杏MAP导航

By Alessandro De Carolis

Every day for 40 years, 杏MAP导航 Francis has challenged St Joseph. After saying Morning Prayer, 杏MAP导航 Francis writes in , he recites a nineteenth century prayer from a French prayerbook.

Through this prayer, the 杏MAP导航 entrusts both 鈥渟erious and troubling situations鈥� to St Joseph. The prayer ends thus: 鈥淟et it not be said that I invoked you in vain鈥�.

We find out about this daily custom in a footnote in Patris corde, a text that brings the memory of the Church back to 杏MAP导航 Pius IX who, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1870, proclaimed St Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church.

A strong connection

The anecdote confirms and enriches 杏MAP导航 Francis鈥檚 predilection for the figure of Mary鈥檚 husband. His familiarity with the Saint already become known when he spoke in Manila about a habit he has of putting his concerns under a statue of the 鈥渟leeping Joseph鈥� which he keeps in his study at Santa Marta.

Joseph is a man who goes 鈥渦nnoticed鈥�, who welcomes the mystery and puts himself at its service, never putting himself at the center, but who resolves things that are impossible. In Patris corde, the 杏MAP导航 describes many of St Joseph鈥檚 qualities as a true husband and father, the fiancé who 鈥渁ccepted Mary unconditionally鈥� and the man in whom 鈥淛esus saw the tender love of God鈥�.

Papal names

杏MAP导航 Francis鈥檚 contribution is, so to speak, the last piece of the mosaic the Church has created throughout the centuries to express its admiration and to explain the merits of this great soul sculpted through silence.

Various 杏MAP导航s have also contributed to this narrative with heartfelt words and gestures. Beginning in the 15th century, 杏MAP导航 Sixtus V fixed 19 March as the date on which his feast is celebrated. From Pius IX on, and especially during the pontificates of the 20th century, the Church鈥檚 magisterium cast new light on this man wrapped in shadow.

His name, however, has never been chosen by a 杏MAP导航, even if in the last decades, his name has recurred frequently in the baptismal names of various popes: 杏MAP导航s Pius X (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto), John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli), John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyla), Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). 杏MAP导航 Francis is not named Joseph, but he initiated his ministry by celebrating Mass on 19 March: a different connection but the same proximity.

Adding a name

Confirming 杏MAP导航 Benedict XVI鈥檚 desire, 杏MAP导航 Francis decreed on 1 May 2013 that the name of St Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, be added in Eucharistic Prayers II, III and IV. Before that, on 13 November 1962, 杏MAP导航 John XXIII had established that his name be inserted into the Roman Canon, alongside Mary鈥檚 name and before those of the Apostles.

杏MAP导航 John XXIII himself, wishing to entrust the Second Vatican Council to Jesus鈥檚 earthly 鈥渄addy鈥�, wrote the Apostolic Letter Le Voci in 1961. In it, he included a sort of summary of devotion to St Joseph nurtured by his predecessors. These are not merely ambiguous aspects of liturgical 鈥渂ureaucracy鈥�. Each new decree demonstrates an ever more deeply rooted ecclesial sense and awareness, which with Pius XII even touched civil life.

The workers鈥� saint

1 May 1955. It was a Sunday and a crowd of workers filled St Peter鈥檚 Square. They were members of ACLI (Italian Association of Christians Workers), and many of them remembered their meeting with Pius XII ten years before on 13 March 1945, a month and a half before the end of the war that had profoundly wounded Italy. Now the country was experiencing immense growth, the 鈥渂oom鈥� was not far off.

But among the ranks of Italian Catholics, the 杏MAP导航 recognized those who were 鈥渄isheartened鈥�, those who complained about the lack of a Christian presence 鈥渋n public life鈥�, while socialist ideologies seemed to be taking over. Pius XII鈥檚 energetically recalled ACLI to their original identity so that they might be committed to 鈥渟ocial peace鈥�. In the end, completely shifting gears, he gave them a 鈥済ift鈥� which surprised and enthused those present: 

We are pleased to announce to you Our determination to establish -- and we in fact establish -- the liturgical feast of St Joseph the Worker, assigning to it the precise date of 1 May. Dear workers, are you happy about Our gift? We are certain that you are because the humble artisan of Nazareth not only personifies the dignity of the worker before God and the Holy Church, but he is also always the provident guardian of you and your families.

