The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph in the Life of Prayer

Thirty years of hidden life

The Gospel sums up thirty years of the life of Jesus at Nazareth in a single sentence: "He was obedient to them"^[4]. Saint Luke adds at once that "his mother treasured all these things in her heart"^[5]. This absolute discretion, which might look like a silence in the text, is in reality the very matter that the whole spiritual tradition has meditated upon as a school of prayer: Jesus spent about ten times longer at Nazareth than in his public ministry.

Saint John Paul II thus brings this hidden life back to the sanctification of everyday life:

"In the end it is a question of the sanctification of daily life, to which each person must strive according to his state and which can be proposed as a model accessible to all." — Saint John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, no. 24, 15 August 1989^[6]

What Joseph and Mary did with the incarnate Word for thirty years, the Church has placed at the heart of her spirituality: inhabited silence, work offered up, fidelity in small things, obedience to the Father. The Benedictine, Carmelite, Salesian and Ignatian spiritual schools have all drawn their inspiration from it.

A spiritual family for the baptized

The Christian is not a solitary individual before God. The dogma of the communion of saints, handed down by the Apostles' Creed, affirms that the baptized on earth, the souls in purgation and the blessed in heaven form one single Mystical Body^[7]. In this Body, Mary and Joseph hold a unique place: the closest to Christ.

Concretely, this means that the baptized person receives:

• God as Father — by filial adoption in baptism (Romans 8:15-16);
• Jesus as Lord, Brother and Friend — "I no longer call you servants, but friends" (John 15:15);
• the Holy Spirit as interior guest — "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16);
• Mary as mother — "Behold your mother" (John 19:27);
• Joseph as guardian and spiritual father — according to a widespread theological interpretation, not a dogma: as he was the legal guardian of Jesus, Catholic piety sees in him a protector and spiritual father of the baptized.

Don Stefano Gobbi (1930-2011), the Italian priest who founded the Marian Movement of Priests after an interior locution reported in 1972 at Fatima, devoted his priesthood and his movement to this motherhood of Mary for all the faithful — the central theme of the Blue Book, a collection of interior locutions belonging to private revelation^[8].

The title of Theotokos defined at Ephesus

In 431, the ecumenical Council of Ephesus defined, against Nestorius the Patriarch of Constantinople, that Mary is truly Theotokos — Mother of God. Cyril of Alexandria, the council's leading figure, writes in his second letter to Nestorius:

"We recognize that the Word, in uniting himself to flesh according to the hypostasis, became man and was called Son of man... In this way, it will be confessed that he was born according to the flesh, although his eternal generation from the Father goes back before all ages. Thus it will be said that the holy Virgin is Mother of God (Theotokos)." — Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Second Letter to Nestorius (Ep. 4), received by the Council of Ephesus, June 431^[9]

The title is not a pious Marian superlative: it is a Christological truth. To refuse Mary the title of Mother of God would amount to separating in Jesus Christ a divine person and a human person, which the council rejects as the Nestorian heresy. It is because Jesus is one single person — divine — in two natures that Mary is truly Mother of God, and not merely Christotokos (mother of the Christ-man).

The four Marian dogmas

The Catholic Church has formally defined four dogmas concerning Mary. Each is a development of the one Christological mystery:

At Lourdes, on 25 March 1858, the Virgin herself said to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, at the sixteenth apparition:

"I am the Immaculate Conception." (in Gascon: "Que soy era immaculada councepciou") — The Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, Lourdes, grotto of Massabielle, 25 March 1858, sixteenth of the eighteen apparitions (11 February – 16 July 1858)^[10]

The apparition confirms, three years and four months after the definition of the dogma by Pius IX, that Bernadette — a little illiterate shepherdess, who did not know what the expression meant — had seen the Virgin present herself under that exact title.

