(On March 19, 1961, Pope John XXIII, gave, what
was at the time, the longest papal document ever written on
Saint Joseph. This apostolic epistle had as its primary
purpose the naming
of St.
Joseph as Patron of the Second Vatican Council. After outlining
at length the history of devotion to St. Joseph especially
since Pius
IX, and after proclaiming Joseph’s patronage over the Council,
the Pope encourages prayer to him.)
Saint Joseph is named Patron of the Second Vatican Council
Apostolic Epistle of Pope John XXIII
To the local ordinaries and faithful of the Catholic world
Venerable brethren and beloved sons! Countless expressions of joy
and expectation and of best wishes for the success of the Second Vatican
Council have come to Us from every corner of the globe. They are stirring
Us more and more to avail Ourselves of the good dispositions of all
the many simple and sincere hearts whom We see so lovingly and generously
devoting themselves to begging for God’s help, to growing in
religious fervor, to achieving a clearer understanding of all that
the celebration of the Council will require beforehand and will subsequently
produce in the form of a development of the interior and exterior
life of the Church, and of a spiritual revival throughout the whole
world.
And now, 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.
Increase of devotion to Joseph
In the Holy Church’s worship, right from the beginning, Jesus,
the Word of God made man, has enjoyed the adoration that belongs to
Him, incommunicable as the splendor of the substance of His Father,
a splendor reflected in the glory of His saints. Mary, His Mother,
was close behind Him from the earliest times, in the pictures in the
Catacombs and the basilicas, where she was devoutly venerated as “Holy
Mother of God.”
But Joseph, except for some slight sprinkling of references to him
here and there in the writings of the Fathers, for long centuries
remained in the background that was so typical of him, like a kind
of ornamental detail in the overall picture of the Saviour’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.
Saint Joseph in the words of the pontiffs of the last 100 years
The first two postulata that the Fathers of the First Vatican Council
presented to Pius IX when they met in Rome (1869-1870) had to do with
St. Joseph. Their first request was that devotion to him be accorded
a higher place in the Sacred Liturgy; this document bore the signatures
of 153 bishops. The other one, which had been signed by 43 superiors-general
of religious orders, asked for the solemn proclamation of St. Joseph
as Patron of the Universal Church.
Pius IX
Pius IX greeted both requests with joy. At the very beginning of
his pontificate [on September 10, 1847], he had set aside the third
Sunday after Easter for the feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph.
As early as 1854, in a devout and stirring talk, he had pointed to
St. Joseph as the surest hope of the Church after the Blessed Virgin;
and on December 8, 1870, when the Vatican Council had been suspended
because of political events, he seized the occasion of the feast of
the Immaculate Conception to issue a more solemn and official proclamation
that St. Joseph was the Patron of the Universal Church and to elevate
the feast of March 19th to the liturgical rank of double of the first
class.
The decree of December 8, 1870, issued Urbi et Orbi, was brief but
beautiful and wonderful and really worthy of the Ad perpetuam memoriam,
an it opened a vein of rich and precious inspirations for the successors
of Pius IX.
Leo XIII
For the feast of the Assumption in 1889, the immortal Leo XIII issued
the letter Quamquam pluries, the richest and fullest document that
a pope ever issued in honor of the foster father of Jesus; it pointed
up his characteristic role as the model for fathers of families and
for workers. This was the origin of the beautiful prayer, “To
thee, O Blessed Joseph,” that did so much to enrich the time
of Our childhood.
St. Pius X
The Holy Pontiff Pius X added many new expressions of devotion and
love for St. Joseph to those of Pope Leo, and he was more than happy
to permit a work on this devotion to be dedicated to him. He also
added to the treasure of indulgences attached to reciting the litanies
that are so dear to Us and so comforting to say.
