♔ THE SANCTIFICATION & NATIVITY OF ST. JOSEPH ♔

The circumstances of the conception and nativity of St. Joseph have been revealed to a select few mystics of the Church. More recently, in the Church-Approved apparitions of Itapiranga, Brazil, we are given the date of birth of the spouse of the Virgin Mary revealed to be October 27. 

Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee... Jeremiah 1:5

Through the Servant of God, Mother Cecilia Baij, whose writings were given both the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat, we learn of the circumstances of St Joseph’s conception and birth. These events mirror those of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) and St John the Baptist (St Luke1:5-19, 41-44) who were sanctified in the womb several months after their conception (freed from the stain of original sin by the grace of God, not to be confused with the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.)

Servant of God, Mother Cecilia Baij: God permitted that their (Jacob and Rachel’s) marriage should, for a time, prove to be unfruitful, for He wished Joseph to be a child obtained through prayerful entreaty. … His parents generously bestowed alms upon the poor and for the temple in Jerusalem. They also made many pilgrimages to beg God for the desired offspring! God, before long, provided consolation.

It was on one occasion… in the temple, that Joseph’s mother experienced an inner conviction that God had heard her prayer … and indeed she conceived St Joseph. …

The happiness and piety of the parents were increased when an angel came to reveal to them … secret facts concerning this child. … It was disclosed that the child would have the happy privilege of seeing the promised Messiah and associating with Him …

The momentous day arrived. Joseph’s mother gave birth to her child with ease… The tiny babe had a most angelic, venerable, and serene expression … and the mere sight of him was an occasion of spiritual stimulation for everyone. …

Joseph was in the grace and friendship of God, having been previously freed of the stain of original sin. … Joseph had the best of dispositions: he was endowed with gifts. He matured in a most outstanding manner, both physically and spiritually; … His soul’s growth was derived from the graces he obtained from the divine bounty and generosity. God fashioned him according to His own heart and spirit, in order to eventually make him a worthy bridegroom for the Mother of the Divine Word. The child acknowledged these gifts which he was receiving from God.
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In the seventeenth century, a Spanish mystic named Maria de Agreda (1602-1665) was also given heavenly insights into the life of the Holy Family, which were compiled in her monumental work, Mystical City of God. Her writings have been acclaimed throughout the centuries by Popes and theologians, and she has since been declared Venerable by the Church. She too was shown that St Joseph was sanctified in his mother’s womb:

Venerable Maria de Agreda: Joseph was to be a miracle of holiness, as he really was. This marvelous holiness commenced with the formation of his body in the womb of his mother. In this the providence of God himself interfered, regulating the composition of the four radical humors of his body with extreme nicety of proportion and securing for him that evenly tempered disposition which made his body a blessed earth fit for the abode of an exquisite soul and well-balanced mind (Wisdom 8:19.)

He was sanctified in the womb of his mother seven months after his conception, and the leaven of sin was destroyed in him for the whole course of life, never having felt any impure or disorderly movement.

Although he did not receive the use of his reason together with this first sanctification, which consisted principally in justification from original sin, yet his mother at the time felt a wonderful joy of the Holy Ghost. Without understanding entirely the mystery she elicited great acts of virtue and believed that her son, would be wonderful in the sight of God and men.

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The sanctification of Joseph in the womb is a remarkable example of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness in preparation for the Incarnation of God the Son. The Heavenly Father sanctified Joseph so that when the time came for him to wed the Blessed Virgin Mary and raise Our Lord Jesus as his own son, he would be the most perfect and holy husband and father. Just as pharaoh deemed Joseph of the Old Covenant to be the worthy prince over his possessions (Psalm 104:21 Douay-Rheims) and intercessor for those who hungered (Genesis 41:55), so too did our almighty and ever living God choose from eternity this new Joseph to be born to protect and adore His most precious treasures: Our Lord Jesus Christ – the Bread of life (St. John 6:35), and His perfect tabernacle, the Virgin Mary (St. Luke 1:42.)

St. Alphonsus Liguori: When God, destines anyone for a particular office, He gives him the graces that fit him for it. Therefore, since God chose St. Joseph to fill the office of father over the person of the Incarnate Word, we must certainly believe that he conferred upon him all the sanctity which belonged to such an office. Among other privileges, Joseph had three which were special to him. Firstly, that he was sanctified in his mother's womb, as were Jeremias and St. John the Baptist. Secondly, that he was at the same time confirmed in grace. And thirdly, that he was always exempt from the inclinations of concupiscence—a privilege with which St. Joseph by the merit of his purity, favors his devout clients by delivering them from carnal appetites.

