Holy Family
Jesus, Mary and Saint Joseph
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in Christian art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first bishop of New France, who founded a confraternity.
The Gospels speak little of the life of the Holy Family in the years before Jesus' public ministry. Matthew and Luke narrate the episodes from this period of Christ's life, namely his circumcision and later Presentation, the flight to Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the Finding in the Temple. Joseph and Mary were apparently observant Jews, as Luke narrates that they brought Jesus with them on the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem with other Jewish families.
Veneration
The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Catholic Church, as well as in many Lutheran and Anglican churches, in honour of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family. The primary purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families.
From the 17th century, the feast has been celebrated at a local and regional level and at that level was promoted by Pope Leo XIII, who authorised the establishment of the feast of the Holy Family shortly after the Epiphany in any diocese which chose to request it. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV made it part of the General Roman Calendar and set it on the Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany (cf. Epiphanytide), that is to say, on the Sunday between 7 and 13 January and January, all inclusive (see General Roman Calendar of 1954).
The public source identifies “Holy Family” as jesus, Mary and Saint Joseph. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Holy, Family and Jesus.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Holy Family”, the useful work is to connect “jesus, Mary and Saint Joseph” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q618057. VIAF identifies the subject as 45099216. The Library of Congress control number is sh85070022. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921 and 1954.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Holy Family primary sources, Holy Family archive and Holy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Holy Family” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.