We read in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, that “in the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, and the Virgin's name was Mary”. Twice in this passage does the Evangelist call her a virgin, though she was living in the bonds of wedlock. But, setting aside this induction, the reply which she made to the Angel, when he told her that she was to be the mother of such a Son as the world had never seen before, puts the matter beyond all doubt. “How”, she asks, “shall this be done, because I know not man?”. And a still stronger proof that she was wedded to Joseph at that time, and not simply affianced, is to be found in the pages of St. Matthew's Gospel, where Joseph is represented as sorely troubled and perplexed, on perceiving that his immaculate spouse, of whose virtue he was certain, was nevertheless soon to be a mother. These passages make it evident that this holy couple, though married, were living in the state of holy virginity, which, as we shall see later, was never broken.

When some great monarch has chosen for himself a partner to share his throne, it often happens that circumstances prevent him from going in person to accept her hand, and receive the blessing of the Church. On such occasions, a minister of state is deputed to go in the king's name, and to act as his representative; but when the ceremony is over, his only duty is to conduct her to his master, and having done that, his office is at an end. It was thus that God acted with the spotless Virgin, whom He had chosen to be the Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His ambassador was the meek and lowly St. Joseph. To him, under the guiding hand of Providence, the Virgin was given to wife, when she had completed her education in the courts of the Temple. With him she lived in their humble home at Nazareth, in that mutual love and reverence, which we may fancy the Angels feel for each other; for, though he undoubtedly possessed all those marital rights, which the husbands of other women enjoy, still we know that, in his case, they were never exercised. The Virgin had given her consent to be his wife, only because she was sure, that her virginity would be safe under the shadow of his protecting presence.

Sister Maria d' Agreda, whose writings have been marked with high ecclesiastical approval, speaking of Joseph when he was summoned to appear among the descendants of the race of David, that one of them might be selected as the spouse of Mary, says that he was at that time thirty-three years of age, was well-favored in person and of most pleasing aspect, of incomparable modesty and grave in demeanor, and, above all, most pure in act, in thought, and in disposition, having, indeed, from the age of twelve years made a vow of chastity. He was related in the third degree to the Blessed Virgin, and his life had been most pure and holy and irreproachable in the eyes both of God and men!

The nuptial ring of the Blessed Virgin is still preserved at Perugia in the Cathedral Church of San Lorenzo.

Taken from “The Espousals or Marriage of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Fr. Francis Cuthbert Doyle (1879) and “The life and glories of Saint Joseph” by Edward H. Thompson

---