♔ ST. JOSEPH MODEL FOR PRIESTS AND CONSECRATED PERSONS ♔

Pope Francis – 21 June 2013:  Be careful that pastors are not ambitious, that they do not seek the episcopate - volentes nolumus - and that they are married to a Church without being in constant search of another. That they are able to "watch over" the flock that will be entrusted to them, take care to keep it united, vigilant of the dangers that threaten it, but above all that they are able to "watch over" the flock, to keep watch, imbue hope, that they have sun and light in their hearts, to lovingly and patiently support the plans which God brings about in His people. Let us think of the figure of St. Joseph, who watches over Mary and Jesus, of his care for the family that God entrusted to him, and the watchful gaze with which he guides it in avoiding dangers. For this reason Pastors must know how to be ahead of the herd to point the way, in the midst of the flock to keep it united, behind the flock to prevent someone being left behind, so that the same flock, so to speak, has the sense of smell to find its way.

Pope Benedict XVI – 19 December 2010: Dear friends, I would like to entrust all Pastors to St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, while I urge them to offer Christ’s humble words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world.

Pope Benedict XVI – 19 March 2006: To priests, who exercise a paternal role over Ecclesial Communities, may St. Joseph help them love the Church with affection and complete dedication, and may he support consecrated persons in their joyous and faithful observance of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

O illustrious patriarch St. Joseph, who carried the Infant Jesus in thy blessed arms and who, during the space of thirty years, lived in the most intimate familiarity with Him, take under thy powerful protection those whom He has clothed with His authority and honored with the dignity of His priesthood, especially Fr. ____ , whom He has charged to continue His mission, to preach His Gospel, and to dispense everywhere His graces and blessings. 

Sustain them in their fatigues and labors; console them in their pains; fortify them in their combats; but above all, keep far from them all the evils of sin. 
 
Obtain for them the humility of St. John the Baptist, the faith of St. Peter, the zeal and charity of St. Paul, the purity of St. John and the spirit of prayer and recollection of which thou, my dear Saint, art the model, so that, after having been on earth, the faithful dispensers of the Mysteries of thy foster Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, they may in Heaven receive the recompense promised to pastors according to the Heart of God. + Amen.