Mother in the order of grace

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Mary's motherhood does not stop at the bodily childbearing of Christ:

"Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. She cooperated in a wholly unique way in the work of the Saviour, by obedience, faith, hope and ardent charity, with a view to restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she has been for us, in the order of grace, a true mother." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 968^[11]

This spiritual motherhood is explicitly opened by Jesus from the heights of the Cross. Saint John reports:

"Seeing his mother, and near her the disciple whom he loved, Jesus said to his mother: 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple: 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home." — Gospel according to Saint John, 19:26-27^[12]

Tradition reads this passage not as a mere family arrangement in favour of John — Mary needing a protector — but as a universal gift: John represents every disciple, and Mary is given as mother to the whole Church. CCC §968 and §969 are rooted in this reading.

Mediatrix subordinate to the one mediation of Christ

Catholic doctrine holds together two affirmations that might seem in tension. On the one hand, there is only one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). On the other, Mary intercedes for men and cooperates in the distribution of the graces of salvation. The resolution lies in the notion of participated mediation: Mary does not compete with Christ, she shares in his mediation, as every Christian intercedes without rivalling him.

The Catechism specifies:

"Mary's motherhood towards the Church is the reflection and extension of her motherhood towards the Son of God. (...) Her maternal function towards men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its efficacy." — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 970^[13]

Important note: the Doctrinal Note of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of 4 November 2025, Mater populi fidelis, recalls that the title of "Co-redemptrix" is not appropriate for Mary and risks blurring the perception of the unique mediation of Christ. The preferred title remains that of Mother of the faithful people and Mother in the order of grace^[14].

Entrusting Mary with speaking for us

The Theresian school of Marian trust is found again in Marcel Van, the young Vietnamese mystic (1928-1959): in his Colloquies, he reports learning from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to tell his desires simply to the Virgin, without tormenting himself, leaving to her the care of presenting them to her Son — a paraphrase, not a word-for-word quotation^[15].

This insight expresses a whole school of trust: the child is not afraid to ask his mother to speak for him, especially when he knows himself to be poor, awkward or unworthy. For Catholic spirituality, Marian prayer is par excellence the school of confident prayer.

Faustina: "Mary taught me to love God interiorly"

Saint Faustina Kowalska, in her Diary, bears witness to a daily intimacy with Mary. She writes, in her first notebook (Vilnius, summer 1934):

"I have a greater devotion to the Holy Virgin. It is she who taught me to love God interiorly and showed me how to accomplish His Holy Will in all things. Mary, you are joy, for through You God came down to earth and into my heart." — Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary, § 40^[16]

Jesus asks her, in another place, to unite her prayer to Mary's during adoration, praying wholeheartedly in union with her (a paraphrase, not a word-for-word quotation)^[17]

Marcel Van: loving Mary as Jesus loves her

Marcel Van, the Vietnamese Redemptorist oblate who died in a communist camp in 1959, is one of the rare modern mystics to have recorded almost daily dialogues with Jesus, Mary and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. According to his Colloquies, Jesus asks him to love Mary as he himself loves her — for it is through Mary that souls are united to his love in an intimate and lasting way (a paraphrase, not a word-for-word quotation)^[18].

When love grows weak: turning to the heavenly Mother

Elizabeth Kindelmann, the Hungarian mystic (1913-1985) at the origin of the movement of the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, receives in her Spiritual Diary — locutions belonging to private revelation — the invitation to turn to the heavenly Mother when her love grows weak, so that she may fill her heart with overflowing love (a paraphrase, not a word-for-word quotation)^[19]

Mary then plays the role of a maternal mediatrix: not to replace the grace of Christ, but to make it accessible to hearts that feel too poor to address God directly.

"My Mother became by grace what I am by nature"

In the spirituality of the Divine Will handed down by the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), Mary holds an absolutely central place: she is the human creature who lived, from the first instant, in perfect union with the Will of God. On 26 September 1899, Jesus explains to her, in substance, that the graces poured out upon Mary are so great that she, who is without sin and in whom grace reigns freely, became by grace what he is by nature — there being nothing of his being that he did not communicate to her (a paraphrase, not a word-for-word quotation)^[20]

Luisa at once clarifies the meaning, out of dogmatic precision: Mary is not a new divinity — what is in God by nature is in her only by grace. The spirituality of the Divine Will thus presents Mary not as a new divinity, but as the creature most perfectly transparent to God that history has ever known.

