In our final session of this series on St Joseph, we consider the practice of devotion to St Joseph. First, why it is truly necessary to be devoted to St Joseph and how this devotion is qualitatively different from that given to the other saints. Practical advice about devotion to St Joseph and recommendations for various devotions. Cautions against certain superstitious practices: For example, it is objectively a sin to bury a Statue of St Joseph upside down in the yard with the intention of selling a home.
Listen online [here]!
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St Joseph in Scripture
and in the Church
Devotion to St Joseph,
Patron of the Universal Church
Session 4 – Practical Devotion
to St Joseph
Outline
of Session 4: The importance of devotion
to St Joseph, prayers to St Joseph at Mass, St Joseph and the Rosary,
Wednesdays, March, feasts, St Joseph Table, the Litany, Seven Sundays, etc.
Overview
of the Course, 4 sessions 1) St Joseph in Scripture 2) St Joseph in the
Writings of the Saints 3) The Miracles of St Joseph in the Life of the Church 4)
Practical Devotion to St Joseph
I. Why
is devotion to St Joseph necessary?
Latria (God alone, the humanity of Christ, the Crucifix).
Hyperdulia (the Blessed Virgin Mary), dulia (all the saints and angels), and
“protodulia” (St Joseph).
The unique role of St Joseph in the Hypostatic Order and in the
mysteries of salvation indicates devotion is necessary. Tied to this, that Jesus was obedient to
Joseph who was true head of the Holy Family.
Pope Leo XIII explained that no one has come so closely to the
Virgin Mary’s holiness as St. Joseph. “By its very nature, [the conjugal union]
is accompanied by a reciprocal communication of the goods of the spouses. If
then God gave St. Joseph to Mary to be her spouse, he certainly did not give
him merely as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, a guardian of
her honor, but he made him also participate by the conjugal bond in the eminent
dignity which was hers.”
St Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church: Pope Pius IX
recognized that because of the “sublime dignity which God conferred on His most
faithful Servant, the Church has always most highly honored and lauded the Most
Blessed Joseph next after his spouse, the Virgin Mother of God, and has
implored his intercession in all her great necessities.”
Note that this declaration was made on December 8th, the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
St Joseph’s feast (March 19th) is a Holy Day of
Obligation in the Universal Calendar – indicating his importance. Sts Peter and Paul are the only others besides
Our Lady.
II. Devotional prayers to St Joseph
See the parish handout with many good prayers!
III. The month of March, and
Wednesdays
March is dedicated to St Joseph because of his March 19th
feast. (May 1st is the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, established in
response to Communism and “May Day” – but also as a way to start the Month of
Mary).
Wednesdays have traditionally been dedicated to St Joseph, with a
special votive Mass available on that day. Even as Saturdays are for Mary,
Fridays for the Passion, Thursdays for the Eucharist and the priesthood,
Tuesdays for the Angels, Mondays for the Trinity. Wednesdays are also associated with the
Apostles and especially Sts Peter and Paul.
Many saints (including, in our land, St Junipero Serra) offered
special Wednesday devotions to St Joseph.
Another practice is the “Nine First Wednesdays” St Joseph devotion:
Attending Mass and receiving communion on the first Wednesday of the Month for
nine consecutive months. Also offering special devotional prayers to honor St
Joseph, especially asking for the grace of a holy death for ourselves and for
all those who are at the point of death.
[I have seen others recommend 7 first Wednesdays – the number is not
strictly determined]
IV. Other devotions to St Joseph
St Joseph Cord: A white cord with one knot at an end, and seven on
the other (in honor of the seven sorrows/joys).
Common to pray the Our Father and Hail Mary (and Glory Be) seven times
daily in honor of the sorrows/joys.
The Chaplet of St Joseph, reflecting on the mysteries of the Rosary
with St Joseph. 15 sets of four beads –
one white (name mystery, 2 Hail Marys), three blue (“Praised and blessed be
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph”).
Seven Sundays Devotion: For the Seven Sundays prior to the feast of
March 19th - in honor of the seven sorrows and joys of St Joseph.
The prayers consist of the Litany of St Joseph and then an Our Father and Seven
Hail Mary’s, as well as meditation upon the sorrows and joys. Seven sorrows/joys: (1) the doubt of Joseph /
the message of the angel; (2) the poverty of Jesus birth / the Birth of the
Savior; (3) the pain of the Circumcision / the Holy Name of Jesus; (4) the
prophecy of Simeon / the effects of redemption; (5) the flight into Egypt / the
destruction of the idols of Egypt; (6) the hard travel back to Israel / the
holy life with Jesus and Mary; (7) Jesus lost for three days / Jesus found in
the Temple.
Chaste Heart of St Joseph: The First Wednesday of every month is dedicated
in devotion to the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph and it derives from
Church-approved apparitions in Itapiranga, Brazil in 1998. The apparitions were
approved by a Bishop Dom Carillo Gritti in 2010 and the Feast is usually
celebrated on the first Wednesday after the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
33 Day Consecration to St Joseph. Promoted by Marian Fathers of the
Immaculate Conception, written by Fr Donald Callaway. Based on the 33 day
consecration pattern of St Louis Marie de Montfort.
“The person who consecrates himself to St. Joseph wants to be as
close to their spiritual father as possible, to the point of resembling him in
virtue and holiness,” writes Father Donald Calloway in his book Consecration to
St. Joseph. In turn, St. Joseph gives that person “his loving attention,
protection, and guidance.”
The Venerable Mary of Agreda laid out seven privileges of devotion
to St. Joseph: attaining the virtue of purity, procuring powerful intercession
to escape sin, increasing love and devotion to Mary, securing the grace of a
happy death, fighting off demons with the mention of his name, gaining health
of body and assistance in difficulties, securing children in families.
False devotions: Burying a
statue upside down. Prayers that are “guaranteed to work.”
False apparitions: Jacarei,
Brazil. Brea, California, USA. Diocese of Cleaveland, Maureen Sweeney Kyle,
Holy Love Ministries and Missionary Servants of Holy Love and Rosary of the
Unborn,