✠ BLESSED POPE PAUL VI & ST. JOSEPH ✠

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Homily of the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's on 19 March 1969: Dearest brethren, sons and daughters! Today's feast invites us to meditate about Saint Joseph, Our Lord Jesus' legal and foster father. Because of that function which he performed in regard to Christ during his childhood and youth, he has been declared Patron or Protector of the Church, which continues Christ's image and mission in time and reflects them in history. At first sight there seems to be no material for a meditation on Joseph, for what do we know of him, apart from his name and a few events that occurred in Our Lord's childhood? The Gospel does not record a single word from him; his language is silence. It was his attention to the angelic voices which spoke in his sleep; it was that prompt and generous obedience which was demanded from him; it was manual labour, in the most modest and fatiguing of forms, which earned Jesus the reputation of being "the son of the carpenter" (Mt. 13:55). There, is nothing else known of him, and it might well be said that he lived an unknown life, the life of a simple artisan, with no sign of personal greatness. But that humble figure which was so near to Jesus and Mary, Christ's Virgin Mother, he who was so intimately connected with their life and so closely linked with the genealogy of the Messias as to be the fateful and conclusive representative of the descendants of David (Mt. 1, 20), is revealed as being full of significance if we look at him attentively. He is seen truly to possess those qualities which the Church attributes to him in her liturgy, which the devotion of the faithful also attributes to him, and which gave rise to a series of invocations that have taken the form of a litany. A celebrated modern shrine of the saint, erected through the efforts of a simple lay brother, Brother André of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, at Montreal in Canada, illustrates those qualities in a series of chapels arranged behind the high altar. All the chapels are dedicated to St. Joseph in honour of the many titles which have been offered to him, such as Protector of Childhood, Protector of Spouses, Protector of the Family, Protector of the Workers, Protector of Virgins, Protector of Fugitives, Protector of the Dying... If we look carefully into this life that was apparently so unremarkable, we shall find that it was greater and more adventurous, more full of exciting events, than we are accustomed to assume in our hasty perusal of the Gospel story. The Gospel describes St. Joseph as a Just Man (Mt. 1:19). No greater praise of virtue and no higher tribute to merit could be applied to a man of humble social condition who was apparently far from being equipped to perform great deeds. A poor, honest, hardworking, perhaps even timorous man, but one with unfathomable interior life, from which very singular directions and consolations came, bringing him also the logic and strength that belong to simple and clear souls, and giving him the power of making great decisions, such as that decision to put his liberty at once at the disposition of the divine designs, to make over to them also his legitimate human calling, his conjugal happiness, to accept the conditions, the responsibility and the burden of a family, but, through an incomparable virginal love, to renounce that natural conjugal love that is the foundation and the nourishment of the family; in this way he offered the whole of his existence in a total sacrifice to the imponderable demands raised by the astonishing coming of the Messias, to whom he was to give the everlastingly blessed name of Jesus (Mt. 1:21), whom he was to acknowledge as the effect of the Holy Spirit, and his own son only in a juridical and domestic way. So St. Joseph was a "committed" man, as we might say nowadays. And what commitment! Total commitment to Mary, the elect of all the women of the earth and of history, always his virgin spouse, never his wife physically, and total commitment to Jesus, who was his offspring only by legal descendance, not by the flesh. He had the burdens, the responsibilities, the risks and the labours Surrounding the holy family. His was the service, the work, the sacrifice, in the shadows of that gospel picture in which we love to meditate on him; and we are certainly not mistaken, for we all know him now and call him Blessed. This is Gospel in which the values of human existence take on a different dimension from that with which we are accustomed to appreciate them. What is little becomes big, and in this connection we do well to remember Jesus' fervent words in the eleventh chapter of St. Matthew: "I give thee praise, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things (the things or the kingdom of the Messias!) from the wise and learned, but hast revealed them to little ones". In the Gospel's account, what is lowly becomes worthy to be the social condition of the Son of God made son of man; that which is elementary and the product of fatiguing and rudimentary handwork served to train the maker and continuator of the cosmos in the skills of human hands (cf. Jn. 1:3; 5:17), and to give humble bread to him who was to describe Himself as "the Bread of Life" (Jn. 6:48); what was lost for love of Christ is here rediscovered (cf. Mt. 10:39), and whoever sacrifices his own life for Him in this world saves it for everlasting life (Jn. 12:25). St. Joseph was the type of the message of that Gospel that Jesus was to announce as the programme in the redemption of mankind, once he left the little workshop at Nazareth and began his mission as prophet and teacher. St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises to great destinies, and he is the proof that in order to be good and genuine followers of Christ there is no need of "great things"; it is enough to have the common, simple, human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic. Our meditation now shifts from the humble Saint to our own personal circumstances, as is usual in the practice of mental prayer. We now turn to make a comparison and I contrast between him and ourselves; we have no reason to feel proud of the comparison, but we can derive some good suggestion from it for imitating him in some way which our own life condition allows, in our spirit and in concrete practice of those virtues which are so vigorously depicted in the Saint, and one especially, poverty, of which there is so much talk nowadays. And let us not be upset by the difficulties which poverty brings with it today, in this world which is all devoted to conquest of economic wealth, as if poverty were in contradiction with the line of progress which must be followed, a paradox, an unreality in a society of welfare and consumption. Let us think again of St. Joseph in his poverty and hard work, all his energy engaged in the effort of earning something to live on, and let us then remember that economic goods are indeed worthy of our Christian interest, on condition that they do not become ends in themselves, but are understood and used as means to keep going life which is directed towards other and higher goods, on condition that economic goods are not sought after with greedy egoism, but be rather a source and stimulus of provident charity, on condition again that they be not used as authorization for soft and easy indulgence in the so-called pleasures of life but rather be used for the broad and honest interests of the common good. This Saint's laborious and dignified poverty, can still be in excellent guide for us to follow the path traced by Christ's footsteps in the modern world, and can also eloquently instruct us in positive and honest wellbeing, so that we may avoid losing Christ's path in the complicated and giddy world of economics, to avoid going too far on one side into tempting ambitions of conquest of temporal riches, and too far on the other side, into making use of poverty for ideological ends, as a power to rouse social hatred and systematic subversion. So, St. Joseph is an example for us, and let us try to imitate him; and we shall call upon him as our protector, as the Church has been wont to do in these recent times, for herself in the first place, for spontaneous theological reflection on the marriage of divine with human action in the great economy of the Redemption, in which economy the first, the divine one is wholly sufficient to itself, but the second, human action, which is ours, though capable of nothing (cf. Jn. 15:5), is never dispensed from humble but conditional and ennobling collaboration. The Church also calls upon him as her Protector because of a profound and most present desire to reinvigorate her ancient life with true evangelical virtues, such as shine forth in St. Joseph. Finally, the Church invokes him as her Patron and Protector through her unshakeable trust that he to whom Christ willed to confide the care and protection of His. own frail human childhood, will continue from heaven to perform his protective task in order to guide and defend the Mystical Body of Christ Himself, which is always weak, always under attack, always in a state of peril. Finally, we call upon St. Joseph for the world, trusting that the heart of the humble working man of Nazareth, now overflowing with immeasurable wisdom and power, still harbours and will always harbour a singular and precious fellow-feeling for the whole of mankind. So may it be.