Mary, Queen in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

The whole doctrine that Luisa receives on the Kingdom of the Divine Will places Mary at the heart of the diffusion of grace. The Virgin is presented as the one who, by her fiat at the Annunciation, opened the door to the universal fiat to which all humanity is called. When Jesus speaks to Luisa of the "new and divine holiness" — an expression dear to the writings of the Divine Will, popularized notably by the Catholic essayist Hugh Owen^[21] — Mary is explicitly presented as its Queen, model and Mother.

Let us spell out the words, in simple language. Doing the will of God means obeying: two wills remain face to face — mine, which I submit, and God's, which I follow — like a faithful servant. Living in the Divine Will is something else, and infinitely more: my will effaces itself to let God's Will live and act in me — like a son who possesses what belongs to his Father. The "new and divine holiness" is that holiness: no longer man making efforts all alone, but God Himself living in him. The "Kingdom of the Divine Will" is the fulfilment of the petition of the Our Father — "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" — lived on the scale of the world: an era of peace in history, the same reality as the triumph of the Immaculate Heart announced at Fatima. And the universal fiat is Mary's "yes" at the Annunciation one day taken up again by all humanity.

This is a spirituality arising from a private revelation — what Jesus said to Luisa Piccarreta, Servant of God — which sheds light on the faith without adding to dogma: it does not stand on the same level as Scripture, the Catechism or the Magisterium.

A converging meditation is found in the Swiss priest and theologian Maurice Zundel (1897-1975): Mary, wholly transparent to God, can only lead to Him — a thematic parallel, not a quotation^[22].

A Marian prayer with a Christocentric structure

The Rosary has been, since the Middle Ages, the great Marian prayer of the Catholic West. Tradition and historians place its systematic emergence in the 13th century, linked to Saint Dominic de Guzmán (1170-1221) and the Order of Preachers, in the context of preaching against the Cathar heresy in Languedoc. Its modern form — fifteen mysteries grouped into joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries — was fixed in the 16th century, and Pope Saint Pius V officially promulgated it by the bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices on 17 September 1569.

Leo XIII published between 1883 and 1898 twelve encyclicals on the Rosary, the first of which, Supremi Apostolatus Officio (1 September 1883), makes the prayer of the Rosary the great spiritual weapon of the Church against the evils of the time^[23].

On 16 October 2002, Saint John Paul II published the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which added to the fifteen traditional mysteries the five luminous mysteries (Baptism in the Jordan, Wedding at Cana, Proclamation of the Kingdom, Transfiguration, Institution of the Eucharist). He specifies:

"While having a Marian character, the Rosary is a prayer with a Christological centre. (...) Indeed, it is not only a method of contemplation. As a method, the chaplet must be used in relation to its proper purpose and it cannot become an end in itself." — Saint John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, nos. 1 and 28, 16 October 2002^[24]

The repetition of the Hail Mary, far from being an empty mechanism, is compared by John Paul II to a beat of love: "the repetition of the Hail Mary... it is to Jesus that the act of love is addressed"^[25].

Padre Pio: "The Rosary is my constant"

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), the stigmatized Capuchin, made the Rosary the backbone of his day. According to a testimony often reported by his confreres, one evening, as he was going to bed, he is said to have asked a young brother: "Give me my weapon." The brother, perplexed, found only a chaplet in his pocket. Padre Pio replied:

"And is the chaplet not a weapon?" — Saint Padre Pio, dialogue reported by his Capuchin confreres (a standard anecdote in the Padre Pio literature)^[26]

To his superior who questioned him on the number of Rosaries recited each day, he is said, according to this testimony, to have answered that he had prayed thirty-four^[27]. His most famous formula sums up his spiritual pedagogy:

"Love the Virgin and make her loved. Always recite the Rosary." — Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, exhortation handed down by his Capuchin spiritual sons^[28]

The daily chaplet as the heart of Marian life

For popular Catholic spirituality, the chaplet is the practical unit of the Rosary: one fifth of the complete Rosary, meditating five mysteries, that is five decades of Hail Marys each preceded by an Our Father. It is a prayer within reach of the ordinary faithful: fifteen to twenty minutes, practicable in the car, while walking, before falling asleep.

