St. Joseph, Guido Reni

BELOW is a collection of thoughts on St. Joseph, whom we honor on his feast day today. Known as “Mirror of Patience” and “Terror of Demons,” Joseph has played a miraculous, inestimable role in history. Meditating on his humility, courage and strength has enriched untold lives and roused the indifferent. St. Joseph is famous for his intercessions for the dying.

O Joseph, heavenly hosts thy worthiness proclaim,
And Christendom conspires to celebrate thy fame,
Thou who in purest bonds wert to the Virgin Bound;
How glorious is thy name renowned.

Thou, when thou didst behold thy Spouse about the bear,
Wert sore oppressed with doubt, wert filled with wondering care;
At length the Angel’s word thy anxious heart relieved:
She by the Spirit hath conceived. (Source)

Bust of St. Joseph, Engraving by Claude Mellan (1598–1688 Paris)

From Daily Meditations in March on St. Joseph by Rev. R.F. Clarke, S.J.:

St. Joseph had a privilege on earth which for all other saints is reserved for the eternal Paradise, of being in the continual company of his God, of gazing on the Sacred Humanity of the Incarnate Word, of hearing from Him words of love and gratitude, of drinking in delicious draughts of heavenly delight from the words and looks of the Incarnate God. His life must have been one long ecstasy. If those who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment received an inflow of heavenly virtue, what must he have received who nursed Him in infancy, and bore Him the closest company in youth and manhood!

Pierre Chaignon wrote in 1907 (Source):

From the moment that the angel had revealed to him the mystery of the Incarnation accomplished in his august spouse, his life was a continual contemplation. What did he contemplate, if not the love of God for us, impersonated in the Word made flesh?  “God has so loved the world.”

Dom Prosper Guéranger in the nineteenth century wrote in his Liturgical Year:

Who can imagine or worthily describe the sentiments which filled the heart of this man, whom the Gospel describes to us in one word, when it calls him the just man (St. Matth. i. 19.)? Let us try to picture him to ourselves amidst the principal events of his life: his being chosen as the Spouse of Mary, the most holy and perfect of God’s creatures; the Angel’s appearing to him, and making him the one single human confidant of the mystery of the Incarnation, by telling him that his Virgin Spouse bore within her the fruit of the world’s salvation; the joys of Bethlehem, when he assisted at the Birth of the Divine Babe, honoured the Virgin Mother, and heard the Angels singing; his seeing, first the humble and simple Shepherds, and then the rich Eastern Magi, coming to the stable to adore the new-born Child; the sudden fears which came on him, when he was told to arise, and, midnight as it was, to flee into Egypt with the Child and the Mother; the hardships of that exile, the poverty and the privations which were endured by the hidden God, Whose foster-father he was, and by the Virgin Spouse, whose sublime dignity was now so evident to him; the return to Nazareth, and the humble and laborious life led in that village, where he so often witnessed the world’s Creator sharing in the work of a Carpenter; the happiness of such a life, in that cottage where his companions were the Queen of the Angels and the Eternal Son of God, both of whom honoured, and tenderly loved him as the head of the family: yes, Joseph was beloved and honoured by the uncreated Word, the Wisdom of the Father, and by the Virgin, the master-piece of God’s power and holiness.

Thomas H. Kinane wrote in St. Joseph: His life, His virtues, His privileges, His power:

In the supernatural, as in the moral and physical order, the infinite wisdom and power of God suit the means to the end. God gives grace and sanctity to His Saints to fulfill the office and rank for which His Divine Providence has destined them.* The nearer a soul is destined to approach God, and the more intimately and largely she enters into the scheme of Redemption, the greater is her dignity, and in proportion is her sanctity. In the above principles we have the origin and the source of the sanctity, privileges, and choicest graces, showered, in all the plenitude of their abundance, upon the soul of St. Joseph by the Almighty.

Devotions to St. Joseph can be found here.

And some customs of the day.

(Indulgence of 100 days, twice a day.–Pius X, Nov. 26, 1906)

Prayer to St. Joseph for Our Work

O Glorious St. Joseph! Model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance for the expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my inclinations; to work with thankfulness and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, never shrinking from weariness and trials; to work, above all, with purity of intention, and with detachment from self, keeping unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I must give of time lost, talents unused, good omitted, and vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God.

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thy example, O Patriarch Joseph; such shall be my watchword in life and in death. Amen

(Indulgence of 300 days, once a day.–Pius X, Nov. 25, 1906)

St. Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni

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