On the Sunday after Christmas, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (or on December 30th if Christmas falls on a Sunday). The Holy Family is the model of family life for Christians. This feast did not spread to the Universal Church until 1921, because it depended on the relatively recent cult of St. Joseph (15th century). The Holy Family has been mentioned in the Church since the first half of the 17th century when it was added to the Christmas Octave in 1969. This is not surprising, since the word "family" referred not only to two parents and their children but to all relatives, including servants. So, it was only when the meaning was restricted to father, mother, and children that this devotion was born and developed.

To celebrate this feast, we at Neumz have chosen the communion chant, Tolle puerum. The text is taken from Matthew 2:20, it takes us to the end of the Lord's childhood. It is a remembrance, from exile to the homeland, for Jesus and us. It is the words of the Angel to St. Joseph, telling him that he can return from Egypt, and through the voice of the Church, it continues to be the Angel who sings. 

As we know, the Holy Family went through many trials, such as the "slaughter of the innocents" which forced Joseph and Mary to emigrate to Egypt. However, trusting in Divine Providence, they found their stability and assured Jesus a serene childhood and a solid upbringing. Certainly, the Holy Family is unique and unrepeatable, but at the same time, it is a "model of life" for every family, because Jesus true man, wished to be born into a human family and, in doing so, blessed and consecrated it. We, therefore, commend all families to Our Lady and St. Joseph, so that they may not be discouraged in the face of trials and difficulties, but may always cultivate conjugal love and dedicate themselves with confidence to the service of life and education.

As for the melody, it is composed in mode VII, called angelicus by the ancients. It is the most suitable for accompanying a text in which an Angel speaks. It is a "winged" melody, with a strong attraction to the heights of the mode, which sings this message with great enthusiasm and ardor. This communion chant begins at the fundamental of the mode, the Sol, with a pes quadratus, Sol-La, which underlines the accent of tolle, to grab or take with you. From there, the melodic movement rises steadily and enthusiastically to the Re, the dominant. Tolle puerum, take the child, that is the exhortation of the angel to St. Joseph wrapped in a tone of familiar sweetness imbued with discreet joy. In et matrem ejus, and to his mother, the rhythm wideness, there is a delicate touch of respectful tenderness. The prayerful one continues to sing in the heights of the mode, around the Re. In the accent of matrem, the bivirga on the Re followed by a brief and reverent melodic descent holds the attention of this word. The Einsiedeln Manuscript indicates the letter leniter, softly, with gentleness to accompany the contemplation and adoration of the mother, of Him, of the Child God. The semitonal interval, Do-Si, resounds strongly in these two words, denoting as always that closeness, that tender proximity, in this case, to the child (a clivis Do-Si is also sung in this word) and to his holy mother. In the last incise of this first phrase, et vade in terram Israel, the melody returns to the Re to frame the second exhortation, “and go,” in a melodic descent between the dominant and the fundamental. The accent of vade is emphasized by a virga and a clivis with episema. In addition, the semitonal interval, Do-Si, is heard again, the word of the announcement of the return, is filled with a certain happy mood that extends to the rest of the incise, in the circumstantial complement that indicates the destination, the return home: to the land of Israel. The quilismatic movement of in, La-SiDo, returns the melody to the high range: the melody in terram traces a beautiful melodic arc passing through the dominant before settling on the fundamental of the mode in Israel. All is joy, rejoicing, and happiness.

In the second phrase, appears the reason that now, at last, the return is possible: all those who threatened the child's life are dead. The joy is intensified even more: in defuncti sunt enim, they are indeed dead, another fundamental-dominant melodic arc, this time bringing into the chant an obvious happiness, because the threat has ended for the holy family. For the first time, the melodic movement goes beyond the dominant, reaching the high Mi in enim, where a magnificent ornamentation flourishes, enhancing the strength of the adverb that accompanies defuncti sunt: there is no doubt, in effect, they are dead. The melody continues to flutter in its enthusiastic and joyous movement through the heights of the mode reaching this time the melodic summit in the accent of the word quaerebant, to seek, the high Fa. Note that the melodic design of quaerebant is similar to that of terram in the first phrase, although there are rhythmic differences. We have witnessed a crescendo from the first phrase, here the prayerful one, the Church sings and culminates with the angel all that happiness and rejoicing: light triumphs over darkness, the Will of God is imposed. The leaf of a tree does not move if it is not the will of God. In the last incise, animam pueri, the child's soul, the musical parallelism with terram Israel is evident: it is made clear to Joseph and all of us: the child must return to Israel, together with his mother. That return will be a cause of joy, of great joy for the land of Israel, is the angelic jubilation that is conveyed to us in this chant.