All the seers of the great Marian apparitions received the same instruction: pray the Rosary. At Lourdes, the Virgin herself held a chaplet in her hands. At Fatima, in 1917, she presents herself as the Lady of the Rosary. At Pontmain, on 17 January 1871, she appears to several children while the villagers sing the chaplet.

The Treatise on True Devotion by Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), the Breton missionary, wrote around 1712 the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin — a manuscript found buried in a trunk a century after his death, in 1842, and published for the first time in 1843. In it the saint proposes the "holy slavery of love of Jesus through Mary": the total consecration of oneself to Mary, by which one places into her hands one's whole life, one's past, present and future merits.

"Perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin consists in giving oneself entirely to her, as a slave, and in doing all one's actions through Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary, so as to do them more perfectly through Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ." — Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 257^[29]

This consecration was adopted by Saint John Paul II from his Polish youth. His pontifical motto "Totus tuus" — "I am all thine" — is taken directly from an oration of Montfort: "Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio Te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria" ("I am all thine, and all that I have is thine. I receive Thee in all that I have. Give me thy heart, O Mary")^[30].

The Miraculous Medal — Catherine Labouré (1830)

On 27 November 1830, in the chapel of the Rue du Bac in Paris, the Virgin Mary appears to Sister Catherine Labouré, a novice of the Daughters of Charity, and asks her to have a medal struck bearing, on the reverse, two united hearts (the Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Heart of Mary pierced by a sword) surrounded by twelve stars, and on the obverse the Virgin with the words: "O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee"^[31].

Struck for the first time in 1832, the medal — first called the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, then popularly the Miraculous Medal after many conversions and healings — has become one of the most widely distributed objects of Marian devotion in the world (over a billion copies).

It is also a doctrinal signal: the inscribed prayer proclaims, twenty-four years before the definition of the dogma by Pius IX in 1854, the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

The Scapular of Mount Carmel

The Scapular of Mount Carmel is a Marian sacramental stemming from the Carmelite tradition. According to the traditional account, the Virgin is said to have given it to Saint Simon Stock, Prior General of the Order of Carmel, on 16 July 1251, in England, saying to him: "This shall be, for thee and for all Carmelites, a privilege: whoever dies in this habit shall not suffer eternal fire." This promise, taken in its theological context — that of final perseverance obtained through Marian fidelity, not a magical guarantee — was encouraged by several popes, from the 16th century — the so-called Sabbatine bull, attributed to John XXII, whose authenticity is contested by historians — down to Pius XII^[32].

The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated on 16 July, the anniversary day of this tradition.

Why Mary appears

The Catholic Church has officially recognized, over the last twelve centuries, some twenty Marian apparitions as "worthy of belief" — without ever imposing them as a mandatory object of faith. All these recognized apparitions present doctrinal constants:

• conversion of hearts and return to God;
• prayer, and particularly the Rosary;
• penance offered for sinners;
• the Eucharist and fidelity to the visible Church;
• warning of the consequences of collective sin (war, chastisement);
• hope of a final triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

The great recognized apparitions

Pontmain (17 January 1871): the power of collective prayer

The apparition of Pontmain takes place in the midst of the Franco-Prussian war, as the German army advances towards Laval and France fears total invasion. On 17 January 1871, around 5:30 p.m., young Eugène Barbedette, aged 12, sees in the starry sky a "beautiful Lady". Other children see her. An inscription gradually unfolds between them and the Virgin:

"But pray, my children. God will hear you in a short time. My Son allows himself to be moved." — Inscription in letters of gold that appeared in the sky of Pontmain, 17 January 1871, reported by the four seers^[33]

The villagers recite the chaplet together during the three hours of the apparition. That very night, the Prussian troops halt a few kilometres away and retreat. On 28 January 1871, the armistice is signed. The Bishop of Laval recognizes the apparition on 2 February 1872.

