Encyclical of Pope
Leo XIII on Devotion to St. Joseph
To Our Venerable Brethren the
Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, and other
Ordinaries, in Peace and Union with Holy See.
Although We
have already many times ordered special prayers to be offered up in the whole
world, that the interests of Catholicism might be insistently recommended to
God, none will deem it matter for surprise that We consider the present moment
an opportune one for again inculcating the same duty. During periods of stress
and trial - chiefly when every lawlessness of act seems permitted to the powers
of darkness - it has been the custom in the Church to plead with special
fervour and perseverance to God, her author and protector, by recourse to the
intercession of the saints - and chiefly of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God -
whose patronage has ever been the most efficacious. The fruit of these pious
prayers and of the confidence reposed in the Divine goodness, has always,
sooner or later, been made apparent. Now, Venerable Brethren, you know the
times in which we live; they are scarcely less deplorable for the Christian
religion than the worst days, which in time past were most full of misery to
the Church. We see faith, the root of all the Christian virtues, lessening in
many souls; we see charity growing cold; the young generation daily growing in
depravity of morals and views; the Church of Jesus Christ attacked on every
side by open force or by craft; a relentless war waged against the Sovereign
Pontiff; and the very foundations of religion undermined with a boldness which
waxes daily in intensity. These things are, indeed, so much a matter of
notoriety that it is needless for Us to expatiate on the depths to which
society has sunk in these days, or on the designs which now agitate the minds
of men. In circumstances so unhappy and troublous, human remedies are
insufficient, and it becomes necessary, as a sole resource, to beg for
assistance from the Divine power.
2.
This is the reason why We have considered it necessary to turn to the Christian
people and urge them to implore, with increased zeal and constancy, the aid of
Almighty God. At this proximity of the month of October, which We have already
consecrated to the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, We
earnestly exhort the faithful to perform the exercises of this month with, if
possible, even more piety and constancy than heretofore. We know that there is
sure help in the maternal goodness of the Virgin, and We are very certain that
We shall never vainly place Our trust in her. If, on innumerable occasions, she
has displayed her power in aid of the Christian world, why should We doubt that
she will now renew the assistance of her power and favour, if humble and
constant prayers are offered up on all sides to her? Nay, We rather believe
that her intervention will be the more marvellous as she has permitted Us to
pray to her, for so long a time, with special appeals. But We entertain another
object, which, according to your wont, Venerable Brethren, you will advance
with fervour. That God may be more favourable to Our prayers, and that He may
come with bounty and promptitude to the aid of His Church, We judge it of deep
utility for the Christian people, continually to invoke with great piety and
trust, together with the Virgin-Mother of God, her chaste Spouse, the Blessed
Joseph; and We regard it as most certain that this will be most pleasing to the
Virgin herself. On the subject of this devotion, of which We speak publicly for
the first time to-day, We know without doubt that not only is the people inclined
to it, but that it is already established, and is advancing to full growth. We
have seen the devotion to St. Joseph, which in past times the Roman Pontiffs
have developed and gradually increased, grow into greater proportions in Our
time, particularly after Pius IX., of happy memory, Our predecessor,
proclaimed, yielding to the request of a large number of bishops, this holy
patriarch the patron of the Catholic Church. And as, moreover, it is of high
importance that the devotion to St. Joseph should engraft itself upon the daily
pious practices of Catholics, We desire that the Christian people should be
urged to it above all by Our words and authority.
3.
The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron of the
Church, and from which the Church looks for singular benefit from his patronage
and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of Mary and that he was reputed
the Father of Jesus Christ. From these sources have sprung his dignity, his
holiness, his glory. In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty
that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the
Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he
approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God
surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of
all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those
that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as
spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of
her maidenhood, the protector of her honour, but also, by virtue of the
conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines among
all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine will, he was the
guardian of the Son of God and reputed as His father among men. Hence it came
about that the Word of God was humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him,
and that He rendered to him all those offices that children are bound to render
to their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the obligation which nature
lays upon the head of families, so that Joseph became the guardian, the
administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose chief he was.
And during the whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those
duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his
spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was
necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded
from death the Child threatened by a monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a
refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was
ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of
Jesus. Now the divine house which Joseph ruled with the authority of a father,
contained within its limits the scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the
most holy Virgin is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all
Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme throes of the
Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the first-born of Christians, who by
the adoption and Redemption are his brothers. And for such reasons the Blessed
Patriarch looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as
confided specially to his trust - this limitless family spread over the earth,
over which, because he is the spouse of Mary and the Father of Jesus Christ he
holds, as it were, a paternal authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that
as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and
girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his
heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ.
4.
