Liturgical Guide: Feast of the Holy Family

The Feast of the Holy Family was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893. Formal devotion to the Holy Family can be traced back to 17th century Québec when the first bishop of New France: Blessed François de Laval expanded the role of the Confraternity of the Holy Family, an association with roots going back to the very founding of Montréal. Beginning at paragraph #1655, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this of the Holy Family and the Church: "Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than 'the family of God.' From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers 'together with all their household' Acts 11:14. When they were converted, they desired that 'their whole household' Acts 16:15,31 should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world. In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia Domestica (the Domestic Church)."

LITURGY OF THE HOURS (1975)
73. Virgin-Born, We Bow Before You
77. Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly
78. Joseph of Nazareth

DIVINE OFFICE (1974)
6. A Noble Flower of Juda
7. Afar from Where the Sun Doth Rise
8. Christ Whose Blood for All Men Streamed
9. O Come, All Ye Faithful
10. Unto Us a Child is Given
11. Of the Father's Love Begotten
12. Christ is Here, Emmanuel!


Commentary by Fr. James Kubicki of the Apostleship of Prayer

Joseph of Nazareth

Painting by Guido Reni - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Joseph of Nazareth, first published in 1972 was written by Canadian Stephen Somerville. Composer and musician, he is the author of a number of hymns and psalm canticle settings. In the 1970's he was a member of the Advisory Board of the International Commission on English Liturgy (I.C.E.L.),  the body responsible for the translation of the original Latin Mass into the Novus Ordo Missae. He would eventually resign his post and become an outspoken critic of the New Mass. In 2004 he was suspended from the priesthood by the Archbishop of Toronto. In the Liturgy of the Hours, Joseph of Nazareth is used on the Feast of the Holy Family and on March 19th, the Solemnity of Joseph, Husband of the BVM. An alternative tune that can be used is the melody from Genevan 22, as featured in the following video.

Alternative Tune: Genevan 22 (non-instrumental)

Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly

Fairest Child of Fairest Mother

Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly was written in 1938 by Roland Ford Palmer (1891-1985). It is adapted from a 1914 anonymous poem based upon the Annunciation. Fr. Palmer was an Anglican Priest. Born in England, he moved to Canada in 1905. He was a member of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, an Anglican Religious Order that follows a rule of life and, at profession, members make monastic vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly is set to the tune Pleading Savior, first published in the The Christian Lyre (1830). In the Liturgy of the Hours, it is used on the Feast of the Holy Family.

 

SING OF MARY, PURE AND LOWLY by Roland F. Palmer, 1938 (Public Domain)

1. Sing of Mary, pure and lowly,
Virgin mother undefiled,
 Sing of God's own Son most holy,
Who became her little child.
Fairest child of fairest mother,
God the Lord who came to earth,
Word made flesh, our very brother,
Takes our nature by his birth.

2. Sing of Jesus, son of Mary,
In the home at Nazareth.
Toil and labour cannot weary
 Love enduring unto death.
Constant was the love he gave her,
Though he went forth from her side,
Forth to preach, and heal, and suffer,
Till on Calvary he died.

3. Glory be to God the Father;
Glory be to God the Son;
Glory be to God the Spirit;
Glory to the Three in One.
From the heart of blessed Mary,
From all saints the song ascends,
And the Church the strain reechoes
Unto earth's remotest ends.

Virgin-Born, We Bow Before You

Blest Was She in Her Child

Virgin-Born, We Bow Before You was written by clergyman, Reginald Heber (1783-1826). It was published posthumously after his sudden death from a stroke while serving as the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta. The suggested tune in the Divine Office is Psalm 86 by Claude Goudimel (1514-1572). A popular alternative is the tune: Mon Dieu, Prete Moi L'Oreille, as featured in the following video. In the Liturgy of the Hours, Virgin-Born, We Bow Before You is sung during Christmas, on the Feast of the Holy Family, and in the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary.


Tune: Mon Dieu, Prete Moi L'Oreille

VIRGIN-BORN, WE BOW BEFORE THEE by Reginald Heber, 1827 (Public Domain)

Virgin-born, we bow before thee:
blessed was the womb that bore thee;
Mary, Mother meek and mild,
blessed was she in her Child.
Blessed was the breast that fed thee;
blessed was the hand that led thee;
blessed was the parent's eye
that watched thy slumbering infancy.

Blessed she by all creation,
who brought forth the world's salvation,
and blessed they, for ever blest,
who love thee most and serve thee best.
Virgin-born, we bow before thee;
blessed was the womb that bore thee;
Mary, Mother meek and mild,
blessed was she in her Child.