✠ DONATIONS NEEDED ✠

 

The Apostolate of St. Joseph Prince of the Church is a non-profit apostolate started in 2011 with the mission of making St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, better known and loved among the faithful. The Apostolate does this by sending out free books (authored by the Apostolate's founder) to people all around the world. These books are printed at the Apostolate's own expense, not to mention paying for the shipping charges, with the exception of the odd donation from a select few devotees of St. Joseph. (To those of you who have helped-out already, you know how grateful I am for your kindness.)

To date we have sent out hundreds of free, high quality, books on the subject of St. Joseph to people in the Philippines, Malta, India, UK, Australia, the USA, Canada and Spain.

In addition to making books available free of charge to those who could not afford them, the Apostolate has also sent out free St. Joseph sacramentals such as Scapulars, Rosaries, Holy Oil, Medals, Chaplets, Prayer Cards, etc...

Things have come to a temporary standstill as we still owe the printers (First Choice Books) $497.38 for the last batch of books. We cannot print any more St. Joseph materials for distribution until we have paid this bill. The founder is also struggling financially at this time and cannot afford to give as much as he used to.

Give as little or as much as you please however your prayers are always appreciated. We do have books for sale now on the Apostolate website - the proceeds going towards paying off what we owe to the printers. This work cannot continue without the support of the faithful.

To make a donation using Paypal, please click below:

 Please visit our website: www.PrinceOfTheChurch.yolasite.com
Visit our blog site: www.ApostolateOfStJoseph.blogspot.ca
And like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ApostolateOfStJoseph

God bless you! All for Jesus, through Mary, with Joseph!

UPDATE: 

♔ THE PREDESTINATION OF ST. JOSEPH ♔

.

Text by Cardinal Lepicier (1863-1936) 

Inasmuch as St. Joseph’s election to the dignity of Spouse of Mary and Virgin-Father of Jesus would constitute the formal reason of his future glory, it follows that he was predestined to this dignity from all eternity, even as Jesus Christ Himself was predestined to be the Son of God and Mary to be the Mother of the Word Incarnate. St. Joseph will therefore occupy a preeminent place among the elect next to the Virgin Mother, and this place no one will take from him, for what is established in the divine counsels cannot be frustrated. The order of predestination suffers no change.

St. Joseph’s predestination to the dignity of the Spouse of the Mother of God was entirely subordinated to the decree of the Incarnation of the Word, not fortuitously, but precisely in view of the fact that the Incarnation was ordained to the salvation of mankind.

In point of fact, according to the teaching of St. Thomas, which agrees admirably with Sacred Scripture and the Liturgy, if man had not sinned, the Word would not have become incarnate. That is why the predestination of St. Joseph, like Christ’s and His Mother’s, had the redemption of the human race as its formal object.

Here, therefore, appears in all its beauty the radiant crown which was destined from all eternity to wreathe the head of the glorious patriarch.

Inasmuch as the Redemption was to be accomplished only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, St. Joseph was predestined first of all to be the authentic witness of the Saviour’s supernatural birth and then to become the guardian of the Virgin Mother and her Son, watching over them with unswerving fidelity and providing their food and necessities by the work of his hands.

That is why it can be said that St. Joseph was predestined by God to cooperate in a special manner with the Saviour and His Mother in the work of Redemption; and there precisely lies the sublimity of the office which so enhances the holy patriarch’s dignity in our eyes.

We rejoice, o glorious Patriarch, in the choice which the Most High made of you for so sublime a dignity. For, sinners that we are, we dare to have confident recourse to you, in light of the fact that our very faults somehow supplied the motive for your predestination, inasmuch as you were chosen to be the “minister of our salvation.” Be our guide to Jesus, Prince of the predestined, and intercede for us with her who holds the key to all graces and whom in all truth you call your well-beloved Spouse.

✠ TO THEE O BLESSED ST. JOSEPH ✠ Prayer of Pope Leo XIII

To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also.  

Through that charity which bound thee to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which thou embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg thee to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holy, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. + Amen.

