. Objections will not unnaturally suggest themselves. As such a vow appears to have been without precedent amongst the maidens of Israel, it is difficult to imagine how Zachary, unless he were divinely illuminated, would have advised or sanctioned it. In the absence, therefore, of all light upon the subject, we are free to believe that Mary’s promise to God, having been formed through the immediate inspiration of her inward Guide and Director, her secret also by the same dictation remained between herself and God.² Her silence on other occasions of an analogous kind would lead us to this conclusion: “My secret to myself”.³ But whichever view may approve itself to the mind, it is certain that the Ancilla Domini would have been prepared to submit to the will of Him who had prompted the vow, as signified to her by those whose authority over her made them His representatives in her regard. Moreover, she would feel persuaded that He would know how to guard the treasure committed to His keeping; and we are encouraged in this conviction by the testimony of saints and saintly persons, who have asserted that the Blessed Virgin herself had told them that she was assured by divine revelation that her virginity would not be endangered by her espousals. We have here been speaking exclusively of her actual vow of virginity, but there can be little, if any, doubt that the priests and guardians of Mary knew that her own desire would have been to dedicate herself to God in His Temple for the remainder of her days.

We may readily believe that among the young men of her kindred there must have been an eager competition for the hand of the daughter of Joachim and Anne, for Mary’s perfections and endowments of every kind cannot, notwithstanding her secluded life, have remained concealed; and among these aspirants would be many who were rich, accomplished, and occupying honorable situations. Joseph was her nearest of kin, being, as seems most probable, nephew to her mother and nearly related to her also through Joachim, her father. Moreover, it is impossible to imagine that she could have been personally unknown to him. He may have seen this blessed infant in her cradle and witnessed her Presentation in the Temple; neither is it easy to conceive that his piety and sweetness of disposition, coupled with his close relationship, had not endeared him to her holy parents. From humility and the love of poverty, more than from any absolute necessity, he, the lineal descendant of kings, had subjected himself to the daily toil of a mechanic, which, although it in no way degraded him in the eyes of true Hebrews, placed him in a position of some social inferiority. Such was the life he led at the time when it was in contemplation to bestow upon him the greatest honor which any man ever received; separated from the surrounding world, in a state of total renunciation and contempt of created things, retired and unnoticed, with no earthly desire but to remain in his obscurity, forgotten of all, and known only to God. Far, therefore, from aspiring to an alliance with Mary, or entertaining any solicitude on the subject, he would, apart from his vow of virginity, by which he had abandoned all thoughts of the married state, have deemed himself utterly unworthy of her. Joseph, then, was certainly not of the number of the claimants. Yet, notwithstanding his desire to eclipse himself, he had not been able so far to conceal his high sanctity and rare merits as to escape the observation of the priests who had the guardianship of the Virgin of Nazareth; at least we seem irresistibly led to this conclusion, since it was upon him that their choice fell; on him, the poor artisan, in preference to many who must have possessed higher worldly recommendations, and in spite of the exalted estimation in which they held the heavenly-gifted maiden, their ward, an estimation which laid upon them the responsibility of procuring for her the most suitable and most honorable marriage possible.