You well understand, Venerable Brethren, that these considerations are
confirmed by the ,opinion held by a large number of the Fathers, to which the
sacred liturgy gives its sanction, that the Joseph of ancient times, son of the
patriarch Jacob, was the type of St. Joseph, and the former by his glory
prefigured the greatness of the future guardian of the Holy Family. And in
truth, beyond the fact that the same name - a point the significance of which
has never been denied - was given to each, you well know the points of likeness
that exist between them; namely, that the first Joseph won the favour and
especial goodwill of his master, and that through Joseph's administration his
household came to prosperity and wealth; that (still more important) he
presided over the kingdom with great power, and, in a time when the harvests
failed, he provided for all the needs of the Egyptians with so much wisdom that
the King decreed to him the title "Saviour of the world." Thus it is
that We may prefigure the new in the old patriarch. And as the first caused the
prosperity of his master's domestic interests and at the same time rendered
great services to the whole kingdom, so the second, destined to be the guardian
of the Christian religion, should be regarded as the protector and defender of
the Church, which is truly the house of the Lord and the kingdom of God on
earth. These are the reasons why men of every rank and country should fly to
the trust and guard of the blessed Joseph. Fathers of families find in Joseph
the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a
perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins at the
same time find in him the model and protector of virginal integrity. The noble
of birth will earn of Joseph how to guard their dignity even in misfortune; the
rich will understand, by his lessons, what are the goods most to be desired and
won at the price of their labour. As to workmen, artisans, and persons of
lesser degree, their recourse to Joseph is a special right, and his example is
for their particular imitation. For Joseph, of royal blood, united by marriage
to the greatest and holiest of women, reputed the father of the Son of God,
passed his life in labour, and won by the toil of the artisan the needful
support of his family. It is, then, true that the condition of the lowly has
nothing shameful in it, and the work of the labourer is not only not
dishonouring, but can, if virtue be joined to it, be singularly ennobled.
Joseph, content with his slight possessions, bore the trials consequent on a
fortune so slender, with greatness of soul, in imitation of his Son, who having
put on the form of a slave, being the Lord of life, subjected himself of his
own free-will to the spoliation and loss of everything.
5.
Through these considerations, the poor and those who live by the labour of
their hands should be of good heart and learn to be just. If they win the right
of emerging from poverty and obtaining a better rank by lawful means, reason
and justice uphold them in changing the order established, in the first
instance, for them by the Providence of God. But recourse to force and
struggles by seditious paths to obtain such ends are madnesses which only
aggravate the evil which they aim to suppress. Let the poor, then, if they
would be wise, trust not to the promises of seditious men, but rather to the
example and patronage of the Blessed Joseph, and to the maternal charity of the
Church, which each day takes an increasing compassion on their lot.
6.
This is the reason why - trusting much to your zeal and episcopal authority,
Venerable Brethren, and not doubting that the good and pious faithful will run
beyond the mere letter of the law - We prescribe that during the whole month of
October, at the recitation of the Rosary, for which We have already legislated,
a prayer to St. Joseph be added, the formula of which will be sent with this
letter, and that this custom should be repeated every year. To those who recite
this prayer, We grant for each time an indulgence of seven years and seven
Lents. It is a salutary practice and very praiseworthy, already established in
some countries, to consecrate the month of March to the honour of the holy
Patriarch by daily exercises of piety. Where this custom cannot be easily
established, it is as least desirable, that before the feast-day, in the
principal church of each parish, a triduo of prayer be celebrated. In those
lands where the 19th of March - the Feast of St. Joseph - is not a Festival of
Obligation, We exhort the faithful to sanctify it as far as possible by private
pious practices, in honour of their heavenly patron, as though it were a day of
Obligation.
7.
And in token of heavenly favours, and in witness of Our good-will, We grant
most lovingly in the Lord, to you, Venerable Brethren, to your clergy and to
your people, the Apostolic blessing.
Given from the Vatican, August 15th, 1889, the 11th year of Our
Pontificate.
LEO XIII
Prayer to Saint Joseph
To
thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction, and having implored
the help of thy thrice holy Spouse, we now, with hearts filled with confidence,
earnestly beg thee also to take us under thy protection. By that charity
wherewith thou wert united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that
fatherly love with which thou didst cherish the Child Jesus, we beseech thee
and we humbly pray that thou wilt look down with gracious eye upon that
inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by His blood, and wilt succor us in
our need by thy power and strength.
Defend,
O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen off-spring of Jesus
Christ. Keep from us, O most loving Father, all blight of error and corruption.
Aid us from on high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powers of
darkness. And even as of old thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from the peril
of His life, so now defend God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and
from all adversity. Shield us ever under thy patronage, that, following thine
example and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a happy
death, and attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen.
