NOTE: As seen in Leviticus 12:1-8, Mary had to wait 40 days after giving birth before she was allowed to come to the temple to be “purified from her bleeding.”  Likewise, in Numbers 18:15-16, it was decreed that “The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver.”  Therefore, the Holy Family had to come back to the temple about a month after the circumcision to present Mary for purification and Jesus for redemption.

JOSEPH: HIS LIFE, HIS VIRTUES, HIS PRIVILEGES, HIS POWER by Very Reverend Archdeacon Kinane (1884)

According to the common and received opinion, the Presentation took place after the adoration of the Wise Men, before the flight into Egypt, and when our Divine Lord Jesus Christ was about forty days old. In the Presentation of the Child Jesus, what infinite homage, praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and love, did the Incarnate Son of God render to His Eternal Father! O thrice blessed St. Joseph, whose arms were privileged to bear to the Temple this supreme offering. …

The distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is about six miles; this was the first journey of the Holy Family, and was performed before the Child Jesus was forty days old. Lovingly and tenderly did Mary fold in her warmest mantle the Divine Babe; and every now and again St. Joseph, to help the delicate Mother, carried in his arms the Infant Saviour of the world. The love and care of St. Joseph lightened for Jesus and Mary the fatigues of the journey. They arrive at Jerusalem, and the gates of the Temple open wide to receive the Lord of Glory. …

All Heaven was looking down in reverential awe, as St. Joseph took Jesus in his arms and presented Him to His Eternal Father. The Father accepts the infinite praise, homage, adoration, and love rendered to Him, in behalf of all mankind, by His “well-beloved Son.” Holy Simeon, who had received a promise from God, that his eyes, before being closed in death, would see the Saviour of the world, “came by the spirit into the Temple,” by revelation recognized the Redeemer of the world, took into his arms, out of the hands of St. Joseph, the Child Jesus, and then, in an ecstasy of supreme happiness, raised his eyes to heaven, “blessed God,” and prayed Him to take away his soul, for his eyes had seen the Saviour of the world. Having discharged his duty to the Eternal Father and His Incarnate Son, holy Simeon turned to the “father and mother ” of Jesus, and with up lifted hands “blessed them,” and congratulated them, on being chosen by God, to be the holy parents and guardians of the Redeemer of the world. …

On this occasion, Mary, though an Immaculate Virgin, after as well as before, the birth of her Divine Son, to fulfil all justice, to conceal her exalted dignity and unique privileges, as well as to give an example of profound humility, made the usual sin offering and burnt-offering of a “pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.”

At the Presentation in the Temple, it was the happy privilege of St. Joseph also to redeem the Infant Jesus. … On the occasion of the Presentation in the Temple, the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph were consoled, at the signal revelations made to Anna the Prophetess. She too, like holy Simeon, was led by the spirit into the Temple, and by divine inspiration recognized and adored the Saviour of the world. …

After the Presentation in the Temple, and having fulfilled to the letter the Law of Moses, the Holy Family returned to Nazareth. … No surprise that the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph “wondered” at these heavenly manifestations and inspirations; month after month, year after year, each event more striking and signal than the preceding, intensified the love of St. Joseph for the Saviour of the world. We can well conceive, then, the care, reverence, and awe with which St. Joseph ministered to the wants and comforts of Jesus and Mary in their journey homeward.

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THE LOWLY LIFE AND BITTER PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Vol 1 by Anne Catherine Emmerich

There were again in Bethlehem, soldiers seeking in many houses after the king’s son newly-born. They especially importuned with their questions a noble Jewish lady who was in childbed, but they went no more to the Crib Cave. It was now reported that only a poor, Jewish family had been there, but of them nothing more could be learned. Two of the old shepherds went to Joseph (two of those that had first gone to the Crib) and warned him of what was going on in Bethlehem.

