St. Joseph,
spouse of our Lady,
Confessor and
Patron of the Universal Church
St. Joseph was by birth of the royal family of David,
but was living in humble obscurity as a carpenter when God raised him to the
highest sanctity, and fitted him to be the spouse of His Virgin Mother, and
foster-father and guardian of the Incarnate Word. Joseph, says the Holy
Scripture, was a just man; he was innocent and pure, as became the husband of
Mary; he was gentle and tender, as one worthy to be named the father of Jesus;
he was prudent and a lover of silence, as became the master of the holy house;
above all, he was faithful and obedient to divine calls. His conversation was
with angels rather than with men. When he learned that Mary bore within her
womb the Lord of heaven, he feared to take her as his wife; but an angel bade
him fear not, and all doubts vanished. When Herod sought the life of the divine
Infant, an angel told Joseph in a dream to fly with the Child and His Mother
into Egypt.
Joseph at once arose and obeyed. This sudden and
unexpected flight must have exposed Joseph to many inconveniences and
sufferings in so long a journey with a little babe and a tender virgin, the
greater part of the way being through deserts and among strangers; yet he
alleges no excuses, nor inquires at what time they were to return. St.
Chrysostom observes that God treats thus all His servants, sending them
frequent trials to clear their hearts from the rust of self-love, but
intermixing seasons of consolation. “Joseph,” says he, “is anxious on seeing
the Virgin with child; an angel removes that fear. He rejoices at the Child’s
birth, but a great fear succeeds: the furious king seeks to destroy the Child,
and the whole city is in an uproar to take away His life. This is followed by
another joy, the adoration of the Magi; a new sorrow then arises: he is ordered
to fly into a foreign unknown country, without help or acquaintance.” It is the
opinion of the Fathers that upon their entering Egypt, at the presence of the
child Jesus, all the oracles of that superstitious country were struck dumb,
and the statues of their gods trembled and in many places fell to the ground.
The Fathers also attribute to this holy visit the spiritual benediction poured
on that country, which made it for many ages most fruitful in Saints. After the
death of King Herod, of which St. Joseph was informed in another vision, God
ordered him to return with the Child and His Mother into the land of Israel,
which our Saint readily obeyed. But when he arrived in Judea, hearing that
Archelaus had succeeded Herod in that part of the country, and apprehensive
that he might be infected with his father’s vices, he feared on that account to
settle there, as he would otherwise probably have done for the education of the
Child; and therefore, being directed by God in another vision, he retired into
the dominions of Herod Antipas, in Galilee, to his former habitation in
Nazareth. St. Joseph, being a strict observer of the Mosaic Law, in conformity
to its direction annually repaired to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Our
Saviour, now in the twelfth year of His age, accompanied His parents thither.
Having performed the usual ceremonies of the feast, they were returning with
many of their neighbors and acquaintances towards Galilee; and never doubting
but that Jesus was with some of the company, they travelled on for a whole
day’s journey before they discovered that He was not with them.
But when night came on and they could hear no tidings
of Him among their kindred and acquaintance, they, in the deepest affliction,
returned with the utmost speed to Jerusalem. After an anxious search of three
days they found Him in the Temple, discoursing with the learned doctors of the
law, and asking them such questions as raised the admiration of all that heard
Him, and made them astonished at the ripeness of His understanding; nor were
His parents less surprised on this occasion. When His Mother told Him with what
grief and earnestness they had sought Him, and asked, “Son, why hast Thou thus
dealt with us? behold Thy Father and I sought Thee in great affliction of
mind,” she received for answer, “How is it that you sought Me? did you not know
that I must be about My Father’s business?” But though thus staying in the Temple
unknown to His parents, in all other things He was obedient to them, returning
with them to Nazareth, and there living in all dutiful subjection to them. As
no further mention is made of St. Joseph, he must have died before the marriage
of Cana and the beginning of our divine Saviour’s ministry. We cannot doubt
that he had the happiness of Jesus and Mary attending at his death, praying by
him, assisting and comforting him in his last moments; whence he is
particularly invoked for the great grace of a happy death and the spiritual
presence of Jesus in that hour.
St. Hermenegild
It is through a Martyr's palm-branch that we must today
see the Paschal Mystery. Hermenegild, a young Visigoth Prince, is put to death
by his heretical father, because he courageously refused to receive his Easter
Communion from an Arian Bishop. The Martyr knew that the Eucharist is the
sacred symbol of Catholic unity; and that we are not allowed to approach the
Holy Table in company with them that are not in the true Church. A sacrilegious
consecration gives heretics the real possession of the Divine Mystery, if the
priestly character be in him who dares to offer Sacrifice to the God whom he
blasphemes; but the Catholic, who knows that he may not so much as pray with
heretics, shudders at the sight of the profanation, and would rather die than
share, by his presence, in insulting our Redeemer in that very Sacrifice and
Sacrament, which were instituted that we might all be made one in God. The
blood of the Martyr produced its fruit: Spain threw off the chains of heresy
that had enslaved her, and a Council, held at Toledo, completed the work of
conversion begun by Hermenegild's sacrifice.
