Universal Patron

In his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde (December 8, 2020), Pope Francis commemorated the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pius IX's proclamation of Saint Joseph as patron of the Universal Church, by establishing this year as a "Year of Saint Joseph." He did so in the midst of and in conscious response to the terrible world-wide pandemic we have been living through this past year.

Almost 260 years ago, in the midst of a terrible Civil War, on March 19, 1863, Servant of God Isaac Hecker preached a famous sermon on Saint Joseph, the doctrine contained in which he described as the groundwork of all his thoughts, actions, and plans. Joseph, Hecker said, referencing the Gospel of the day:

was a just man. He possessed all virtues, he was faithful in all the duties and relations of life, and so the Holy Ghost calls him just, not kind, or affectionate, not self-denying, or devout, or humble, though he had all these virtues, but just, which includes all these and more. His virtue was like the light, colorless because it was complete. He was an all-sided man. He combined in himself the sanctities of different and variously separated states and conditions. ... The more a civilization solicits the exercise of man's intelligence, and enlarges the field for the action of his free-will, the broader will be the basis that it offers for sanctity. ... Christianity is designed for the sanctification of our whole nature, with all its faculties, powers, and propensities, since it was the entire and complete manhood that was united to the Godhead in Christ; we affirm, therefore, that the more advanced and complete a civilization, the wider will be the sphere for the display of the divine character. ... [Saint Joseph] was in the world, and found God where he was. He sanctified his work by carrying God with him into the work-shop. St. Joseph ... found the means of perfection in the world, and consecrated it to God by making its cares and duties subservient to divine purposes. ...While occupied with the common, daily duties of life, his mind was fixed on the contemplation of divine truths, thus breathing into all his actions a heavenly influence. ... St. Joseph stands forth as an excellent and unsurpassed model of this type of perfection. ...For it is the difficulties and hindrances that Christians find in their age which give the form to their character and habits, and when mastered, become the means of divine grace and their titles of glory. Indicate these, and you portray that type of sanctity in which the life of the Church will find its actual and living expression.

Photo: Altar of Saint Joseph, Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, NY.

Photo: Saint Joseph Altar, Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, NY