Then I saw Joseph, Mary, and Anne with the Child Jesus making their way from the cave to the tomb under that large cedar tree beneath which I had heard the Kings singing one evening. It was distant from the cave about seven and a half minutes. … The interior of the cave was of soft, white stone. I saw the Holy Family entering it by night with a covered light. In the cave that they had vacated nothing now was to be seen which could attract notice. The beds had been rolled up and taken away, as well as all their household effects. It looked like an abandoned dwelling place. Anne carried the Child in her arms, Joseph and Mary at her side, while the shepherds led the way as guides. …

A couple of days before Anne’s return home, I saw some shepherds entering the tomb cave and speaking to Mary; they told her that government officials were corning to seek her Child. Joseph hurried off with the Child Jesus wrapped in his mantle, and I saw Mary, for half a day perhaps, sitting in the cave very anxious and without the Child. … The Holy Family immediately set about preparing for their own departure. Their household effects had steadily diminished. The portable partitions and other pieces of furniture made by Joseph were now bestowed upon the shepherds, who removed them at once.

I saw the Blessed Virgin going twice by night to the Crib Cave with the Child Jesus, and laying It on a carpet on the spot upon which It was born. Then she knelt down at Its side and prayed. I saw the whole cave filled with light as at the moment of the Birth. It was now entirely cleared out, for Anne on reaching home had dispatched two of her servants to get whatever the Holy Family would not need on their journey. I saw them returning with the two asses on which they rode laden with goods. The cave to which the Holy Family had removed, as well as the Crib Cave, were now quite empty; they had also been swept out, for Joseph wanted to leave everything perfectly clean.

On the night preceding their departure for the Temple, I saw Mary and Joseph taking formal leave of the Crib Cave. They spread the deep red cover of the Kings first over that spot upon which the Child Jesus was born, laid the Child on it, and kneeling beside It prayed. Then they laid the Child in the Crib and again prayed beside It; and, lastly, on the place where It had been circumcised where, too, they knelt in prayer. Joseph had caused the young she ass to be pawned among his relatives, for he was still resolved to return to Bethlehem and build himself a house in the valley of the shepherds. He had mentioned his intention to the shepherds, saying that he would take Mary for a while to her mother, that she might recover from the hardships undergone in her late abode. He left all kinds of things with them.

Before the break of day, Mary seated herself on the ass, the Child Jesus on her lap. She had only a couple of covers and one bundle. She sat upon a side seat that had a little footboard. They started to the left around the Crib hill and off by the east side of Bethlehem unperceived by anyone. … The offering that the Holy Family had with them was hanging in a basket on the ass. … Toward evening, when about a quarter of an hour’s distance from Jerusalem, they turned and entered a small house that lay next a large inn. The owners were a married couple without children, and by them the holy travelers were welcomed with extraordinary joy. …

The whole of the next day, I still saw the Holy Family with the old people outside Jerusalem. The Blessed Virgin was almost all the time alone in her room with the Child which lay upon a low, covered projection of the wall. She was always in prayer, and appeared to be preparing herself for the sacrifice. … Mary was wholly absorbed in her own interior. The old people did out of pure love all they could for the Mother of God. They must have had some presentiment of the Child’s holiness.

I had a vision also of the priest Simeon. He was a very aged, emaciated man with a short beard. He had a wife and three grown sons, the youngest of whom was already twenty years old. Simeon dwelt at the Temple. I saw him going through a narrow, dark passage in the wall of the Temple to a little cell which was built in the thick walls. It had only one opening, from which he could look down into the Temple. Here I saw the old man kneeling and praying in ecstasy. The apparition of an angel appeared before him, telling him to notice particularly the first Child that would, early the next morning, be brought for presentation, for that It was the Messiah whom he had now awaited so long. The angel added that, after seeing the Child, he would die. … The little cell was so bright, and the old man radiant with joy! He went home full of gladness, announced to his wife the good tidings of the angel, and then returned to his prayer. … Anna in her Temple cell was also rapt in prayer; and she, too, had a vision.