"HOLY LOVE" APPARITIONS THAT INCLUDED ST. JOSEPH ARE NOT SUPERNATURAL!

An ecumenical group known by the name of "Holy Love Ministries", Led by Maureen Sweeney Kyle, and also the "Missionary Servants of Holy Love" has been active in the Cleveland area for several years.  Earlier names associated with this group have been the "Our Lady Protectress of the Faith Movement", "Project Mercy" and "Mary's House of Prayer." They continue to seek funds to develop their center and support their effort.

 

Countless apparitions from “Jesus”, “Our Lady”, “St. Joseph” and a torrent of other “saints” are reported with messages that undermine the Catholic Church and money is made from the sale of the “Pro-Life Fetus / Teardrop Rosaries of the Unborn” which are produced by the group and "endorsed" by the alleged “Virgin Mary” to which certain promises are attached. 

On November 11, 2009, the Bishop of Cleveland Richard Lennon released a letter containing disapproval of these alleged apparitions. The Bishops''s letter and official decree can be read on the Diocese of Cleveland website here.  You can also view a PDF of the decree here. Extracts of the text below:

At the request of the Holy See, I have been asked to examine and make a judgment on the activities of Holy Love Ministries. After consultation with a respected theological expert, and after attempts at dialogue with the leadership of Holy Love Ministries proved unsuccessful, for the good of the Christian faithful, I issue the accompanying decree. …

Having been directed by the Holy See to act definitively in the matter of the alleged apparitions to Maureen Sweeney Kyle; and Having reviewed the theological content of the alleged apparitions and locutions to Maureen Sweeney Kyle and having consulted an expert in this matter (c. 747, §2);

I, Richard G. Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland, hereby declare:

That the alleged apparitions and locutions to Maureen Sweeney Kyle are not supernatural in origin. 

Forbid members of the clergy of any ecclesiastical jurisdiction to celebrate the sacraments on the site of Holy Love Ministries. (cc. 835, §1; 838, §4).

Admonish the faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland to cease gathering for any religious, liturgical, spiritual, or devotional purpose on the site of Holy Love Ministries. (cc. 212, §§1, 3; 214).

Declare that the Confraternity of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary is not an approved association of the Christian faithful in the Diocese of Cleveland and may not legitimately use the name "Catholic" or represent itself as a Catholic group (c. 216).

This decree takes effect immediately.

Given at the Chancery of the Diocese of Cleveland on this 11th day of November in the year of Our Lord 2009

+Richard G. Lennon

Bishop of Cleveland 

✠ St. Teresa d'Avila & St. Joseph ✠

St Teresa de Avila:  I took for my advocate and comforter the glorious Saint Joseph, and commended myself fervently to him; … His aid has brought me more good than I ever desired to receive from him. ... I am quite amazed at the great favors Our Lord has given me, and the many dangers, both of soul and body, from which He has delivered me through the intercession of this blessed saint!

St Teresa de Avila:  To other saints Our Lord seems to have given the power to succor us in some special necessity — but to this glorious saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth — for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him — so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions.

St Teresa de Avila:  I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, Joseph, for I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I have never known anyone to be truly devoted to him and render him particular services who did not notably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him. For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good.

."The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it, even a large one. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying." - St. Teresa d'Avila after her ecstasy.

 

♔ ST. JOSEPH APPARITION OCTOBER 13, 1917 ♔ FATIMA, PORTUGAL ♔

At Fatima, Portugal, from May to October 1917, three shepherd children (Blesseds Francisco & Jacinta Marto, and Servant of God Lucia dos Santos) beheld apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary atop a small holm-oak tree. During the course of these visions, the seers were given secrets, were instructed to pray the Rosary and to offer penance for the conversion of sinners. In the September apparition, Our Lady told them:

“Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October St. Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus in order to bless the world.”

