Engagement of Mary
The engagement of Mary , also the marriage of Mary , to Joseph of Nazareth is a legendary motif of the life of Mary , which played an important role in the Catholic popular piety and art up to the baroque period . In the pre-conciliar Catholic liturgy there has been a day of remembrance since the late Middle Ages, In desponsatione Beatae Mariae Virginis cum Sancto Joseph, on January 23rd, which could be celebrated regionally as a votive memorial .
Legend
The legendary form is based on Mt 1.18 EU and Lk 2.5 EU , where Mary and Joseph are referred to as " engaged ".
The proto-Gospel of James from the second half of the 2nd century tells that Mary lived as a consecrated virgin in the Jerusalem temple until she was twelve. Then the high priest received the instruction from the angel of the Lord to call all widowers of Israel. Everyone should bring a stick. That is how Joseph appeared at the temple. The high priest put the sticks in the temple and then distributed them again. When Joseph was the last to get his staff back, a pigeon slipped from the staff and sat on Josef's head. Thereupon the high priest Joseph announced that he had been chosen "to bring home the virgin of the Lord to keep her virgin for you". Josef hesitated at first because he was old and already had sons, but then consented and brought Mary home.
The pseudo-Matthew Gospel (around 600) offers a version of the narrative based on this, which in turn has become literarily fruitful .
The most effective was the version of the Legenda aurea (around 1260), according to which Mary was 14 years old and the high priest did not call together the widowers of all Israel, but all marriageable men from David's descendants . As a sign, the angel announces with reference to Isa 11 : 1-2 EU that the staff of the chosen one will begin to bloom and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove will sit down on the staff. In this version too, Josef is already old and at first reluctant.
The legend reports nothing about a ritual act of engagement, nor about a wedding ceremony in connection with the home. The legal status of the union of Mary and Joseph was therefore the subject of scholarly disputes in the Middle Ages and was ultimately decided in favor of a real, if not consummated marriage .
Image type
In the picture, the engagement of Mary and Joseph since Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) was shown as a formal act in front of the high priest with Joseph handing over the ring to Mary and with a temple architecture in the background. Joseph's staff blooms - usually with a lily - the spirit dove sits on the staff or appears above the couple.
liturgy
A liturgical commemoration of the Desponsatio arose in France in the 15th century, was sponsored by several orders in the 16th century and in 1725 by Pope Benedict XIII. allowed for the universal church on January 23 as a regional custom. In the course of the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council, it was deleted from the liturgical calendar.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "votiva Solemnitas", daily prayer in Proprium Sanctorum per aliquibus loci of the Roman Missal of 1911
- ↑ μνηστευθεις or ἐμνηστευμενος
- ^ Gospel of James in German
- ↑ Legenda aurea cap. CXXXI
- ↑ In detail Jörg Traeger : The engagement of the Virgin Mary with St. Joseph . In: Ders .: Renaissance and Religion. The Art of Faith in the Age of Raphael . Munich 1997, pp. 65-69 ( partially digitized )
- ↑ Joseph Seitz provides a detailed account of the origin and development of the festival up to the Council of Trento : Die Ververung des St. Joseph in its historical development up to the Council of Trent . Freiburg im Breisgau 1908, pp. 247-253 .
- ↑ praedica.de