What a beautiful sound the words of his grant have! “Our most
holy Lord Pius to the renowned Patriarch St. Joseph, foster father
of the Divine Redeemer, most pure husband of the Mother of God, and
powerful patron of the Catholic Church before God” — just
look at the depth of personal feeling — “whose glorious
name has adorned it from the time of its birth, and whom it has embraced
with a special constant love and devotion.” And the other words
he used to give the reasons for granting the new favors: “to
increase devotion to St. Joseph, the patron of the Universal Church.”
Benedict XV
At the outbreak of the first great European war, when the eyes of
St. Pius X had closed on life here below, Divine Providence raised
up Pope Benedict XV to move across the years from 1914 to 1918 like
a kindly star bringing universal consolation.
He too was quick to promote devotion to the Holy Patriarch. It is
to him that we owe the introduction of two new prefaces into the Canon
of the Mass; the preface of St. Joseph and the one for Masses for
the Dead; he wisely linked them together by issuing the two decrees
on the same day, April 9, 1919, as if to remind men of the way in
which sorrows and consolations are mingled and shared in two families;
the heavenly one of Nazareth that had St. Joseph for its legal head
and the immense human family that had suffered universal grief because
of the countless victims claimed by devastating war. What a sorrowing
but at the same time consoling and fitting combination: St. Joseph
on one side and St. Michael, the standard-bearer, on the other, each
presenting the souls of the dead to the Lord into the holy light.
The following year — on July 25, 1920 — Pope
Benedict returned to the subject while preparations were
being made for the
fiftieth anniversary of Pius IX’s proclamation of St. Joseph
as patron of the Universal Church, and he came back to it
again from a theological point of view in the Motu proprio “Bonum
sane,” that
seemed to breathe an air of tenderness and unwavering trust.
Oh! what a beautiful thing it was to throw new light on the
meek and kindly
figure of our saint and to have the Christian people call
upon him, first of all to protect the Church militant at
the very moment when
they were beginning to rededicate their finest efforts to
spiritual and material reconstruction in the wake of so many
calamities; and
second, to offer consolation to all the millions and millions
of human victims, poised on the threshold of eternity, for
whom Pope Benedict
asked the bishops and the many pious societies throughout
the world to offer up their prayers to St. Joseph, the patron
of the dying.
Pius XI and Pius XII
The last two pontiffs — Pius XI and Pius XII — of dear
and venerated memory — showed a deep and edifying fidelity in
following this same path of recommending fervent devotion to the Holy
Patriarch in all of their appeals, their exhortations, and their inspiring
words.
At least four different times in solemn allocutions dealing with
new saints, and very often at the annual celebrations of March 19th,
for example in 1928, and again in 1935 and 1937, Pius XI took the
opportunity to exalt the many glories that shone forth from the spiritual
image of the Guardian of Jesus, the most chaste spouse of Mary, the
pious and modest worker of Nazareth, and the patron of the universal
Church, our powerful shield of defense against the efforts of world
atheism, intent on wiping out Christian nations.
Pius XII picked up this keynote from his predecessor
and made it echo forth in the same tones, in so many allocutions
that were always
beautiful, vibrant, and timely. As on the 10th of April in
1940, when he invited newlyweds to place themselves under
the gentle, protective
mantle of the Spouse of Mary; and in 1945, when he called
upon the members of Christian associations for workingmen
to honor Joseph as
their lofty model and the staunch guardian of their ranks;
and ten years later, in 1955, when he announced that the
annual feast of St.
Joseph the Worker had been instituted. This recently established
feast, celebrated on May 1st, takes the place of the one
on Wednesday of the second week after Easter, while the traditional
feast of March
19th will henceforth mark the solemn celebration of St. Joseph’s
Patronage of the Universal Church.
The same Holy Father, Pius XII, was pleased to adorn the breast of
St. Joseph with a most precious garland in the form of a fervent prayer
recommended for use by priests and faithful throughout the world in
their devotions, and he enriched it with many indulgences. It is a
prayer of a professional and social nature for the most part, and
hence well-suited for those who find themselves subject to the law
of work which is, for everyone, a “law of honor, of a peaceful
and holy life, and a prelude to eternal happiness.” You find
there these words among others: “be with us, St. Joseph, in
times of prosperity, when everything seems to be inviting us to enjoy
the honest fruits of our labors, but most of all be with us and sustain
us in the hours of sadness, when it looks as if the heavens are about
to close over us, and as if even the tools of our labor are about
to fly from our hands.”