L'Île-Bouchard (8-14 December 1947): "Pray for France"

At L'Île-Bouchard, a small town in Indre-et-Loire, from 8 to 14 December 1947, four children — Jacqueline Aubry (12), her sister Jeannette (7), their cousin Nicole Robin (10) and Laura Croizon (8) — see the Virgin in the side chapel of the church of Saint-Gilles. On 8 December 1947, feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin presents herself with an angel and says to them:

"Tell the little children to pray for France [...] for she is in great need of it." — The Virgin Mary to the seers of L'Île-Bouchard, 8 December 1947^[34]

"Pray for France which, these days, is in great danger." — The Virgin Mary to the seers of L'Île-Bouchard, 9 December 1947, a word entrusted as a secret to be repeated three days later^[35]

This request coincides precisely with the insurrectionary strike of November-December 1947 orchestrated by the CGT after the exclusion of the Communist ministers from the Ramadier government in May 1947. France fears civil war. From the evening of Tuesday 9 December, the social and political situation eases.

The six apparitions of 1917

At Fatima, in Portugal, the Virgin appears six times between 13 May and 13 October 1917 to three shepherd children: Lucia dos Santos (10, the future Sister Lucia, 1907-2005), her cousin Francisco Marto (9, 1908-1919) and her cousin Jacinta Marto (7, 1910-1920). The Virgin presents herself on 13 October as the Lady of the Rosary and asks for the building of a chapel, the daily recitation of the chaplet, the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, and the practice of the First Saturdays of the month in reparation.

At the first apparition, the Virgin confronts the children at once with the request that will structure the whole message of Fatima:

"Do you wish to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wishes to send you in reparation for the sins by which He is offended and for the conversion of sinners?" — The Virgin Mary to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, Cova da Iria (Fatima), 13 May 1917, first apparition^[36]

The three children accept — an answer that will seal their life of offering and penance.

On 13 July 1917, she entrusts to the three children the famous three secrets: (1) a vision of hell; (2) the announcement that Russia will spread her errors throughout the world if she is not consecrated to her Immaculate Heart; (3) the "secret", published in 2000 by Saint John Paul II, showing a bishop dressed in white falling as though dead under bullets — a vision applied by the pope to the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981.

The miracle of the sun (13 October 1917)

On 13 October 1917, around noon, in the presence of some 70,000 people — believers, journalists, freemasons, atheists and scholars come to confound the children — the sun seems to "dance" in the sky, changes colours and draws violently near to the earth, drying the clothes of the spectators soaked by torrential rain. The great anticlerical daily O Século, through the pen of its editor Avelino de Almeida, publishes on 15 October 1917 an account acknowledging the phenomenon:

"Then the sun was seen to tremble, the sun was seen to make sudden movements never seen before and outside every cosmic law — the sun danced, according to the typical expression of the peasants. (...) Everyone trembled with fear in the presence of this extraordinary and unexpected phenomenon." — Avelino de Almeida, editor of O Século (Lisbon), edition of 15 October 1917^[37]

The Bishop of Leiria officially recognizes the apparitions on 13 October 1930. The little seers Francisco and Jacinta are beatified by Saint John Paul II on 13 May 2000 and canonized by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017. Sister Lucia, who died in 2005, is in the cause for beatification.

The central message: prayer, penance, consecration

The message of Fatima is not a new revelation, but a solemn reminder of the heart of the Gospel: conversion, prayer, reparation, hope. Saint Padre Pio, then gravely ill, recovered his health when the pilgrim bust of the Virgin of Fatima passed through San Giovanni Rotondo in 1959 — a healing he himself attributed to the Virgin of Fatima^[38].

