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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

by C.L. Stoeber, SF

 

 

In the earliest forms of devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth, the three persons of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are looked upon as the most unique model of family wholeness and holiness.

 

The first attempts at imitating the Holy Family inform a basic pattern which is followed down through the centuries: husbands, fathers and workers look to Joseph for support and guidance; wives, mothers, and women go to Mary for strength, courage and consolation; children, sons and daughters find in the Child Jesus their respective model as they move through infancy, adolescence and early adulthood.

 

As more and more families adopt this form of imitation of the Holy Family, it is only a matter of time before these same families start to band together in groups, forming confraternities, which gradually evolve into the various Holy Family associations that start making their appearance in the early XVII century.

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