March 19th: Definite date for the feast of the Patronage
Venerable brethren and beloved sons! We felt that this particular
March 19th would be a good time to recall these points of history
and of religious devotion and offer them for devout consideration
by you whose souls have been trained to a fine sense of how a Christian
and Catholic should live and act and feel. We say this particular
March 19th, because the feast of St. Joseph this year coincides with
the beginning of passiontide and so helps prepare us to enjoy a deeper
intimacy with the most profound and salutary mysteries of the sacred
liturgy.
The dispositions that lead us to cover the images of Jesus Crucified,
of Mary, and of the saints with a veil for the two weeks that come
before Easter also invite us to holy inner recollection and to communicating
with the Lord through a prayer that ought to involve both meditation
and frequent, lively supplication. Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and
the saints are waiting for us to express our trusting, heartfelt prayers;
and it is only natural for these prayers to center on the things that
most closely correspond to the needs of the Catholic Church universal.
Anticipation and the Ecumenical Council
There can be no doubt that the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican
stands at the center and in first place among these needs and cares;
it is now eagerly awaited by all those who believe in Jesus, the Redeemer,
and belong to our Mother the Catholic Church, or to one of the various
groups that are separated from it and yet still anxious — at
least as far as many are concerned — for a return to peace and
unity that will be in full accord with Christ’s teaching and
His prayer to His Heavenly Father.
It is only natural for Us to have as Our aim, in thus recalling the
words of the popes of the last century, to stir up the Catholic world
to work for the success of this great plan for order, for spiritual
improvement, and for peace, which constitute the purpose and goal
of an Ecumenical Council.
The Council at the service of all souls
Everything about the Church as Jesus established it is great and
worthy of attention. The celebration of a Council gathers the most
distinguished persons of the ecclesiastical world together around
the Fathers — those who are most richly endowed with the gifts
of theological and juridical learning, of organizing ability, of apostolic
zeal and fervor. This is what a Council is: the Pope at the summit
and around him and with him the cardinals, bishops from every rite
and every country, the best-qualified scholars and teachers from various
levels and from various fields, in which they specialize.
But the Council is meant for the whole Christian people; they have
an interest in it, for they will share in the more perfect communication
of grace and of Christian vitality that will make it easier for them
to acquire more quickly the truly precious goods of the present life
and thus assure themselves of the riches of the eternal ages.
And so everyone has an interest in the Council, clerics and laymen,
the great and the small from every part of the world, every social
class, every race, every color; and since we need a heavenly protector
on high during this period of preparation and of development to ask
for that divine power that will enable it to live up to its promise
and be an epoch-making event in the history of the Church in our times,
there is no saint in heaven who can better be trusted with the task
than St. Joseph, the stately head of the Family of Nazareth and protector
of the Holy Church.
Pius XI on Joseph
Whenever We listen to the echoes of the voices of the popes of this
last century of our history, as We have just done, Our heart is particularly
moved by the words of Pius XI, which were so typical of him on their
calm and carefully thought out way of expressing things. They come
down to us from a talk he gave on March 19, 1928 — a few words
in honor of St. Joseph, or as he liked to call him, dear and blessed
St. Joseph — that he just could not and would not hold back.
“It is very thought-provoking,” he said, “to see
two magnificent figures who were close to each other in the beginnings
of the Church now standing alongside each other here close by and
shining brilliantly: St. John the Baptist, who comes to us from the
desert, sometimes with a thundering voice and sometimes with meekness
and gentleness, sometimes like a roaring lion and at others like a
friend basking in the glory of the bridegroom, and offering the wonderful
testimony of his martyrdom to the whole world; then the powerful Peter
who hears those magnificent words from the Divine Master: ‘go
and preach to the whole world;’ and to himself personally: ‘thou
art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.’ A great
mission, with divine magnificence and acclaim.”
