The Marriage that changed the world - The Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph of Mandurriao, Iloilo

The Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph of Mandurriao, Iloilo 

Weddings, one of the most important events of most individuals since the ancient times where two individuals exchange their vows to live together and build a family. Our Lord Jesus himself sanctified marriage as a sacrament and through marriage, Our Lord sanctified this union so that the parents would teach their children the basics of our faith and will lead them closer to God.

One of the most important marriages in history is the marriage of Our Lady and St. Joseph. Our Lord planned the marriage of these holy couple as a fulfillment of his plan for the Salvation of Mankind from the clutches of sin.

The account of the Marriage of Our Lady and St. Joseph

The Scriptures don't record exactly when Mary and Joseph were married, but the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel describes the circumstances. Verse 18 speaks of them being "betrothed ... before they came together." Joseph, on learning that she is pregnant with the child Jesus considers what he ought to do in verses 19-20, the situation is explained to him by an angel in verses 20-23, and in verse 24 we are told that he "did as the angel commanded him, and took unto him his wife." Presumably, this took place in Nazareth, as he would not have brought her to Bethlehem if she was still a member of her father's household. It (obviously) has to have followed the Annunciation (Luke i: 26-38), and very likely followed the three months Mary spent with Elizabeth. No mention is made of Joseph in the narrative of the Visitation (Luke i: 39-56), which has Mary leaving Nazareth "in haste into the hill country, to a town of Judea (Ain Karim)," and concludes about three months later with Mary "returned to her own house." That would put the events of the Gospel of Matthew at roughly the fourth month of Mary's pregnancy; a reasonable guess in that neither account has them immediately hurrying off to Bethlehem, and in that they are likely to have married before Mary publicly appeared to be pregnant.

In Jewish law, marriage consists of two separate acts, called erusin (or kiddushin, meaning sanctification), which is the betrothal ceremony, and nissu'in or chupah, the actual ceremony for the marriage. Erusin changes the couple's interpersonal status, while nissu'in brings about the legal consequences of the change of status. In Talmudic times, these two ceremonies usually took place up to a year apart; the bride lived with her parents until the actual marriage ceremony (nissuin), which would take place in a room or tent that the groom had set up for her. Since the Middle Ages the two ceremonies have taken place as a combined ceremony performed in public.

According to the Talmud, erusin involves the groom handing an object to the bride - either an object of value such as a ring, or a document stating that she is being betrothed to him. In order to be valid, this must be done in the presence of two unrelated male witnesses. After erusin, the laws of adultery apply, and the marriage cannot be dissolved without a religious divorce. After nisuin, the couple may live together.

The Wedding vestments of Our Lady and St. Joseph as seen in the
visions of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich

The Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph from the Visions of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich

In the writings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, she gave a vivid description on how their espousal took place:

"Hereupon I saw the Blessed Virgin supplicating God with great fervor in her praying cell and that she there heard a voice and received a revelation which comforted her and gave her strength to consent to her marriage. I saw, too, that a very aged priest, who could no longer walk (it was doubtless the high priest), was carried on a chair by others before the Holy of Holies, and that while the incense-offering was being kindled, he read prayers from a parchment scroll lying on a stand in front of him. I saw that he was in a spiritual ecstasy and saw a vision, and that the forefinger of his hand was laid upon the passage of Isaiah in the scroll: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse; and a flower shall rise up out of his root." [ Is. 11.1.] When the old priest came to himself again, he read this passage and apprehended something from it.

Then I saw that messengers were sent throughout the land and all unmarried men of the line of David summoned to the Temple. When these were assembled in large numbers at the Temple in festal garments, the Blessed Virgin was presented to them. Among them I saw a very devout youth from the region of Bethlehem; he had always prayed with great fervor for the fulfillment of the Promise, and I discerned in his heart an ardent longing to become Mary’s husband. She, however, withdrew again into her cell in tears, unable to bear the thought that she should not remain a virgin.

