One night, while St. Hermann was in prayer, the Virgin Mary appeared to him, at the foot of the high altar.  She was accompanied by two angels of extraordinary beauty, and, calling to St. Hermann to approach, she vowed at the altar to take him for her spouse.  While on earth, he was to represent Joseph, the spouse which she had on earth; and in heaven, he was to reign with her as her equal.  St. Hermann modestly resisted, but the two angels assured him that such was the will of God, and that he must no longer resist the high honour of accepting the name of "Joseph the spouse of Mary."  He had no choice but to submit, and was ever after so called.  Even his biographers from this point of his life call him "Joseph the spouse of Mary, the mother of the King of king."—Life of St. Hermann of Steinfeld. (A Dictionary of Miracles, Brewer, 1894)