On October 13th over 70,000 people gathered around the site of the apparitions. People from different walks of life (including atheists who had gone to mock the children) witnessed what is now famously known as “The Miracle of the Sun.” During the Miracle of the Sun, the three shepherd children were witnessing what the Virgin had promised them in September. Lucia recounts what they saw:

Our Lady having disappeared in the immensity of the firmament, we saw, beside the sun, St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady clothed in white with a blue mantle. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.

Here we have St. Joseph, no words are spoken by him, but rather we have his actions. St. Joseph, holding his son Jesus, blesses the world by tracing the Sign of the Cross with his hand. By giving his special blessing to the world, St. Joseph shows us that he is still vigilant in his role as Patron of the Catholic Church (as proclaimed in 1870 by Bl. Pius IX) and still keeps watch over the faithful entrusted to his care.

Prayer of Pope Leo XIII "TO THEE O BLESSED JOSEPH" to be recited at the end of the Rosary - especially during the month of October:

To thee, O Blessed Joseph, we come in our trials, and having asked the help of your most Holy Spouse, we confidently ask your patronage also. Through  that sacred bond of charity which united you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the fatherly love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you to look graciously upon the beloved inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his blood, and to aid us in our necessities with your power and strength. O most provident guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ. Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin. Our most mighty protector, graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness. And just as you once saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity. Shield each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your help, we may be able to live a virtuous life, to die a holy death, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. + Amen.

 

 

♔ ST. JOSEPH PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH ♔ by Dom Bernard Marechaux O.S.B.

The Church is a reproduction of Mary; it is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ; it is an expansion in space and time of the house at Nazareth. It was in harmony with all His works that God should have placed the Church under the protection of St. Joseph, into whose hands He had placed Mary and Jesus and whom He had made the head of the Holy Family. St. Ambrose sheds dazzling light on this. That great Doctor of the Church calls Mary “the type of the Church,” and in St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin and guardian of her virginity, he sees the type of the episcopate, which is like him in being the spouse of the Church and guardian of her precious virginity.

He sets up this parallel: on a higher level are Mary and Joseph, and on a lower, dependent level, are the Church and the episcopate. Joseph especially represents the episcopate and the Pope, who sums up all that the episcopate is. In the same way that the Church is under the sway of Mary, who is her type, says St. Ambrose, so the episcopate and the Pope, who expresses its unity, are under St. Joseph’s influence. The Pope and the bishops, in their concern for the Church, should find their inspiration in the tender respect and devotion which this great saint showed towards Mary, his virgin spouse. Could there be a more beautiful model?

If we try to understand how this glorious patronage is exercised, we would say that St. Joseph guards the Church with jealous care from the harmful influences of the world in which she lives, but to which she does not belong; he defends her against the attacks of demons and wicked men who are their agents; he supplies her with exterior, and even more, with interior help, procuring for her the most precious outpourings of God’s grace, keeping her in peace and tranquility, despite the furious assaults constantly launched against her. Last of all, St. Joseph expands the Church.

Have you thought about St. Joseph carrying the Child Jesus into Egypt? About this, St. Leo says that “this nation which was abandoned to ancient superstition was marked by a secret grace for the salvation which was at hand.” Joseph, bringing Jesus into Egypt, sowed there a seed of grace which in its own time would bear fruit in astonishing fashion. See how he expands the Church, he who, as we have said, represents the episcopate, spouse of the Church, and collaborates secretly but powerfully with the labours of the missionaries who broaden her confines. It is through him that Jesus Christ penetrates into areas still closed off by the devil.

Let us honour St. Joseph with our whole soul; with all the joy of our hearts let us honour him with the greatest veneration it is possible to offer a saint, for that is the clear wish of the Church. Let us go to Joseph in our necessities, in our wants, in our worries and in our alarms. His patronage answers to all; he is the dispenser of Divine Providence.

We must beware of going to him only under the pressure of physical need; instead we should seek the growth of our interior life and the deepening of its roots in God. St. Joseph is the patron par excellence of the spiritual life, because in his soul the balanced interplay of its powers is in perfect harmony, and his soul is the most adoring, the most prayerful and totally submissive to God’s will. Let us go to him to be impregnated with his attitude towards God and his burning love for Mary and Jesus.

Let us go to him to obtain every blessing, especially that of fruitfulness, for all Christian families, every religious community and the whole Church.

♔ ST. JOSEPH CURES & CONVERTS: THE ANSWERED PRAYERS OF A BABUSHKA ♔

This scene took place in Russia, in a house where all signs of religion had disappeared. Only the Babushka (grandmother) in the upper room had remained faithful to Christ.
 