The altar image

I now saw that the high priest, in accordance with the inner instruction he had received, handed a branch to each of the men present, and commanded each to inscribe his branch with his name and to hold it in his hands during the prayer and sacrifice.

I then saw the priests in the Temple making a fresh search in the ancestral tables to see whether there was any descendant of David’s who had been overlooked. As they found that of six brothers registered at Bethlehem one was missing and unknown, they made search for his dwelling-place, and found Joseph not far from Samaria in a place beside a little stream, where he lived alone by the water and worked for another master. On the command of the high priest, Joseph now came, dressed in his best, to the Temple at Jerusalem. He, too, had to hold a branch in his hand during the prayer and sacrifice, and as he was about to lay this on the altar before the Holy of Holies, a white flower like a lily blossomed out of the top of it, and I saw over him an appearance of like the holy ghost.Joseph was now recognized as appointed by God to be the bridegroom of the Blessed Virgin, and was presented to her by the priests in the presence of her mother. Mary, submissive to the Will of God, accepted him meekly as her bridegroom, for she knew that all things were possible with God, who had accepted her vow to belong to Him alone, body and soul.

The first definite knowledge of a feast in honor of the espousals of Mary dates from August 29, 1517, when with nine other Masses in honour of Mary, it was granted by Leo X to the Nuns of the Annunciation, founded by Saint Jeanne de Valois. In certain particular churches the espousals of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph are honoured with an office on January 23. Gaspar Bertoni, founder of the Stigmatines, chose Mary and Joseph, in the context of their espousals, as patrons of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata

The Espousal of Our Lady Parish

The Shrine in the Philippines

In the country, there were at least two Parishes dedicated to the Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph, both located in Iloilo. One of these shrines is located in Mandurriao, Iloilo City were a beautiful image was enshrined in the parish. The Espousal of Our Lady Parish was established in 1921. A beautiful church made of white marble and stone, the church sets an atmosphere where one can meditate more on the Eucharist and the sanctity of marriage.

The Feast of the Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph is celebrated every January 23 with a novena preceding the fiesta and a solemn procession of the image of the holy espousal - a quite unique image that can only be found in Iloilo.

The devotion 

The processional image

The Church celebrates the espousal of Mary and Joseph on January 23 in the Traditional Roman Calendar until the it was removed due to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. However, this feast is still observed in local calendars, most specifically in Perugia, Italy (where it is believed that the Virgin's wedding ring is kept and venerated) and in Iloilo, the Philippines.

In the commentaries of Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, he stressed that "The espousals between Joseph and Mary are an episode of great importance. Joseph was of the royal line of David and, in virtue of his marriage to Mary, would confer on the Son of the Virgin - on God's Son - the legal tile of "Son of David," thus fulfilling the prophecies. The espousals of Joseph and Mary are, because of this, a human event, but determinant in the history of humanity's salvation, in the realization of the promises of God; because of this, it also has a supernatural connotation, which the two protagonists accept with humility and trust.

As we end this blogpost dedicated to the Marriage of Our Lady and St. Joseph, here is an invocation traditionally recited by the spiritual sons of St. Gaspar Bertoni at the novena and the feast of the Espousals of the Most Holy Virgin Mary with St. Joseph:

"Most Holy Virgin, for that virginal espousal who celebrated with your most chaste spouse St. Joseph, make my soul be spiritually espoused with your Son and my Lord Jesus Christ."


References:

"The Traditional Jewish Marriage" Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.html on January 12, 2018.
Emmerich, Anna Catherina (1820), "The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary", Retrieved from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/emmerich/lifemary.xi.html on January 10, 2018.
"Espousal of Our Lady Parish History" (2010), Retrieved from http://www.iloiloilove.com on January 20, 2018.
"The Betrothal of Virgin Mary and St. Joseph" (2013), Retrieved from http://paucaverba.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-betrothal-of-virgin-mary-and-saint.html on January 21, 2018.


Images of the Espousal of Our Lady and St. Joseph courtesy of Mr. Art Ryan Postolero of the Espousal of Our Lady Parish of Mandurriao, Iloilo City