Joseph, son of David

The two Gospel genealogies of Jesus — Matthew's (1:1-17) and Luke's (3:23-38) — converge on Joseph as son of David. It is through him that Jesus, juridically, inherits the Davidic descent announced by the prophets (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 23:5). Matthew presents Joseph with this solemn mention:

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home, for what is conceived in her comes from the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall give him the name of Jesus." — Gospel according to Saint Matthew, 1:20-21^[39]

This announcement — the first announcement made to Joseph in a dream — settles his fatherhood juridically and theologically. Joseph does not conceive the Child, but he publicly assumes the child as his own. In Jewish law, giving the child his name is equivalent to recognition of fatherhood. Joseph is therefore the true legal father of Jesus, and it is through him that Jesus is "son of David".

The four dreams of Joseph

The Gospel of Matthew reports four dreams of Joseph (Mt 1:20-23; 2:13-15; 2:19-21; 2:22) — without a single word of Joseph being quoted in return. Joseph obeys in silence:

• Mt 1:20-25: announcement of the divine origin of the child; Joseph takes Mary into his home.
• Mt 2:13-15: flight into Egypt to escape Herod.
• Mt 2:19-21: return from Egypt after Herod's death.
• Mt 2:22: withdrawal to Galilee and settlement at Nazareth.

The absolute silence of Joseph

One of the most remarkable facts of the Gospel: no word of Joseph is reported. Not a sentence, not a word. He acts, he obeys, he keeps, he moves, he protects — without any utterance from his mouth being fixed by Holy Scripture. This silence is not a narrative void: it is, for the spiritual tradition, the silence of the just man, of the contemplative, of the one who stands before the mystery without breaking it with words.

Saint John Paul II praises it:

"The Gospels speak exclusively of what Joseph 'did'; but they allow us to discover in his 'actions', enveloped in silence, a climate of deep contemplation." — Saint John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, no. 25, 15 August 1989^[40]

Joseph putative father and legal father

Theology distinguishes three senses of Joseph's fatherhood:

1. Carnal father — no. The conception of Jesus is virginal, by the operation of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35).
2. Legal father — yes. Joseph gives Jesus his name, raises him in the Law, inscribes him in the Davidic line, passes on to him the carpenter's trade (tektōn).
3. Foster and adoptive father — yes. Joseph provides for the material needs of the child and of the Holy Family (flight into Egypt, return, life at Nazareth).

Leo XIII sums it up, in a passage taken up again by Saint John Paul II:

"Joseph shines above all by the most august dignity, because he was, by the divine will, the guardian of the Son of God, regarded by men as his father." — Leo XIII, encyclical Quamquam pluries, 15 August 1889, quoted by Saint John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, no. 8^[41]

Pius IX and the turning point of 1870

During the First Vatican Council, as the troops of King Victor Emmanuel II take Rome (20 September 1870) and the Papal States disappear, Pope Blessed Pius IX consecrates the whole Church to Saint Joseph. On 8 December 1870, feast of the Immaculate Conception, appears the decree Quemadmodum Deus:

"Just as God appointed Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob, over all the land of Egypt to keep the wheat for the people, so, the times of mercy having come, wishing to send upon earth his only-begotten Son, Saviour of the world, he chose another Joseph, of whom the first had been the figure, and established him Lord and prince of his house and of his goods, and chose the guardian of his most precious treasures." — Blessed Pius IX, decree Quemadmodum Deus, 8 December 1870, by which Saint Joseph is solemnly proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church^[42]

It is a strong theological gesture: at the moment when the Church seems juridically humiliated, Pius IX entrusts her to the silent guardian who had protected the Child Jesus from Herod's persecution.

Leo XIII, Quamquam pluries (15 August 1889)

Nineteen years later, Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Quamquam pluries (15 August 1889), which theologically founds Joseph's patronage on his double dignity as spouse of Mary and putative father of Jesus. Leo XIII joins to it the famous prayer "To thee, O blessed Joseph"^[43]:

"To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our tribulation, and after having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we ask also with confidence thy patronage. (...) Watch over the chosen posterity of Jesus Christ; keep far from us, O most loving father, this plague of errors and vices which infects the world; assist us from heaven, O our most mighty support, in this combat against the powers of darkness." — Leo XIII, prayer To thee, O blessed Joseph, encyclical Quamquam pluries, 15 August 1889^[44]

Pius XII: Saint Joseph the Worker (1 May 1955)

On 1 May 1955, at the Congress of Italian Catholic Workers, Pius XII institutes the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, fixed on 1 May as a direct answer to the Communist Labour Day. Joseph becomes the patron of workers, the model of the dignity of manual labour offered to God.

