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The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus developed gradually from devotional practice into the Church’s universal liturgical calendar. Its scriptural foundation lies in the New Testament emphasis on the saving and sovereign power of the Name (Phil 2:9–11; Acts 4:12), but its formal celebration arose later through medieval pastoral reform. In the 15th century, the Franciscan movement gave decisive impetus to this devotion, particularly through the preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena (+1444) and St. John of Capistrano (+1456). Their preaching encouraged public reverence for the Holy Name in a period of great moral degradation as a remedy against blasphemy and as a means of moral renewal.
Initially, liturgical observances of the Holy Name were local, within Franciscan communities and certain dioceses in Italy and Central Europe. These celebrations emphasized the revealed Name as inseparable from Christ’s saving mission and as a focal point of Christian identity. Confraternities dedicated to the Holy Name further promoted the devotion among the faithful.
In 1721 Pope Innocent XIII (dei Conti +1724-the last Pope so far named “Innocent”) extended the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus to the universal Church. In the traditional Roman Missal, the feast integrates popular devotion into the Church’s liturgical and doctrinal life, directing reverence for the Holy Name toward sanctification and ultimate union with Christ.
The Mass of the Holy Name of Jesus in the 1962 Missale Romanum presents a theological arc in which revelation, invocation, and glorification of the Name converge.
The Introit, In nómine Iesu omne genu flectátur (Phil 2:10–11), establishes the governing theme: the Name of Jesus as the object of universal adoration. Heaven, earth, and the underworld are summoned to confess His lordship. The Collect grounds this worship historically and eschatologically: God both commands the Name and orders present veneration toward the future aspectus of Christ in glory.
Deus, qui unigénitum Fílium tuum
constituísti humáni géneris Salvatórem,
et Iesum vocári iussísti:
concéde propítius;
ut, cuius sanctum nomen venerámur in terris,
eius quoque aspéctu perfruámur in cœlis.
God, who hast made thine only begotten Son
the Saviour of the human race,
and hast commanded that he should be called Jesus:
mercifully grant, that whose holy name we revere on earth,
we may also enjoy his presence in heaven.
The Epistle from Acts 4:8–12 proclaims the exclusivity of salvation in the Holy Name: “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The Gospel from Luke 2:21 is concise: the Circumcision and naming of Jesus. The liturgy lingers on the act itself rather than surrounding narrative, underscoring that the Name is bestowed by divine command, not human choice. When Joseph formally pronounced the Holy Name at Jesus’ naming, it was sermon about the Savior and it was written in the first shedding of the Precious Blood.
Communion antiphon universalizes the theme, “All the nations You have made shall come and worship You, O Lord, and glorify Your Name.” The Mass thus moves from revelation of the Name, to its proclamation, to its sacramental possession.
If there are three movements within the Mass, there are at least three aspects of the Holy Name we could examine. Three only, lest this becomes an opus magnum et arduum. We have touched already on the reverence due to the Holy Name. We also have the Lord’s admonishment to ask anything in His Name (e.g., John 14:14 and John 16:23. We also know of the power of his Name.
We owe great reverence to the Most Holy Name of Jesus. It is said of St. Francis of Assisi that he asked a follower to pick up scraps of paper from the floor in case upon any of then was written the Holy Name of Jesus. The Holy Name holds a singular place in Christian devotion because it signifies the Person Himself. In biblical understanding, a name expresses identity, mission, and presence. When the angel commands, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus,” the Name already contains the work it signifies: “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). The name Jesus has its roots in the Hebrew name Yēhōšūa, shortened to Yēšūa meaning, “The Lord saves.” In the Greek New Testament this becomes Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), which passes into Latin as Iesus. The name unites identity and mission, expressing divine action rather than human aspiration. In Scripture, those who bear this name, notably Joshua son of Nun, act as instruments of God’s saving power. When given to the Incarnate Word, the name signifies not merely God’s help, but God Himself acting to save humanity. The Church therefore accords the Holy Name a reverence distinct from ordinary speech, reflected in liturgical custom, devotional practice, and ascetical teaching.