✠ LATIN ✠

AD te beate Ioseph, in tribulatione nostra confugimus, atque, implorato Sponsae tuae sanctissimae auxilio, patrocinium quoque tuum fidenter exposcimus. Per eam, quaesumus quae te cum immaculata Virgine Dei Genetrice coniunxit, caritatem, perque paternum, quo Puerum Iesum amplexus es, amorem, supplices deprecamur, ut ad hereditatem, quam Iesus Christus acquisivit Sanguine suo, benignus respicias, ac necessitatibus nostris tua virtute et ope succurras.

Tuere, o Custos providentissime divinae Familiae, Iesu Christi subolem electam; prohibe a nobis, amantissime Pater, omnem errorum ac corruptelarum luem; propitius nobis, sospitator noster fortissime, in hoc cum potestate tenebrarum certamine e caelo adesto; et sicut olim Puerum Iesum e summo eripuisti vitae discrimine, ita nunc Ecclesiam sanctam Dei ab hostilibus insidiis atque ab omni adversitate defende: nosque singulos perpetuo tege patrocinio, ut ad tui exemplar et ope tua suffulti, sancte vivere, pie emori, sempiternamque in caelis beatitudinem assequi possimus. Amen.

♔ NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ♔

Hail, Infant Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou forever, and blessed are thy holy parents Joachim and Anne, of whom thou wast miraculously born. Mother of God, intercede for us.

We fly to thy patronage, holy and amiable Child Mary, despise not our prayers in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, glorious and blessed Virgin.

V. Pray for us, holy Child Mary.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray: O almighty and merciful God, Who through the cooperation of the Holy Ghost, didst prepare the body and soul of the Immaculate Infant Mary that she might be the worthy Mother of Thy Son, and didst preserve her from all stain, grant that we who venerate with all our hearts her most holy childhood, may be freed, through her merits and intercession, from all uncleanness of mind and body, and be able to imitate her perfect humility, obedience and charity. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. 

♔ ST. JOSEPH & THE CARIBOU - 1917 CANADA ♔

In March, 1917, famine literally threatened St. Joseph Orphanage at Fort Resolution, northern Canada. The fishing and hunting had been insufficient. One hundred orphans, ten nuns and as many Oblates were experiencing the pangs of hunger. One evening, Father Alphonse Duport, superior of the residence, called all the children together and spoke to them seriously: “As you can see, we are in a miserable state… soon we will be out of food. It seems to me that you haven’t prayed to Saint Joseph fervently enough. Well! Get on your knees, on this very day we’re beginning a novena of prayers.”

Sister Superior, when approached with the question of how many caribous it would take to survive until spring, replied that it would take one hundred. She added, tearfully, that in two days the present supply would be exhausted.. Then Father Duport summoned two hunters. “Go in that direction on the open lake. We need one hundred caribous.” “But Father, you know very well that there is nothing left in that direction. No tracks have been seen.” “Go, I say, kill us one hundred caribous, and not one less! Saint Joseph owes them to us because we are asking him. He’ll send them to us.”

The two men left, certain that it was a lost cause. After two days of walking, they spotted a herd of caribous emerging around a bend in the lake. At first the hunters were surprised to find such a profusion at this spot, but they didn’t lose an instant. Each went for his gun and ammunition bag. They began to shoot. With each bullet they fired one and sometimes two animals fell. Once the herd had dispersed, the dead caribous were counted. There were one hundred and three! It was at the same moment that the sisters and their orphans were in the chapel praying to Saint Joseph for one hundred caribous… and not one less.

ST. JOSEPH: GENEROUS BENEFACTOR

In his memoirs, “Fifty Years in the Land of Snow”, Bishop Breynat acknowledges honestly: “If the missions in Mackenzie have prospered, it is due to the Holy Patriarch St. Joseph who provided for all our needs. We were able to build four boarding schools, six hospitals, ten churches, and twenty new missions. We were able to purchase a half-dozen boats and an airplane to provide for, and visit, these missions. Many times, Saint Joseph amazingly came to our aid when the food supplies were lacking. But it is our school at Fort Resolution, founded under his patronage, which received the most striking evidence of this fatherly concern.”