Saints of the Old Testament: Sts. Josue, Gedeon, and Anna

The sun and moon stand still at St. Josue's command at the Battle of Aijalon

In the great Legenda Aurea ("The Golden Legend," though correctly translated "The Golden Readings") which Blessed Jacobus de Voragine, OP, Archbishop of Genoa, compiled about the year 1260, we find the following commentary regarding the liturgical celebration of the feasts of the saints of the Old Testament period:

"It is worthy of note that the Eastern Church celebrates the feasts of saints of both the Old and the New Testaments. The Western Church, on the other hand, does not celebrate feasts of saints of the Old Testament, on the ground that they descended into hell -- exceptions being made for the Holy Innocents, in each of whom Christ was put to death, and for the Maccabees. . . . the Church observes no feasts for them -- both because they descended into limbo and because of the great multitude of new saints has slipped into their places . . ." (Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend -- Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press, 1993, translated by William Granger Ryan, vol. II, p.33)