♔ ST. JOSEPH'S ALTAR AT ST. PETER'S BASILICA ♔

On March 19, 1961, in his apostolic epistle, Le Voci, naming St. Joseph patron of the second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII also called for the St. Joseph altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to “take on a new and fuller and more solemn splendor….” On March 19, 1963, the Holy Father blessed the new mosaic. Following the blessing, he commented: “Upon entering the basilica today We dedicated the new image of St. Joseph over the Saint’s altar. We were urged to perform this ceremony Ourself as an act of piety towards the most chaste Spouse of Mary and the Guardian of Jesus, in order to fulfill Our most earnest wish to promote within this great temple of Christendom devotion to St. Joseph, protector of the Holy Church and patron of the Second Vatican Council. ”

The mosaic, over nine feet high and made of individual tiles all less then half an inch square, reproduces a painting of the Milanese artist, Achille Funi (born c. 1892). St. Joseph stands on a classical marble pedestal, with Jesus in arm and flowering staff in his left hand. The Child affectionately holds and looks toward his earthly father. At St. Joseph’s feet an angel kneels offering him St. Peter’s boat with supplicant expression. A human person also kneels offering him an olive branch with a plea for true peace. Another angel flies down from heaven with a banner that reads Tu eris super domum meam, “You shall be over my house.” In a word, St. Joseph’s image in the mother church of all Christendom recalls his role as protector of the entire Church. St. Joseph hears the prayers of all who invoke him, whether in the humblest little chapel or the world’s greatest basilica.  

♔ POPE PAUL VI & ST. JOSEPH ♔

Venerable Pope Paul VI, Homily, 27 March 1969:  St. Joseph was a "committed" man, as we might say nowadays. And what commitment! He had total commitment to Mary, the elect of all the women of the earth and of history, always his virgin spouse… and total commitment to Jesus, who was his offspring only by legal descendance, not by the flesh. His were the burdens, the responsibilities, the risks and the labors surrounding the Holy Family. His was the service, the work and the sacrifices, 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.

Venerable Pope Paul VI, Homily, 19 March 1969:  The Church invokes St. Joseph as her Patron and Protector through her unshakable 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. 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 harbors and will always harbor a singular and precious fellow-feeling for the whole of mankind. So may it be.

♔ ST JOHN XXIII and ST. JOSEPH ♔

26 May 1960, Feast of the Ascension: We name two of the most intimate persons in Christ’s life: John the Baptist – the Precursor, and Joseph of Nazareth – his putative father and custodian. It corresponds to them – we may piously believe – the honor and the privilege of Jesus allowing them to admirably accompany him on the path to Heaven (on the day of his Ascension) and to sing the first notes of the never ending hymn, “Te Deum”.

Allocution, 19 March 1959: All the saints in glory assuredly merit honor and particular respect, but it is evident that, next to the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph possesses a just title to a more sweet, more intimate and penetrating place in our hearts, belonging to him alone… We are able to see all the greatness of Saint Joseph, not only by reason of the fact that he was close to Jesus and Mary, but also by the shining example he has given of all virtues…

Le Voci, 19 March 1961: As a new spring breaks into view and we stand on the threshold of the Sacred Easter Liturgy, we find ourselves face to face with the kind and gentle St. Joseph, stately spouse of Mary, a figure so dear to the minds and hearts of those who are most responsive to the appeal of Christian asceticism and the forms of religious devotion that are quiet and unobtrusive, but all the sweeter and more pleasing for being so. …For long centuries St Joseph remained in the background that was so typical of him, like a kind of ornamental detail in the overall picture of the Savior’s life. It took time for devotion to him to go beyond those passing glances and take root in the hearts of the faithful, and then surge forth in the form of special prayers and of a profound sense of trust and confidence. The fervent joy of pouring forth these deepest feelings of the heart in so many impressive ways has been saved for modern times; and it gives Us special pleasure to draw upon these treasures now for something quite pertinent and meaningful.

Top Page image: Pope John XXIII blesses a statue of St. Joseph flown in from the Oratory of St. Joseph, Montreal, Canada

♔ HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO OUR BLESSED MOTHER MARY ♔

Her children rise up and call her blessed... - Proverbs 31:28

 
The Mother of God. This is the first and most important title of Our Lady. It refers to a quality, a role which the faith of the Christian people, in its tender and genuine devotion to our heavenly Mother, has understood from the beginning.

… Our pilgrimage of faith has been inseparably linked to Mary ever since Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave her to us as our Mother, saying: “Behold your Mother!” (Jn 19:27). These words serve as a testament, bequeathing to the world a Mother. From that moment on, the Mother of God also became our Mother! When the faith of the disciples was most tested by difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to Mary, who was the first to believe, and whose faith would never fail. The “woman” became our Mother when she lost her divine Son. Her sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, all, whether good or bad, and she loves them as she loved Jesus. The woman who at the wedding at Cana in Galilee gave her faith-filled cooperation so that the wonders of God could be displayed in the world, at Calvary kept alive the flame of faith in the resurrection of her Son, and she communicates this with maternal affection to each and every person. Mary becomes in this way a source of hope and true joy!

- Pope Francis, 1 January 2014 Homily

 

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee to we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

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

 

♔ HOLY FATHER FRANCIS' PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY - 28 OCT 2013 ♔

Jesus, Mary and Joseph
to you, Holy Family of Nazareth,
today we turn our gaze
with admiration and confidence;
in you we contemplate
the beauty of communion in true love;
to you we commend our families,
so that in them marvels of grace be renewed.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
alluring school of the Gospel:
teach us to imitate your virtues
with a wise spiritual discipline,
grant us a clear vision
that recognizes the work of Providence
in the daily realities of life.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
faithful custodian of the mystery of salvation:
help us to regain an appreciation for silence,
make our families cenacles of prayer
and transform them into little domestic Churches,
renew the desire for sanctity,
sustain the noble toil of work, of education,
of listening, of mutual understanding and of forgiveness.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
reawaken in our society the consciousness
of the sacred and inviolable character of the family,
an inestimable and irreplaceable good.
May every family be a place where goodness and peace are welcomed for children and for the elderly,
for those who are sick and alone,
for those who are poor and needy.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
we pray to you with confidence,
we entrust ourselves to you with joy.

♔ Feast of St Joseph ♔ (3rd Wednesday after Easter, Pre-Pius XII Reform)

Hail, glory of the patriarchs, steward of God’s holy Church, who didst preserve the Bread of life and the Wheat of the elect! 

Bl. Pius IX: And now, in these most troublesome times, the Church is beset by enemies on every side, and is weighed down by calamities so heavy that ungodly men assert that the gates of hell have at length prevailed against her, the venerable prelates of the whole Catholic world have presented to the Sovereign Pontiff their own petitions and those of the faithful committed to their charge, praying that he would deign to constitute St. Joseph Patron of the Church. … Accordingly, it has now pleased our Most Holy Sovereign, Pope Pius IX, in order to entrust himself and all the faithful to the Patriarch St. Joseph’s most powerful patronage, has chosen to comply with the prelates’ desire and has solemnly declared him Patron of the Catholic Church.