The Feast of the Holy Family is an important feast in the life of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation, envisioned a community of priests, sisters, and brothers, all united together just as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were united together in the Holy Family.

In fact, Blessed Moreau established the Sacred Heart of Jesus as patron of the priests, St. Joseph as patron of the brothers, and Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, as patron of the sisters (she is also patron of the congregation as a whole as well).

Blessed Moreau wanted this community to be rooted in the virtues that were present in Jesus’ home in Nazareth. Following the model of love offered by the Holy Family, the Holy Cross community attends to one another in their struggles, assists one another in their good works, and celebrates together in times of joy.

All of us come from a family, and though few of our families are as holy as the Holy Family, the relationships between parents and children, spouses and siblings, continually offer opportunities to grow in virtue and in service to one another.

Today’s featured image of the Holy Family comes from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art on campus and is used with their permission. To enjoy more of the Raclin Murphy Museum’s images on the Holy Family, visit their collection here. Relics of the Holy Family rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, including a fragment of Jesus’ crib and a portion of the cloth band with which Mary carried Jesus when she and Joseph fled to Egypt.

On this feast of the Holy Family, may we serve each other and grow in holiness within our families!

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Image Credit: Simon Vouet (French, 1590-1649), The Holy Family, ca. 1604, oil on canvas. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Joyce McMahon Hank, 1983.023