This was what Pius XI had to say. And then he went on in these wonderful
words: “In between these two great personages and these two
missions, you can make out the person and the mission of St. Joseph,
as he moves along quietly and thoughtfully, almost unobserved and
unrecognized in his humility and silence, a silence upon which light
would be shed only later, a silence that was bound to be succeeded
by a long, loud cry of acclaim and glory through the ages.”
Oh! the invocation of St. Joseph, the devotion to St. Joseph to bring
his protection down on the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican.
Purpose of this letter
Venerable brethren and children of Rome, beloved children of the
whole world!
This is what we wanted to lead up to and this is why we are sending
this apostolic letter on the 19th of March; We wanted the celebration
of the feast of St. Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church, to
bring your souls the inspiration for an extraordinary renewal of fervor,
that will come from a more lively, more ardent, and more constant
prayerful participation in the cares of the Holy Church, your teacher
and mother, your instructor and guide for this extraordinary event — the
Twenty-first Ecumenical Council and the Second of the Vatican — to
which the public press of the whole world has been devoting lively
interest and respectful attention.
Needs of the Council
You know very well that the first phase of organizing the Council
is moving along calmly, effectively and in encouraging fashion. Distinguished
prelates and clergymen by the hundreds have come from every part of
the world and are now meeting here in the City; they have been divided
up into various well-organized sections, each with responsibility
for some important work all its own; they are following the lines
laid down by the priceless contents of a series of imposing volumes
that have gathered together the thoughts and experience and suggestions
that are the fruit of wisdom, intelligence and apostolic zeal that
constitutes the real wealth and treasure of the Catholic Church of
the past, present, and the future.
All the Ecumenical Council needs in order to reach a
successful conclusion is the light of truth and of grace,
the discipline of study and of
silence, and a serene peace and trust in minds and hearts.
This is on the human side. On the other hand, the Christian
people must call
down God’s aid from on high through their prayers and through
their efforts to lead model lives that will be a forestate
and a first evidence of the firm determination that each
one of the faithful must
make to apply and put into practice the teaching and directives
that will be proclaimed at the end of the eagerly-awaited
event — which
is now well on its way to what promises to be a successful
conclusion.
The altar of Saint Joseph
Venerable brethren and beloved children! That brilliant thought of
Pope Pius XI on March 19, 1928 is still pursuing us.
Here in Rome, the sacrosanct Basilica of the Lateran always reflects
the glory of the Baptist.
But the massive temple of St. Peter, where relics and reminders that
are precious to all Christendom are venerated, also has an altar to
St. Joseph; and today, March 19, 1961, We wish to express Our intention
of seeing that altar of St. Joseph take on a new and fuller and more
solemn splendor, and of having it become a point of attraction and
of religious devotion for individual souls and for countless crowds.
For beneath these heavenly vaults of the Vatican temple, the ranks
of those who make up the Apostolic College, drawn from every corner
of the globe — even the most distant ones — will assemble
around the Head of the Church for the Ecumenical Council.
Invocation to Saint Joseph
O St. Joseph! Here, here is where you belong as Protector Universalis
Ecclesiae! Our intention was to use the words and the documents of
Our immediate predecessors over the last century — from Pius
IX to Pius XII — to offer you a garland of honor, which would
crystallize the expressions of affection and veneration that are now
rising everywhere — from Catholic nations and in mission regions.
Always be our protector. May thy inner spirit of peace, of silence,
of good work, and of prayer for the cause of Holy Church always be
an inspiration to us and bring us joy in union with thy blessed spouse,
our most sweet and gentle and Immaculate Mother, and in the strong
yet tender love of Jesus, the glorious and immortal King of all ages
and peoples. Amen.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, March 19, 1961, the third year
of Our Pontificate.
(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,
pictured here. 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. ”