There are very few instances recorded in history of a
whole Nation rising up in a mass to abjure heresy; but Spain did it, for she
seems to be a country on which heaven lavishes exceptional blessings.
Shortly after this she was put through the ordeal of
the Saracen invasion; she triumphed here again by the bravery of her children;
and ever since then, her Faith has been so staunch and so pure, as to merit for
her the proud title of The Catholic Kingdom. St. Gregory the Great, a
contemporary of St. Hermenegild, has transmitted to us the following account of
the martyrdom.
From the book of the Dialogues of Pope St Gregory the Great
King Hermenegild, son of Leovigild king of the Visigoths, was converted, from
the Arian heresy, to the Catholic faith, by the preaching of the venerable
Leander, Bishop of Seville, one of my oldest and dearest friends. His father,
who continued in the Arian heresy, did his utmost, both by promises, and
threats, to induce him to apostatize. But Hermenegild returned him ever the
same answer, that he never could abandon the true faith, after having once
known it. The father, in a fit of displeasure, deprived him not only of his
right to the throne, but of everything he possessed. And when even this failed
to break the energy of his soul, he had him put into close confinement with chains
on his neck and hands. Hereupon the youthful king Hermenegild began to despise
the earthly, and ardently to long for the heavenly, kingdom. Thus fettered, and
wearing a hairshirt, he besought the Omnipotent God to support him. As to the
glory of this fleeting world, he nobly looked on it with disdain, the more so
as his captivity taught him the nothingness of that which could thus be taken
from him. It was the Feast of Easter. At an early hour of the night, when all
was still, his wicked father sent an Arian Bishop to him, with this message,
that if he would receive Communion from his hands, (the Communion of a
sacrilegious consecration!) he should be restored to favor. True to his
Creator, the man of God gave a merited reproof to the Arian Bishop, and, with
holy indignation, rejected his sinful offer; for though his body lay prostrate
in chains, his soul stood on ground beyond the reach of tyranny. The Bishop
therefore, returned whence he had come. The Arian father raged, and straightway
sent his lictors, bidding them repair to the prison of the unflinching
Confessor of the Lord, and murder him on the on the spot. They obeyed; they
entered the prison; they cleft his skull with a sword; they took away the life
of the body, and slew what he, the slain one, had sworn to count as vile.
Miracles soon followed, whereby heaven testified to the true glory of
Hermenegild; for during the night, there was heard sweet music nigh to the body
of the King and Martyr, King indeed, because he was a Martyr.
It is said
that lights were seen at the same time burning in the prison. The Faithful were
led, by these signs, to revere the body, as being that of a martyr. As to the
wicked father, he repented for having imbrued his hands in his son's blood; but
his repentance was not unto salvation, in as much as, whilst acknowledging the
Catholic Faith to be the true one, he had not the courage to embrace it, for he
feared the displeasure of his subjects.
When in his last sickness, and at the point of death, he
commended his son Reccared, a heretic, to the care of Leander the Bishop, whom
he had hitherto persecuted, but from whom he now asked, that he would do for
this son what he had, by his exhortations, done for Hermenegild. Having made
this request, he died, and was succeeded, on the throne, by Reccared, who
taking, not his wicked father, but his martyred brother, as his model, he
abandoned the impious Arian heresy, and led the whole Visigoth nation to the
true Faith. He would not allow any man to serve in his armies, who dared to
continue the enemy of the God of hosts by heresy. Neither is it to be wondered
at, that being the brother of a Martyr, he should have become a propagator of
the true Faith, for it was by Hermenegild's merits that he has succeeded in
reconciling so many thousands to the great God of heaven.
The Very Rev. Dom
Gueranger - The Liturgical Year
Wednesday April 13
THE SOLEMNITY OF ST.
JOSEPH
SPOUSE OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, CONFESSOR AND PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
With a
commemoration of St. Hermenegild
THIRD WEDNESDAY AFTER EASTER
(Wednesday after Good Shepherd Sunday)
Double Feast of the First Class
With an Octave
White Vestments
INTROIT –
Psalm 32: 20, 21
Adjutor, et protector noster est Dominus: ideo
laetabitur cor nostrum, et in nomine sancto ejus speravimus, alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia. Qui regis Israel, intende: qui
deducis, velut ovem, Joseph. V. Gloria
Patri .