There can never be a 鈥溞覯AP导航 Joseph鈥�

Four years later, the Church was guided by a man who would have wanted to choose the name 鈥溞覯AP导航 Joseph鈥�. He decided against it, however, saying that it was not a name used by the popes.

But his explanation betrays a nostalgia and reveals 杏MAP导航 John XXIII鈥檚 strong attachment to St Joseph. The revelation came during an audience on 19 March 1959 with a group of street cleaners. In a radio message on 1 May the following year, 鈥淕ood 杏MAP导航 John鈥� concluded with a prayer to St Joseph the Worker:

Grant that those you protect understand that they are not alone in their work, but may they know how to find Jesus next to them, may they welcome Him with grace, and faithfully protect Him as you did. Grant that in every family, in every office, in every laboratory, wherever a Christian works, that they may all be sanctified in charity, in patience, in justice, trying to doing things well, so that the gifts of heavenly predilection might abundantly descend upon them.

A risk-taker

Even though 杏MAP导航 Paul VI鈥檚 name was not Joseph, from 1963 to 1969 in particular, a year did not go by in which he did not celebrate Mass on the Solemnity of 19 March. Every homily he delivered on that occasion was a personal 鈥減ortrait鈥� of how fascinated he was by St Joseph鈥檚 鈥渃omplete submission and dedication鈥� to his mission, of the man who was 鈥渢imid perhaps鈥�, but gifted 鈥渂y a superhuman greatness that enchants鈥�. Even though having a bride like Mary and a Son like Jesus made him a stranger among his peers, he did not retreat. About this, Paul VI said in 1969:  

St Joseph was, therefore, a man who was 鈥榗ommitted鈥�, as they say now, to Mary, chosen from among all the women on earth and all of history, always his virgin bride, not physically his wife, and to Jesus, by virtue of legal, not natural, descendance, his offspring. His were the burdens, the responsibilities, the risks, the little preoccupations of the small and singular holy family. His were the service, the work, the sacrifice, the penumbra of the evangelical scene in which we like to contemplate him. And certainly, not wrongly so, now that we know everything, we call him happy, blessed. This is the Gospel. In it, the values of human existence assume a different value than that which we are accustomed to appreciate: here that which is small becomes great.

The sublime spouse

In the 26 years of 杏MAP导航 John Paul鈥檚 pontificate, there were an infinite number of occasions on which he spoke of St Joseph to whom he said he prayed intensely every day. He summarized this devotion in the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos, published on 15 August 1989, written 100 years after 杏MAP导航 Leo XIII鈥檚 Encyclical Quamquam Pluries. In that document, 杏MAP导航 John Paul explores every aspect of St Joseph鈥檚 life. Sensitive as he was to the vocation of Christian marriage, he offered it as a way of profoundly interpreting the relationship between the couple from Nazareth 鈥� 鈥渢he grace of living together the charism of virginity and the gift of matrimony鈥� 鈥� a theme he would pick up in a general audience in 1996, deconstructing a false myth:

The difficulty of approaching the sublime mystery of their spousal communion has led some, since the second century, to attribute an advanced age to Joseph and to consider him as a guardian, instead of as Mary鈥檚 husband. Rather, it is appropriate to suppose that he was not an elderly man, but that his interior perfection, a consequence of grace, led him to live his spousal relationship with Mary with virginal affection.

鈥淩obust interiority鈥�

There are no words left by the man for whom Matthew in his Gospel uses the term 鈥渏ust鈥�, the Patron of the Universal Church, of workers and of an infinite number of cities, churches and places. All we have is silence.

His actions, therefore, must be understood as if they were words and thoughts. From that apparent absence, even 杏MAP导航 Benedict XVI extracted the wealth of a complete life, of a man in the background, whose silent example affects the growth of Jesus, the God-man:

It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, watches over the Word of God. (鈥�) A silence woven of constant prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of his holy will and of unreserved entrustment to his providence. It is no exaggeration to think that it was precisely from his 鈥榝ather鈥� Joseph that Jesus learned - at the human level - that steadfast interiority which is a presupposition of authentic justice, the "superior justice" which he was one day to teach his disciples.