In this 3rd session, we discuss the development of devotion to St Joseph through the various ages of Church history, as well as the saints most well known for this devotion. Likewise, some of the apparitions and miracles attributed to St Joseph.
Listen to part 1 online [here]!
Listen to part 2 online [here]!
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St Joseph in Scripture
and in the Church
Devotion to St Joseph,
Patron of the Universal Church
Session 3 – Devotion to
St Joseph in the History of the Church
Outline of Session 3: Historical Development of the devotion to St Joseph. Miracles and Apparitions.
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. Review
of Speculative Theology about St Joseph
A. St
Joseph in the Hypostatic Order. His marriage to Mary, and his fatherhood of
Christ.
B. Freed from original sin before birth. Concupiscence subdued. Never
committed a mortal sin. Nor even a deliberate venial sin.
C. Joseph’s youth – perhaps only 16 at the marriage. Raised from
the dead and assumed into heaven.
II. Devotion to St Joseph in the Early Church
Devotion to St Joseph did not develop significantly in the first
age of the Church. No images until the 3rd
Century. Even into the 6th Century, he is pictured almost
exclusively within the Magi-Nativity scenes.
He is pictured in the arch of St Mary Major, Rome in 435 as present at
the Annunciation, Presentation, and Flight into Egypt.
St Helen seems to have erected a church dedicated to St Joseph in
Nazareth (early 400s).
Because of the flight into Egypt and traditions related to it, the
Coptic Church fostered devotion to St Joseph, and established a feast in honor
of his death (on July 20th) – early 600s.
By the 700s in the Byzantine Church, strong reliance on the
Apocrypha. Veneration of St Joseph was linked with Christmas, celebrated on the
Sunday after as a joint commemoration of King David and St Joseph.
III. Devotion to St Joseph through the Middle Ages and Modern
Period
In the Western Church, St Augustine had defended the truth of the
marriage between Joseph and Mary. Later
writers (700s to 1000s) defended his virginity, his dignity, hid unique
sanctity (notably, Venerable Bede, Alcuin, Rabanus Marus, Radbertus, Walafridus
Strabo, etc). W Strabo, “The shepherds found Mary, Joseph, and the Child;
through these three the world was healed.”
Why is St Joseph’s feast on March 19th? This is a difficult question, and seems to be
related to a certain martyr named Joseph in Antioch who was commemorated on
March 20th. Additionally, another African martyr named Joserus on
March 19th, whose name was corrupted to Josippus and eventually
Josephus, “Joseph”.
The martyrology attributed to St
Jerome, by the early 800s, includes the feast of St Joseph on March 19th. An Irish martyrology based on an even more
ancient martyrology from the 700s also gives March 19th.
By the early 1000s, the monasteries of Europe generally held his
feast on March 19th. And his feast was elevated to first place on
that day by the 1400s.
In the middle ages, St Albert the Great and St Thomas Aquinas among
others promoted theology of and devotion to St Joseph. St Bernard is most important, as well as St
Bonaventure. But the greatest promoter
was St Bernardine of Siena (d. 1444).
Special mention of the Carmelite Devotion to St Joseph, and
especially St Teresa of Avila. She dedicated herself to St Joseph, placed her
convent under his protection, and led the whole Order and Church to his special
protection.
IV. Devotion to St Joseph in the Contemporary Church
“The two thousand years of the Christian era can roughly be divided
into four distinct and equal periods as regards devotion to St Joseph. In the
first five hundred years Joseph was neglected because of the pressure of
dogmatic issues; in the second, his veneration as an individual first appeared
remotely and obscurely in the monasteries; in the third, the formal devotion
began to appear, together with a feast in the liturgy. Finally, within the last
four hundred years and particularly since 1870, Joseph has entered into his
glory on Earth.” (Joseph, the Man
Closes to Jesus, Filas)
The growth of devotion to St Joseph in the Liturgy: Pope St John XXIII put St Joseph into the
Canon of the Mass. Pope Bl Pius IX
declared him Patron of the Universal Church 150 years ago. Pope Ven Pius XII
made him Patron of Workers. Pope Francis inserted his name into Eucharistic
Prayers 2, 3 and 4.
