Posted on 03/18/2005 5:01:18 PM PST by Salvation
MORE THAN PATRON OF HOMES, IT'S TIME FOR ST. JOSEPH TO GAIN HIGHEST OF RECOGNITION [Fatherhood}
(Saint) Joseph the Patriarch: A Reflection on the Solemnity of St. Joseph
How I Rediscovered a "Neglected" Saint: Work of Art Inspires Young Man to Rediscover St. Joseph
The Importance of Devotion to St. Joseph
St. Francis de Sales on St. Joseph (Some Excerpts for St. Joseph's Day 2004)
SO9
Your post stands!
Good for you ,wonderful post..St. Joseph one favorite!!!
Can you imagine the sort of patience it took to live with the only two perfect people to ever have lived?
St. Joseph was a man's man, I'm sure. It must have taken an amazing amount of courage to do what he did.
IS a man's man. He lives eternal life. THere is no question of that.
**IS a man's man. He lives eternal life. THere is no question of that.**
Agree with you there..............the model for all fatherhood.
To thee, O Blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our tribulations, and while imploring the aid of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that love which united thee to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and by the fatherly affection with which thou didst embrace the Infant Jesus, we humbly beseech thee graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased with His Blood and to help us in our necessities, by thy powerful intercession.
Protect, O most provident Guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen children of Jesus Christ; ward off from us, O most loving Father, all taint of error and corruption; graciously assist us from Heaven, O most power protector, in our struggle with the powers of darkness; and as thou didst once rescue the Child Jesus from imminent peril to His life, so now defend the Holy Church of God from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity.
Shield each one of us with thy unceasing patronage that, imitating thy example and sported by thy aid, we may be enabled to live a good life, die a holy death, and secure everlasting happiness in Heaven. Amen.
St. Joseph protect us, St. Joseph guide us, St. Joseph pray for us.
St. Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us.
From The House Tops, 2003
Thank you for this prayer!
Appreciate the Holy Card!
Thanks, Julie. Just signed it.
And thanks for the Litany too!
BTTT on March 19, Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Jesus Christ.
On the Solemnity of St. Joseph, children might be taught to emulate St. Joseph for his sense of duty which impelled him to take such loving care of the Blessed Mother and the Infant Child. Because St. Joseph was a humble carpenter, he is regarded as the patron saint of workers everywhere; and the fact that his trade was not highly regarded by worldly men should teach us that it is more important to develop the spiritual qualities which he exemplified than to strive for material success.
Activity Source: Catholic Family Handbook, The by Rev. George A. Kelly, Random House, Inc., New York, 1959
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Traditions related to Saint Joseph
DIRECTIONS Up to the fifteenth century our Lord's foster father was not honored by a special feast of the Church, and people did not generally venerate him, although many ancient Fathers and writers mentioned him with reverence and high regard. It was only at the time of the Crusades that a practice of private devotion to Saint Joseph spread from the Eastern Churches into Europe. This devotion was greatly encouraged by some saints of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, especially Saint Bernard (1153), Saint Thomas Aquinas (1274), and Saint Gertrude (1310). At the end of the fourteenth century the Franciscans, and soon afterward the Dominicans and Carmelites, introduced a Feast of Saint Joseph into their calendars. Finally, under Pope Sixtus IV an annual feast of the Saint was established on March 19 for the whole Church. It was, however, a feast of the lowest rank (simplex), imposing no obligation on the clergy to celebrate it. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many religious orders and some national rulers, especially the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain, appealed to the popes to raise the feast in rank and make it a prescribed holyday. Accordingly, Pope Gregory XV made it in 1621 a holyday of obligation. Pius X in 1911 rescinded the obligation of attending Mass, though it was later restored by the new Code of Canon Law in 1918. In a short time the veneration of the Saint quickly and enthusiastically spread through all Catholic nations. Saint Teresa (1582), who had a special devotion to him, inspired the reformed Carmelites to establish a feast of the "patronage" of Saint Joseph, which was annually celebrated by the order on the third Sunday after Easter. This feast was extended in 1847 to the whole Church. In 1870 Pope Pius IX solemnly declared Saint Joseph as the official patron of the universal Church. In 1956 the feast of Saint Joseph's patronage was replaced by a feast of "Saint Joseph the Worker," to be celebrated annually on May 1. The popular patronage of Saint Joseph is universal in scope. The words of the Egyptian Pharao, "Go to Joseph" (Gen. 41, 55), were applied to him. Filled with affection, love, and confidence, the faithful turned to him in all their temporal and spiritual needs. Every detail of his life gave rise to a special patronage. He is the patron of tradesmen and workers, of travelers and refugees, of the persecuted, of Christian families and homes, of purity and interior life, of engaged couples, of people in temporal distress (food, home, clothing, sickness, etc.), of the poor, aged, and dying. It was a widespread custom in past centuries for newly wed couples to spend the first night of matrimony (St. Joseph's Night) in abstinence and to perform some devotion in honor of Saint Joseph that he might bless their marriage. Small round breads (St. Joseph's loaves; fritelli) are baked and eaten in many sections of Europe on March 19 to honor the heavenly "bread father." From the seventeenth century on it was customary to have a statue of the Saint on the table during the main meal and to "serve" it generous portions which afterward were given the poor. In northern Spain it is an ancient tradition for people to make a pilgrimage to a shrine of Saint Joseph on March 19 and there to have a special repast after the devotions. This meal consists of roast lamb, which is eaten, picnic style, outside the shrine in the afternoon (Merienda del Cordero; Repast of the Lamb). For this occasion the faithful who make the pilgrimage and then partake of the meal are dispensed from the law of Lenten fast. In the region of Valencia on the east coast of Spain a strange and interesting tradition developed the burning of fires in honor of Saint Joseph. It is said to have been started by the carpenters in past centuries, when they cleaned their workshops before March 19 and burned all the litter on the evening of their patron's feast. Today committees are established which collect and exhibit at street crossings structures made of wood by boys and men during the weeks before the feast. These structures represent houses, figures, scenes, many of them symbolic of some political event of the past year. They are admired and judged by the people, and on the eve of Saint Joseph's Day the best one receives a prize and is put aside. All the others are burned in joyful bonfires. Music, dancing, and fireworks (traca) are a part of this celebration in honor of Saint Joseph. In some parts of Italy ancient nature lore rites are still performed on Saint Joseph's Day, the "burial of winter" for instance, which is done by sawing a symbolic figure (scega vecchia) in two. In central Europe the day is celebrated by farmers as the beginning of spring. They light candles in honor of the Saint, put little shrines with his picture in their gardens and orchards, and have their fields blessed by the priest.
LITURGICAL PRAYER: Assist us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, by the merits of the Spouse of Thy most holy Mother, that, what of ourselves we are unable to obtain, may be granted us by his intercession. Activity Source: Holyday Book, The by Francis X. Weiser, S.J., Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., New York, 1956 |
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