This reverence arises from faith in the Incarnation. The eternal Son entered history, and His human Name is the audible sign of divine condescension. St. Paul articulates this instinct of worship when he declares that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil 2:10). The Name functions as a sacred sign that draws the believer into adoration. Casual or irreverent use of the Name therefore conflicts with the Church’s discipline of sacred speech, while deliberate invocation trains the soul to recognize the abiding presence of Christ.
When Christ promises, “If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do” (Jn 14:14), and again, “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” (Jn 16:23), He is teaching about our interior disposition. To ask in His Name is to pray in communion with His will, His obedience to the Father, and His saving mission. Invocation of the Holy Name brings the disciple before the Father clothed in the Son’s own filial relationship. The Father hears such prayers because He hears His Son. The Church preserves this theology liturgically by consistently directing prayer “per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum”, confessing that access to the Father is mediated, not autonomous. The efficacy promised by Christ therefore belongs to prayer shaped by union with Him, not to petitions separated from conversion and discipleship.
The Gospels bear witness to the real power exercised through the Name of Jesus. In Mark’s account, John reports: “We saw one casting out devils in thy name” (9:38). The authority at work does not derive from the person of the exorcist but from the Name invoked in faith. The passage reveals that the Holy Name operates as an instrument of Christ’s dominion, a reality later assumed by the Church in her rites of exorcism and sacramental blessings.
In Acts 16 there is a powerful and somewhat amusing moment when Paul opens a can of whoop-ass on a demon. At Philippi there was a slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination and her owners made a lot of money off or her predictions. She followed Paul and Silas around proclaiming them servants of “the Most High God.”
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Subsequently, her owners, angered by the loss of profit, denounced Paul and Silas to the authorities. The apostles are beaten, imprisoned, and placed in stocks, setting the stage for their miraculous deliverance and the conversion of the jailer later in the chapter.
An even more profound disclosure occurs in the Passion narrative. When those sent to arrest Jesus identify Him, He responds simply, “EGO SUM… I AM”, and “they went backward, and fell to the ground” (Jn 18:6). This utterance recalls the divine Name revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14), now spoken by the incarnate Word. At the moment He surrenders, Christ manifests sovereign authority and power with a divinity claim that could not be misunderstood. The mere uttering of the Name God gave Himself – I AM – His captors were The One who will be bound and crucified remains the Lord whose Name commands creation.
We must honor the Holy Name of Jesus with great confidence and love. Calling upon His Holy Name strengthens us to combat the Enemy. The invocation of the Holy Name is a constant in the rites of exorcism to our day. It is a source of deepest consolation. As St. Bernard of Clairvaux preached in a mighty sermon on the Song of Songs 15:
Si disputes aut conferas, non sapit mihi, nisi sonuerit ibi Iesus. Iesus mel in ore, in aure melos, in corde iubilus. Sed est et medicina. Tristatur aliquis vestrum? Veniat in cor Iesus, et inde saliat in os; et ecce ad exortum nominis lumen, nubilum omne diffugit, redit serenum.
If you dispute or make distinctions, it makes no sense to me, unless Jesus sounds there. Jesus is honey in the mouth, melodies in the ear, joy in the heart. But it is also medicine. Is any of you sad? Let Jesus come into the heart, and thence leap into the mouth; and behold, at the rising of the light of the name, all the clouds disperse, and return serene.
With unwavering faith we should pray in times of temptation. Call on Jesus’ Most Holy Name. We can pray in His Name for others we know of who are struggling with addictions, who have fallen into vices, who have drifted away from the Faith. Through the power of Jesus’ Holy Name, we should often pray our spouses for spouses, for children, siblings, political leaders. How helpful it could be for us all to invoke the Holy Name when praying for priests, religious, bishops.
We should develop good habits of speech concerning the Holy Name and never misuse or abuse it. It comes directly from God and invokes God. When we hear it spoken frivolously or badly, perhaps we might make reparation with recitation of the Litany of the Most Holy Name, one of the litanies approved for public use. Perhaps there could be recitations of this Litany (and others) at regular times in parishes so that people could benefit from their power to form us.
Our habit of reverently invoking the Name of Jesus will prompt us in moments of need and temptation, even in our last moments and final breaths. Take the example of the Good Thief who called on Jesus by Name and, as Fulton Sheen put it, “stole Heaven”.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! (Ps 8:1)