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Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
January 2, 2021
The name of Jesus means Savior; it had been shown in a dream to Joseph together with its meaning and to Our Lady at the annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel. The institution of this feast is relatively recent. Its origins are to be found in the Franciscan Order; the devotion and preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena did much to spread it. It was inserted in the general calendar of the Roman rite by Pope Innocent XIII. The Mass and Office celebrate together the holiness, power and sweetness of the name of Jesus. The hymn at Vespers tells of the tender devotion that it arouses in the Christian soul, but many other portions of the Mass emphasize more particularly the power and tremendous majesty of the name which is above all names, at which every knee in heaven, on earth and under the earth, must bow.