Early in the morning while it was still quite dark, I saw the Holy Family accompanied by the two old people going into the city and to the Temple. The ass was laden as if for a journey, and they had with them the basket of offerings. They first entered a court that was surrounded by a wall, and there the ass was tied under a shed. The Blessed Virgin and Child were received by an old woman and conducted along a covered walk up to the Temple. The old woman carried a light, for it was still dark. Here in this passage came Simeon full of expectation to meet Mary. He spoke a few joyous words with her, took the Child Jesus, pressed Him to his heart, and then hurried to another side of the Temple. Since the preceding evening, when he had received the announcement of the angel, he had been consumed by desire. He had taken his stand in the women’s passage to the Temple, hardly able to await the coming of Mary and her Child.

Mary was now led by the woman to a porch in that part of the Temple in which the ceremony of presentation was to take place. Anna and another woman (Noemi, Mary’s former directress) received her. Simeon came out to the porch and conducted Mary with the Child in her arms into the hall to the right of the women’s porch. … Old Anna, to whom Joseph had handed over the basket of fruit and doves, followed with Noemi, and Joseph retired to the standing place of the men. It was understood at the Temple that several women were coming today to offer sacrifice, and preparations had been made accordingly. …

Simeon conducted Mary through the altar rail and up to the table of sacrifice. The Infant Jesus, wrapped in His sky-blue dress, was laid in the basket cradle. Mary wore a sky-blue dress, a white veil, and a long, yellowish mantle. When the Child had been placed in the cradle, Simeon led Mary out again to the standing place of the women. He then proceeded to the altar proper, whereon lay the priestly vestments and at which, besides himself, three other priests were vesting. And now one of them went behind, one before, and two on either side of the table, and prayed over the Child, while Anna approached Mary, gave her the doves and fruit in two little baskets, one on top of the other, and went with her to the altar rail. Anna remained there while Mary, led again by Simeon, passed on through the railing and up to the altar. There upon one of the dishes she deposited the fruit, and into the other laid some coins; the doves she placed upon the table in the basket. Simeon stood before the table near Mary while the priest behind it took the Child from the cradle, raised It on high and toward the different parts of the Temple, praying all the while. Simeon next received the Child from him, laid It in Mary’s arms, and, from a roll of parchment that lay near him on a desk, prayed over her and the Child.

After that Simeon again led Mary to the railing, whence Anna accompanied her to the place set apart for the women. In the meantime, about twenty mothers with their firstborn had arrived. Joseph and several others were standing back in the place assigned to the men. Then two priests at the altar proper began a religious service accompanied by incense and prayers, while those in the rows of seats swayed to and fro a little, but not like the Jews of the present day. When these ceremonies were ended, Simeon went to where Mary was standing, took the Child into his arms and, entranced with joy, spoke long and loud. When he ceased, Anna also filled with the Spirit, spoke a long time. …

Mary shone like a rose. Her public offerings were indeed the poorest; but Joseph in private gave to Simeon and to Anna many little, yellow, triangular pieces to be employed for the use of the Temple, and chiefly for the maidens belonging to it who were too poor to meet their own expenses. It was not everyone that could have his children reared in the Temple. … I did not witness the purification ceremonies of the other mothers; but I had an interior conviction that all the children offered on that day would receive special grace, and that some of the martyred innocents were among them. When the Most Holy Child Jesus was laid upon the altar in the basket cradle, an indescribable light filled the Temple. I saw that God was in that light, and I saw the heavens open up as far as the Most Holy Trinity. …

I saw that Simeon, after prophesying in the Temple, returned home and fell sick. I saw him on his couch giving his last advice to his wife and sons, and imparting to them his joy. Then I saw him die. There were several old Jews and priests praying around him. When he had breathed his last, they carried the body into another room where, without stripping it, it was washed. … The burial took place in the evening. …