John XXIII: the Roman Canon (1962)

On 8 December 1962, at the close of the first session of the Second Vatican Council, Saint John XXIII introduces the name of Saint Joseph into the Roman Canon of the Mass — the great Roman Eucharistic prayer which Tradition had not modified since Pope Saint Gregory the Great (c. 600). It is a major liturgical gesture: Joseph joins Mary and the apostles in the central prayer of Catholic worship.

John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos (15 August 1989)

For the centenary of Quamquam pluries, Saint John Paul II publishes the apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos (15 August 1989), the first great magisterial synthesis on Saint Joseph since Leo XIII. The pope develops four themes in it:

• Joseph depositary of the mystery of God (with Mary);
• Joseph the just man and spouse;
• Joseph the foster-father;
• Joseph patron of the Church for difficult times.

Francis, Patris Corde (8 December 2020) and the Year of Saint Joseph

For the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Joseph as patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis publishes, on 8 December 2020, the apostolic letter Patris Corde ("With a father's heart"), and proclaims the Year of Saint Joseph (8 December 2020 – 8 December 2021). In it he unfolds seven faces of Joseph's fatherhood:

— Pope Francis, Patris Corde, 8 December 2020^[45]

"All can find in Saint Joseph, the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily presence, discreet and hidden, an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty. Saint Joseph reminds us that all those who are apparently hidden or in the 'second row' play an incomparable role in the history of salvation." — Pope Francis, Patris Corde, introduction, 8 December 2020^[46]

Her healing and the beginning of her devotion

Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Doctor of the Church and great reformer of Carmel, is the saint who has perhaps most marked Catholic devotion to Saint Joseph in modern times. Struck by an illness that left her paralyzed for three years after her entry into Carmel, she entrusts herself to Saint Joseph and receives, according to her own testimony, a complete physical healing. She writes in chapter 6 of the Book of her Life (Libro de la Vida, written between 1562 and 1565):

"I took for my advocate and patron the glorious Saint Joseph, I commended myself earnestly to him; and I saw clearly that, just as in this need through which I was passing, so in others still, greater ones — of honour or of loss of soul — this father and lord delivered me from them better than I knew how to ask him. I do not remember, to this day, ever having asked him for anything that he did not grant me." — Saint Teresa of Avila, Book of the Life, chapter 6, no. 6^[47]

Joseph, master of prayer

Teresa of Avila, foundress of silent prayer within novices' reach, makes Saint Joseph the master par excellence of contemplative prayer:

"I would like to persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, because of the great experience I have of the goods he obtains from God. I have seen no one who is truly devoted to him and who advances in virtue, without drawing profit from it. (...) Let those who cannot find a master to teach them prayer take this glorious saint for their master, and they will not go astray on the way." — Saint Teresa of Avila, Book of the Life, chapter 6, nos. 7-8^[48]

In keeping with this insight, Teresa placed several of her foundations under the patronage of Saint Joseph: the first monastery of the reform (Avila, 1562) is called San José — as afterwards, among others, those of Toledo, Seville, Beas and Caravaca de la Cruz (1576).

The Litany of Saint Joseph

The Litany of Saint Joseph, approved by Saint Pius X in 1909, lists twenty-four invocatory titles: "Illustrious son of David / Light of Patriarchs / Spouse of the Mother of God / Chaste guardian of the Virgin / Foster-father of the Son of God / Zealous defender of Christ / Head of the Holy Family / Joseph most just, most chaste, most prudent, most courageous, most obedient, most faithful / Mirror of patience / Lover of poverty / Model of workers / Glory of home life / Guardian of virgins / Pillar of families / Comfort of the afflicted / Hope of the sick / Patron of the dying / Terror of demons / Protector of Holy Church"^[49].

