A blessed feast day to you, on this Feast of Saint Joseph, the virginal Spouse of the Mother of God, and Foster-Father of Jesus Christ.
How the Eternal Father must delight in seeing Saint Joseph honored today, to whom He once entrusted the care and defense of His Only-Begotten Son!
How the Holy Ghost must delight in seeing Saint Joseph glorified today, who was the chaste and loving protector of His own most pure Virginal Spouse!
How Our Lord Jesus Christ must delight in the honor paid by His Church today to Saint Joseph, who served so faithfully as a true father to the Christ Child, and as the guardian, head, provider, and defender of the Holy Family!
“He made him the lord of His household, and prince over all His possessions.”
May his prayers preserve us!
Saint Joseph and Fatima
October 13, 1917 – As the multitudinous crowd witnessed the great Miracle of the Sun, the three children seers successively saw three heavenly visions.
To the left of the sun, Lucia saw St. Joseph emerge above the clouds. Our Lady of the Rosary stood to the right of the sun, dressed in brilliant blue and white robes. St. Joseph was holding the Child Jesus in his left arm. The clouds covered him below his chest, but she was able to see him raise his right hand and make the Sign of the Cross. The Divine Child matched His foster father’s action. Together they made the Sign of the Cross three times over the world.
We can infer that this vision represented the Joyful Mysteries. The next two visions represented the Sorrowful Mysteries (Mater Dolorosa) and the Glorious Mysteries (Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the Brown Scapular). [Read about these three visions in The True Story of Fatima, page 55-56 in the PDF version online).
Saint Joseph and the End Times
There are Catholic prophecies which indicate devotion to St. Joseph will greatly increase in times of tribulation.
In 1870, the Catholic Church was attacked by Italian revolutionaries and stripped of her land in central Italy. The Pope became a “prisoner” within the Vatican. It was in this calamitous year that Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church in Quaemadmodum Deus (Dec 8, 1870)
Isidore of Isolanis, a 16th-Century Dominican, prophesied that “the sound of victory” will be heard in the Church Militant “when the faithful recognize the sanctity of St. Joseph.” He also foretold: “The Lord will let His light shine, He will lift the veil, and great men will search out the interior gifts of God that are hidden in St. Joseph; they will find in him priceless treasure, the like of which they have never found in other saints of the Old Testament. We are inclined to believe that toward the end of time God will overwhelm St. Joseph with glorious honors. If in the past ages, during the storms of persecution, these honors could not be shown to St. Joseph, we must conclude that they have been reserved for later times.”
Go to Saint Joseph
Here is a wonderful prayer to offer St. Joseph, authored by St. Louis de Montfort and modeled upon the Ave Maria:
“Hail Joseph the just, Wisdom is with thee; blessed art thou among all men and blessed is Jesus, the fruit of Mary, thy faithful Spouse.
“Holy Joseph, worthy foster-father of Jesus Christ, pray for us sinners and obtain divine Wisdom for us from God, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
And here is a prayer Pope St. Leo XIII recommended be prayed at the end of the Rosary (from his encyclical Quamquam Pluries, 1889):
“To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we have recourse in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy thrice-holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly affection with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray, that thou wouldst look graciously upon that inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by His Blood, and assist us in our needs by thy power and strength.
“Most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, protect the chosen offspring of Jesus Christ. Keep far from us, O most loving father, all blight of error and corruption. Mercifully assist us from Heaven, O most mighty defender, in this our conflict with the powers of darkness. And even as of old thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from the supreme peril of His life, so now defend God’s holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Keep us one and all under thy continual protection, that we may be supported by thine example and thine assistance, and be enabled to lead a holy life, die a happy death, and come at last to the possession of everlasting blessedness in Heaven. Amen.”
As well as a popular Memorare of St. Joseph:
“Remember, O most illustrious Patriarch St. Joseph, on the testimony of St. Teresa, thy devoted client, never hath it been heard that anyone who has invoked thy protection or sought thy mediation has not obtained relief. In this confidence, I come to thee, my loving protector, chaste Spouse of Mary, Foster-father of the Savior of men and dispenser of the treasures of His Sacred Heart. Despise not my earnest prayer but graciously hear and obtain my petition. [Mention your request.] Amen.”
Heart of Jesus, I adore Thee!
Heart of Mary, I implore Thee!
Heart of Joseph, pure and just!
In these Three Hearts I place my trust!
Sancte Ioseph, vir Mariae, de qua natus est Iesus, ora pro nobis!
On Devotion to Saint Joseph
by St. Teresa of Avila
“I took for my patron and lord the glorious Saint Joseph, and recommended myself earnestly to him. I saw clearly that he rendered me greater services than I knew how to ask for. I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favors which God hath given me through this blessed Saint; the dangers from which he hath delivered me, both of body and soul.
“To the other Saints, it appears that the Lord may have granted to succor us on particular occasions; but to Saint Joseph, as experience proves, He has granted to help us on all occasions. Our Lord would teach us, that, as He was pleased to be subject to Joseph upon the earth, so He is now pleased to grant whatever this Saint asks for in Heaven.
“Others whom I have recommended to have recourse to Joseph, have known this from experience. I never knew anyone who was particularly devout to him, that did not continually advance more and more in virtue. For the love of God, let him who does not believe this make his own trial.
“And I do not know how anyone can think of the Queen of Angels, at the time when She labored so much in the infancy and childhood of Jesus, and not return thanks to Joseph for the assistance which he rendered both to the Mother and to the Son.”