 |
 |
--- alia <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Since it is the feast day of St. Joseph, I thought I'd pose a > question to > the list with regards to the saint. Devotion to St. Joseph was > downplayed > in medieval western Europe, You could have fooled me! I would have said he was one of the most popular of saints. But actually his cult is later in the west than in the east. Cf. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church: "The special veneration of St Joseph seems to have originated in the E., where the apocryphal 'History of Joseph the Carpenter' (4th-7th cents) enjoyed considerable popularity. It developed comparatively late in the W. church, though a commemoration is mentioned in the Irish Félire of St Oengus, dated to the 9th cent. Among the earliest promoters of his cult are St bernadino of Siena and John Gerson in the 15th cent., who laid its theological foundations by drawing out the implications of his office as foster-father of Jesus, and whose teaching found liturgical expression in the introduction of his feast (19th Mar.) into the Roman calendar in 1479. The devotion was popularized esp. by St Teresa of Avila and St Francis de Sales . . ." Oriens. ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%