medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Roland Gauthier, _Bibliographie sur saint Joseph et la sainte Famille_
> (Montréal: Centre de recherche et de documentation, Oratoire
> Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal, 1999).
> 1364 p. ; 24 cm + 1 index thématique.
> ISBN: 2894830106
As a complete (and slightly off-topic) aside, when the Jesuits set about trying to
convert the First Nations peoples of Canada and the northern United States, the
Holy Family was used as a model for acculturation towards an idealized, European
model of the family. Their initial efforts to champion the Virgin Mary did not meet
with the success they had hoped for, and St Anne rapidly gained a predominance
over Mary that, in many respects, has continued to the present day. The shrine of
Sainte-Anne de Beaupre in Quebec still attracts many aboriginal pilgrims. The
reason that St Anne overshadowed her more theologically important daughter was,
at least in part, that the First Nations attached no ideologically positive value to
virginity, whereas female fecundity, amply evidenced in St Anne, did have positive
cultural value. Joseph's reputation was quite notably augmented through these
associations.
Cheers from the still-frozen north,
Jim Bugslag
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