Sponsus is Latin meaning spouse. Indeed, St. Joseph was divinely appointed as the great and most chaste spouse of the Holy Virgin Mary, and, with God’s aid, became the defender and guardian of her dignity and honors. So too the human father is divinely appointed to be a father in the image of God the Father by becoming a husband in the image of Christ, Who has St. Joseph as a holy example. By following this Castissimum Sponsum, may we also become the guardians and protectors of our wives’—and every woman’s—dignity. “And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. ” Matthew 1:24