One day, she took from her hiding-place the icon of St. Joseph and lit two candles, when Michail, her grandson, surprised her in her prayer. The child asked her a thousand questions and expressed interest in all that she told him.

He could not wait to tell his mother that he had prayed to St. Joseph with Babushka. Matryona, a fierce atheist, reacted like a wounded viper. “Little fool, you repeat what old women say. In Russia, there is no longer a Good God; there are no longer saints nor any St. Joseph.” Then in a more calm tone, “Tell me, Michail, have you already seen the Good God? Have you ever met St. Joseph? Has the Infant Jesus ever given you anything? Dear child, those are stories which uneducated old ladies believe. Woe to you if you put faith in what Grandma says. The soldiers will come and take us all as they took Uncle Ivan. Then you will call on God in vain. He won’t be interested in our fate; is that understood?”

Yelissei, the father, watched the scene with inner disquiet. The sounds of troika bells brought him back to reality. Some friends from Matryona’s home country had invited themselves to stay for several days. They were welcomed with proverbial Russian hospitality. Life in this isolated place would be less monotonous. Thanks to the splendid troika, they organized long trips, and the days passed quickly. Then came the feast of St. Joseph, which used to be celebrated with solemnity to the sound of bells.

In the absence of the family and of their guests, Babushka lit some candles before the icon of St. Joseph and prayed to this great saint in union with many Russian hearts that had remained faithful to the faith of their fathers.

The following day Matryona returned with the child, who was ill. In the evening, all of his limbs were shivering. The fever increased, and the parents were distraught. The visitors left and promised to send a doctor from the nearest village. The mother watched at his bedside day and night. When at last the doctor arrived, he could only shake his head and declare the child to be lost. He offered to stay with them, if they wished, until the final and fatal moment. The father accepted this kind offer and they hoped against all hope.

As for Matryona, who was desperate, she went up to her mother-in-law and begged her to light the candles. “I wish to pray with you, Babushka,” she said. “Michail has only a few hours to live. If he recovers, I will believe and never mock again.” She burst into tears and repeated the prayers recited by the old woman. Then, going down again to her little boy and never taking her eyes off of him, she waited, moving her lips as in prayer.

The sick child was delirious and could have died at any moment; but this was not to be. After midnight, Michail became more calm and, little by little, he went off to sleep. At the same time the fever came down. Reassured, the doctor rose and said, “There is nothing more for me to do here. The Devil must have intervened; I cannot explain it otherwise. Good-bye. Be happy!”

Matryona followed the doctor with a detached, lost look. Yelissei, did not understand the behavior of his wife, who said to him, “My dear Yelissei, I don’t know what to say. Go to Mama and she will explain everything to you.” Sobbing, she threw herself on her knees and murmured, “My God, I believe. … St. Joseph, I thank-you.”

After learning what had happened, Yelessei knelt close to his wife and they prayed together. Then he kissed her and went to seek his mother, whose fidelity to the faith had brought about this miracle and the happiness of the family.

The following morning, Michail opened his eyes and looked at his parents in astonishment, then asked for something to eat. His convalescence filled his parents with joy; but even greater was the joy of having once again found the faith.

O holy and righteous Joseph! While yet on earth, you did have boldness before the Son of God, Who was well pleased to call you His father, in that you were the betrothed of His Mother, and Who was well pleased to be obedient to you.

We believe that as you do dwell now in the heavenly mansions with the choirs of the righteous, you are listened to, in all that you do request from our God and Savior. Therefore, fleeing to your protection and defense, we beg and humbly entreat you:

As you, yourself, were delivered from a storm of doubting thoughts, so also deliver us that are tempest-tossed by the waves of confusion and passions;

As you did shield the all-Pure Virgin from the slanders of men, so shield us from all kinds of vehement calumny;

As you did keep the incarnate Lord from all harm and affliction, so also by your defense preserve His Church and all of us from all affliction and harm.

You know, O Saint of God, that even the Son of God had bodily needs in the days of His incarnation, and you did attend to them. Therefore, we beseech you: tend, yourself, to our temporal needs through your intercession, granting us every good thing, which is needful in this life (for the sake of life of the age to come).
 

Especially, do we entreat you to intercede that we may receive remission of our sins from Him Who was called your Son, the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and be worthy of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven so that, abiding with you in the heavenly mansions, we may ever glorify the One God in three Persons: the (+) Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.