Mary was now led back into the court by Anna and Noemi. Here she took leave of them, and was joined by Joseph and the old people with whom she and Joseph had lodged. They went with the ass straight out of Jerusalem, and the good, old people accompanied them a part of the way. They reached Bethoron the same day, and stayed overnight in the house which had been Mary’s last stopping place on her journey to the Temple thirteen years before. Here some of Anne’s people were waiting to conduct them home. …

I saw the Holy Family returning to Nazareth by a much more direct route than that by which they had gone to Bethlehem. On their first journey, they had shunned the inhabited districts and seldom put up at an inn; but now they took the straight route, which was much shorter. Joseph had in his cloak pocket some little rolls of thin, yellow, shining leaves on which were letters. He had received them from the Holy Kings. …

I saw the Holy Family arrive at Anne’s, in Nazareth. The eldest sister of Mary, Mary Heli, with her daughter Mary Cleophas, a woman from Elizabeth’s place, and that one of Anne’s maids who had been with Mary in Bethlehem were there. A feast was held such as had been celebrated at the departure of the child Mary for the Temple. … Though there was great joy over the Child Jesus, yet it was a calm, inward joy. I have never seen much excitement among those holy souls. They partook of a slight repast, the women as usual eating apart from the men. …

The road from Anne’s house to Joseph’s in Nazareth was about one half-hour’s distance, and ran between gardens and hills. I saw Joseph at Anne’s loading two asses with many different things, and going on before with Anne’s maid to Nazareth. Mary followed with Anne, who carried the Child Jesus. Mary and Joseph had no care of the housekeeping. They were provided with all things by Anne, who often went to see them. I saw her maid carrying provisions to them in two baskets, one on her head, the other in her hand.

I saw the Blessed Virgin knitting, or crocheting little robes. … I saw Mary thus working, either standing or sitting by the Child Jesus, who lay in His little basket cradle. I saw St. Joseph, out of long strips of bark – yellow, brown, and green – platting screens, large surfaces, and covers for ceilings. He had a stock of this woven board-like work piled under a shed near the house. He wove into them all kinds of patterns, stars, hearts, etc. I thought as I looked at them that he had no idea how soon he would have to leave all.

I saw the Holy Family while at Nazareth visited also by Mary Heli. She came with St. Anne, bringing with her her grandson, a boy of about four years, the child of her daughter Mary Cleophas. I saw the holy women sitting together, caressing the Child Jesus, and laying It in the little boy’s arms; they acted just as people do nowadays. Mary Heli lived in a little town about three hours east of Nazareth. She had a house almost as large as her mother’s. …

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REVELATIONS OF ST. BRIDGET, ON THE LIFE AND PASSION OF OUR LORD, AND THE LIFE OF HIS BLESSED MOTHER (published by D&J Sadlier & Co. in 1862)

While Lady Bridget, the bride of Christ, was in Rome, in the church called Saint Mary Major, on the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she was caught up into a spiritual vision, and saw that in heaven, as it were, all things were being prepared for a great feast. And then she saw, as it were, a temple of wondrous beauty; and there too was that venerable and just old man, Simeon, ready to receive the Child Jesus in his arms with supreme longing and gladness. She also saw the Blessed Virgin most honorably enter, carrying her young Son to offer him in the temple according to the law of the Lord.

And then she saw a countless multitude of angels and of the various ranks of the saintly men of God and of his saintly virgins and ladies, all going before the Blessed Virgin-Mother of God and surrounding her with all joy and devotion. Before her an angel carried a long, very broad, and bloody sword which signified those very great sorrows which Mary suffered at the death of her most loving Son and which were prefigured by that sword which the just man Simeon prophesied would pierce her soul. And while all the heavenly court exulted, this was said to the bride: “See with what great honor and glory the Queen of Heaven is, on this feast, recompensed for the sword of sorrows which she endured at the passion of her beloved Son.” And then this vision disappeared.