Adjutor, et protector
noster est Dominus…
The Lord is our helper and protector: in Him our heart
shall rejoice, and in His holy Name we have trusted, alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia. (Ps. 79. 1). Give ear, O Thou
that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. V. Glory be to the
Father.
The Lord is
our helper and protector…
COLLECT
O God, who in Thine unspeakable Providence wast
pleased to choose blessed Joseph for the Spouse of Thy Most Holy Mother: grant,
we beseech Thee, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in
heaven whom we honor as our protector upon earth. Who livest and reignest, with
God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost.
Second Collect –
Commemoration of St. Hermenegild, M
O God, Who didst teach blessed Hermenegild, Thy
Martyr, to choose a heavenly kingdom rather than an earthly one, grant us, we
beseech Thee, to despise fleeting things, after his example, and to pursue
those that are eternal. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE –
Genesis 49: 22-26
Lesson from
the Book of Genesis.
Joseph was a growing son, a growing son, and comely to
behold: the daughters run to and fro upon the wall. But they that held darts
provoked him, and quarreled with him and envied him. His bow rested upon the
strong, and the bands of his arms and his hands were loosed, by the hands of
the mighty one of Jacob: thence he came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel.
The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee
with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth
beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of
thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his father: until the desire
of the everlasting hills shall come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and
upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.
ALLELUIA
Alleluia, alleluia. V. In whatever tribulation they shall cry to me, I will
hear them, and be their protector always. Alleluia. V. Obtain for us, Joseph, grace to lead an innocent life:
and may our life ever be shielded by thy patronage. Alleluia.
GOSPEL – Luke
3: 21-23
Continuation of the holy Gospel according to
St. Luke.
At that time: It came to pass, when all the people
were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized and praying, heaven was opened:
and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape as a dove upon Him: and a voice
came from heaven: Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased. And Jesus
Himself was beginning about the age of thirty years: being (as it was supposed)
the Son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was
of Mathat.
OFFERTORY -
Psalm 147: 12, 13
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, because He hath
strengthened the bolts of thy gates: He hath blessed thy children within thee.
Alleluia, alleluia.
SECRET
Supported by the patronage of thy Spouse of Thy Most
Holy Mother, we beseech Thy clemency, O Lord, that Thou wouldst make our hearts
to despise all earthy things and to love Thee, the true God, with perfect
charity: who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy
Ghost.
St. Hermenegild
Resisting the Arian Bishop
Second Secret –
Commemoration of St. Hermenegild, M
Receive, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our offerings and
prayers: cleanse us by virtue of these heavenly mysteries and graciously hear
us. Through our Lord.
Preface of St.
Joseph
It is truly meet and just, right and for our
salvation, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto
Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God: and that we should magnify
with due praises, bless and proclaim Thee on the Solemnity of blessed Joseph;
who, being a just man, was given by Thee as a Spouse to the Virgin Mother of
God, and, as a faithful and prudent servant was set over Thy Family, that, with
fatherly care, he might guard Thine only-begotten Son, conceived by the overshadowing
of the Holy Ghost, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise
Thy Majesty, the Dominations worship it, and the Powers stand in awe. The
heavens and the heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant
chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee that Thou
mayest bid our voices also to be admitted, while we say with lowly praise:
THE SANCTUS
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dóminus, Deus Sábaoth. Pleni
sunt coeli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus, qui venit in
nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.
COMMUNION –
Matthew 1: 16
But Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom
was born Jesus, who is called Christ, alleluia, alleluia.
POSTCOMMUNION
We who are refreshed at the fountain of divine
blessing, beseech Thee, O Lord our God: that as Thou makest us to rejoice in
the protection of blessed Joseph so, by his merits and intercession, Thou
wouldst make us to be sharers of heavenly glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth.
Second
Postcommunion – Commemoration of St. Hermenegild, M
Our strength renewed from having shared in Thy sacred
gift, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that by the intercession of blessed
Hermenegild, Thy Martyr, we may ever feel the mighty power of the sacrament we
worship. Through our Lord.
Prayer to Joseph, Protector of the Church
(St. Joseph's
Oratory of Mount-Royal)
Brave Joseph, collaborator in God's project for humanity, your tenderness enfolds the newborn Church.
Just as Mary and Jesus recognize in you the protection of the Father, so too does the community of faith place itself under
your protection.
Strengthen us with the Spirit that filled the
Nazarene home and guide our footsteps on
the road to the Kingdom.
Accompany us in carrying out our mission.
Help us to be lights in the world so that the
family of God may spring forth from humanity
transfigured in Christ.
Grant us the strength to imitate God's preference
for the poor and weak. Guide us in our pastoral
activities that our actions may be modeled on
the Good News. Amen.
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