ST JOSEPH: PATRON SAINT OF CANADA

It saddens me to know that many Canadians have no clue that St Joseph is the Patron Saint of our nation. From the very beginning, New France (Canada) had placed St Joseph in a position of honor for the new country. At the time, the feast day of St Joseph, on March 19, had just been made mandatory for the whole Church in 1621 under Pope Gregory XV. There was a new sense of appreciation and vigor for devotion to St Joseph, as was made evident by the Canadian missionaries. It was the missionary Joseph Le Caron who chose St Joseph as the Patron Saint of New France (Canada.) Le Caron wrote of the Huron Indians and the difficulties of the work of evangelization. He noted on March 19, 1624: "We held a great feast in honor of St Joseph where all the inhabitants were included, several wild. This feast was held as a vow we made to St. Joseph, choosing him as Patron of New France.” 

In 1637, Father Le Jeune wrote that "the feast of the glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, father, patron and protector of New France, is one of the great solemnities of the country." It was under his patronage that was accomplished the evangelization of the Indians and Joseph’s name was given to the majority of new converts. The custom of bestowing the name of Joseph, either as first or middle name, was quickly established in New France, and continues to this day among many French-Canadian Roman Catholics.

The first Church in Canada named for St Joseph

 

Many chapels and churches of Canada are dedicated to him, the oldest being in the territory of the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil. It is the parish of Saint-Joseph-de-Chambly whose canonical dates back to 1665. The largest shrine in the world dedicated to St Joseph is on Mount Royal in Montreal, St Joseph's Oratory, which is also the final resting place of the body of St André Bessette.

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