On 1 May 2021, feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, with the approval of Pope Francis, added seven new invocations to it, in Latin: Custos Redemptoris (Guardian of the Redeemer), Serve Christi (Servant of Christ), Minister salutis (Minister of salvation), Fulcimen in difficultatibus (Support in difficulties), Patrone exsulum (Patron of exiles), Patrone afflictorum (Patron of the afflicted) and Patrone pauperum (Patron of the poor) — bringing the total to thirty-one invocations.

Patron of a holy death

Catholic tradition teaches that Joseph died in the arms of Mary and Jesus — the only person in history to receive this grace. That is why he is invoked as patron of a holy death, and confraternities of the Good Death have placed themselves under his patronage. Catholic piety, relayed by the great spiritual authors — including Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) — sees in this unique death the foundation of this patronage^[50].

Patron of workers and families

Since Pius XII (1955), Joseph is also patron of workers — his carpenter's workshop (tektōn in Greek) at Nazareth becomes the model of the sanctification of daily work. Since Leo XIII (1889), he is the protector of Christian families, he who was the head of the first Christian family (the Holy Family).

How to bring Saint Joseph into daily prayer

The simplest and most traditional practices are:

• Month of Saint Joseph: the whole month of March, and particularly the seven Sundays preceding 19 March (seven Sundays of Saint Joseph in honour of his seven joys and seven sorrows);
• Litany recited each Wednesday, the day traditionally dedicated to Saint Joseph;
• Novena to Saint Joseph before 19 March (Saint Joseph) or 1 May (Saint Joseph the Worker);
• Short daily prayer: "Saint Joseph, pray for us."

The fiat of Mary: model of all prayer

The most important word spoken by Mary in the Gospel is her fiat of the Annunciation:

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." — The Virgin Mary to the angel Gabriel, Gospel according to Saint Luke 1:38^[51]

This pure acceptance, without condition or negotiation, has become the paradigm of all Christian prayer. The primitive form of Christ's own prayer takes up this structure: "Father, not my will, but thine" (Lk 22:42). Mary is, in the human order, the one who realizes for the first time what Jesus will accomplish to the end at Gethsemane.

The obedient silence of Joseph

Where Mary pronounces a verbalized fiat, Joseph answers with an executed fiat. Not a word. But four dreams, and each time the same immediate obedience: "he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him" (Mt 1:24). Pope Francis comments:

"The spiritual life that Joseph shows us is not a path that explains, but a path that accepts. (...) Joseph teaches us that having faith in God also includes believing that He can act through our fears, our fragilities, our weakness. And he teaches us that in the midst of life's storms, we must not be afraid to leave the helm of our boat to God." — Pope Francis, Patris Corde, no. 4, 8 December 2020^[52]

A spiritual family for the pilgrim

The Christian learning to pray does not walk alone. He has, on the side of earth, the Church; on the side of heaven, Mary for mother, Joseph for guardian, the angels and saints for companions. Praying to Mary means learning to receive Jesus as she received him: "Mary kept all these things in her heart" (Lk 2:19). Praying to Joseph means learning to protect Jesus within oneself through a hidden fidelity, without noise or visible reward.

This double school — the verbalized fiat of Mary, the silent fiat of Joseph — provides the baptized person with the complete framework of a Catholic life of prayer. The Trinity remains the source; Mary and Joseph are its first human echoes, and the two surest companions on the road.

Go further in Via Divina — This article summarizes a course from the free basic Via Divina formation. To go further, discover the complete course: open the Via Divina course.

• The Holy Spirit and the charisms — previous course of the module.
• The saints and the souls in Purgatory — next course of the module.
• The angels in the life of prayer — the continuation of the journey on the communion of saints.
• The Divine Will — the great spiritual horizon.
• Luisa Piccarreta — the Servant of God of Corato.
• The Council of Ephesus (431) — the definition of Mary as Theotokos.
• Our Lady of Fatima and the miracle of the sun (1917) — the major apparition of the 20th century.