St. Joseph
Posted on 02/22/2008 1:45:20 PM PST by NYer
.- The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has transferred the celebration of the Solemnity of St. Joseph to March 15, since the traditional date of observance—March 19—coincides with Wednesday of Holy Week.
The universal norms of the Liturgical year and Calendar stipulate that the celebrations of Holy Week, including Wednesday, have priority over any other celebration, feast day or solemnity. If the feast of St. Joseph had not been moved this year, it would have been completely omitted, as the week after is the Octave of Easter, which also trumps any other feast day or solemnity.
For this same reason, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, which is normally observed on March 25, has been moved to March 31, the first Monday after the Easter Octave.
Just curious - does anyone in the Forum celebrate this feast and how? Is it a family tradition and/or how this this begin?
One personal devotion is to say the famous St. Joseph prayer as a Novena for nine consecutive days leading up to March 15.
Prayer to St. Joseph (dating from the year 50 AD)
O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
Joseph was a very good man, and a worthy example of earthly fatherhood.
We don’t actually celebrate St. Joseph’s feast. The only tradition we have which is Irish in origin, is that St. Joseph’s feast day is the day to cut back or trim the yew bushes and the arbor vitae. Where it began I have no idea.
We don’t actually celebrate St. Joseph’s feast. The only tradition we have which is Irish in origin, is that St. Joseph’s feast day is the day to cut back or trim the yew bushes and the arbor vitae. Where it began I have no idea.
Perhaps it depends on the nature of the request. If it is of any consolation, our pastor was recently in need of a serious carpenter to help restore a 160 y/o home into a future rectory. He followed through on leads and called some of the area's best carpenters. They took one look at his Roman collar and quoted astronomical prices. He turned to St. Joseph in prayer. Last month, while attending a clergy retreat, another priest heard about his need and put him in touch with a parishioner who is a professional carpenter. He came, reviewed the project and, out of respect for the Maronite Catholic Church, quoted Father a price that was a fraction of what the others had asked. I had an opportunity to meet with him last night. He is a humble man with God-given skills who sincerely seeks to give back to God through service to this priest and parish, even though it is not his parish. I was privileged on Monday to see his work and was astounded at how he had addressed complex angles and crooked walls. Truly, he was sent by St. Joseph in answer to Father's prayers.
Have faith and let St. Joseph guide you to the person best suited for the job at hand.
St. Joseph’s day is a major celebration for Catholics, it is not only a feast, but a Solemnity. The Hymn from the Tridentine Mass is beautiful! I doubt I could find it on the internet, so unless someone really is interested, let me know because I’ll have to type it here from scratch from my missal.
The Litany I can probably find online, and I imagine all parishes with St. Joseph as their patron will recite it before or after Mass on that day (I would hope!)
Litany Of Saint Joseph
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary,
Pray for us.
Holy Joseph,
Pray for us.
Noble Son of the House of David,
Pray for us.
Light of the Patriarchs,
Pray for us.
Husband of the Mother of God,
Pray for us.
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin,
Pray for us.
Foster-father of the Son of God,
Pray for us.
Sedulous Defender of Christ,
Pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family,
Pray for us.
Joseph most just,
Pray for us.
Joseph most chaste,
Pray for us.
Joseph most prudent,
Pray for us.
Joseph most valiant,
Pray for us.
Joseph most obedient,
Pray for us.
Joseph most faithful,
Pray for us.
Mirror of patience,
Pray for us.
Lover of poverty,
Pray for us.
Model of all who labor,
Pray for us.
Glory of family life,
Pray for us.
Protector of Virgins,
Pray for us.
Pillar of families,
Pray for us.
Consolation of the afflicted,
Pray for us.
Hope of the sick,
Pray for us.
Patron of the dying,
Pray for us.
Terror of the demons,
Pray for us.
Protector of the holy Church,
Pray for us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
He made him master of his house,
and ruler of all his possessions.
O God, You were pleased to choose Saint Joseph as the husband of Mary and the guardian of your Son. Grant that, as we venerate him as our protector on earth, we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wow, how nice, reminds me of the famous Loreto staircase in Sante Fe. The sisters needed a staircase built to the chapel choir loft and no one could do it. They prayed and an itinerant carpenter came along, built it in a spiral defying the laws of physics, with no nails or pins, and then he disappeared. Some said it was St. Joseph. Architects apparently still cannot explain how the staircase can stand.
The wooden staircase is beautiful, I’ve been there, sadly the chapel has been deconsecrated and is no longer owned by the Church. Too bad, it has a gorgeous old-fashioned marble altar that would be perfect for the newly-freed Tridentine Mass.
At the parish in which I grew up (St Joseph’s obviously) this was a significant feast day. We were a French-Canadian parish and much of the celebrating (food, music etc.) was ethnic in nature. I suspect a lot of this was because the feast fell so close to St Patricks day.
our parish has a St. Joseph’s altar or table. here’s a link to EWTN with ideas on how to do it: http://www.ewtn.com/CatholicCrafts/joseph_altar.htm
and another good link regarding the history of St. Joseph Altars and pictures of some elaborate ones:
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/stjo.html
That is most interesting! Thank you for doing the research and posting the links. I will print these out and share them with Father. Perhaps when the work is done, we can have a special parish event with St. Joseph’s Altar to thank him for sending us this wonderful carpenter.
I hope you are able to get an altar and little reception set up. It's a beautiful way to honor the humblest of God's Saints and to help the young of the parish experience a very traditional activity that is educational and very social!
We eat toads and whip ourselves bloody.
I read this post, and then saw the poster! You naughty boy, Humble!! tch, tch. lol!!
One of my favorite parts of Santa Fe. Beautiful legend.
St. Joseph—for some reason, perhaps because he was named protector of the church—is most greatly revered in Italy. He’s also the patron saint of carpenters, labor unions, fathers, and a happy death. That happy death doesn’t mean without pain but without despair, the certainty at death that one is at ease with God’s justice.
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