Quamquam
Pluries
On Devotion to St. Joseph
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, and other Ordinaries, in Peace and Union with Holy
See.
Although We have already many times ordered special prayers
to be offered up in the whole world, that the interests of
Catholicism might be insistently recommended to God, none will
deem it matter for surprise that We consider the present moment
an opportune one for again inculcating the same duty. During
periods of stress and trial - chiefly when every lawlessness of
act seems permitted to the powers of darkness - it has been the
custom in the Church to plead with special fervour and
perseverance to God, her author and protector, by recourse to
the intercession of the saints - and chiefly of the Blessed
Virgin, Mother of God - whose patronage has ever been the most
efficacious. The fruit of these pious prayers and of the
confidence reposed in the Divine goodness, has always, sooner or
later, been made apparent. Now, Venerable Brethren, you know the
times in which we live; they are scarcely less deplorable for
the Christian religion than the worst days, which in time past
were most full of misery to the Church. We see faith, the root
of all the Christian virtues, lessening in many souls; we see
charity growing cold; the young generation daily growing in
depravity of morals and views; the Church of Jesus Christ
attacked on every side by open force or by craft; a relentless
war waged against the Sovereign Pontiff; and the very
foundations of religion undermined with a boldness which waxes
daily in intensity. These things are, indeed, so much a matter
of notoriety that it is needless for Us to expatiate on the
depths to which society has sunk in these days, or on the
designs which now agitate the minds of men. In circumstances so
unhappy and troublous, human remedies are insufficient, and it
becomes necessary, as a sole resource, to beg for assistance
from the Divine power.
2. This is the reason why We have considered it necessary to
turn to the Christian people and urge them to implore, with
increased zeal and constancy, the aid of Almighty God. At this
proximity of the month of October, which We have already
consecrated to the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of
the Rosary, We earnestly exhort the faithful to perform the
exercises of this month with, if possible, even more piety and
constancy than heretofore. We know that there is sure help in
the maternal goodness of the Virgin, and We are very certain
that We shall never vainly place Our trust in her. If, on
innumerable occasions, she has displayed her power in aid of the
Christian world, why should We doubt that she will now renew the
assistance of her power and favour, if humble and constant
prayers are offered up on all sides to her? Nay, We rather
believe that her intervention will be the more marvellous as she
has permitted Us to pray to her, for so long a time, with
special appeals. But We entertain another object, which,
according to your wont, Venerable Brethren, you will advance
with fervour. That God may be more favourable to Our prayers,
and that He may come with bounty and promptitude to the aid of
His Church, We judge it of deep utility for the Christian
people, continually to invoke with great piety and trust,
together with the Virgin-Mother of God, her chaste Spouse, the
Blessed Joseph; and We regard it as most certain that this will
be most pleasing to the Virgin herself. On the subject of this
devotion, of which We speak publicly for the first time to-day,
We know without doubt that not only is the people inclined to
it, but that it is already established, and is advancing to full
growth. We have seen the devotion to St. Joseph, which in past
times the Roman Pontiffs have developed and gradually increased,
grow into greater proportions in Our time, particularly after
Pius IX., of happy memory, Our predecessor, proclaimed, yielding
to the request of a large number of bishops, this holy patriarch
the patron of the Catholic Church. And as, moreover, it is of
high importance that the devotion to St. Joseph should engraft
itself upon the daily pious practices of Catholics, We desire
that the Christian people should be urged to it above all by Our
words and authority.
3. The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed
Patron of the Church, and from which the Church looks for
singular benefit from his patronage and protection, are that
Joseph was the spouse of Mary and that he was reputed the Father
of Jesus Christ. From these sources have sprung his dignity, his
holiness, his glory. In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God
is so lofty that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph
has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage,
it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the
eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly
all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all
unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts
between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving
Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not
only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the
protector of her honour, but also, by virtue of the conjugal
tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines
among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine
will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as His
father among men. Hence it came about that the Word of God was
humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him, and that He
rendered to him all those offices that children are bound to
render to their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the
obligation which nature lays upon the head of families, so that
Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal
defender of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the
whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those
duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily
solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his
work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for
nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child
threatened by a monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a refuge;
in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile
he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of
the Virgin and of Jesus. Now the divine house which Joseph ruled
with the authority of a father, contained within its limits the
scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the most holy Virgin
is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all
Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme
throes of the Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the
first-born of Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are
his brothers. And for such reasons the Blessed Patriarch looks
upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as
confided specially to his trust - this limitless family spread
over the earth, over which, because he is the spouse of Mary and
the Father of Jesus Christ he holds, as it were, a paternal
authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed
Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and
girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the
cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus
Christ.
4. You well understand, Venerable Brethren, that these
considerations are confirmed by the ,opinion held by a large
number of the Fathers, to which the sacred liturgy gives its
sanction, that the Joseph of ancient times, son of the patriarch
Jacob, was the type of St. Joseph, and the former by his glory
prefigured the greatness of the future guardian of the Holy
Family. And in truth, beyond the fact that the same name - a
point the significance of which has never been denied - was
given to each, you well know the points of likeness that exist
between them; namely, that the first Joseph won the favour and
especial goodwill of his master, and that through Joseph's
administration his household came to prosperity and wealth; that
(still more important) he presided over the kingdom with great
power, and, in a time when the harvests failed, he provided for
all the needs of the Egyptians with so much wisdom that the King
decreed to him the title "Saviour of the world." Thus it is that
We may prefigure the new in the old patriarch. And as the first
caused the prosperity of his master's domestic interests and at
the same time rendered great services to the whole kingdom, so
the second, destined to be the guardian of the Christian
religion, should be regarded as the protector and defender of
the Church, which is truly the house of the Lord and the kingdom
of God on earth. These are the reasons why men of every rank and
country should fly to the trust and guard of the blessed Joseph.
Fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of
paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of
love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins at the same
time find in him the model and protector of virginal integrity.
The noble of birth will earn of Joseph how to guard their
dignity even in misfortune; the rich will understand, by his
lessons, what are the goods most to be desired and won at the
price of their labour. As to workmen, artisans, and persons of
lesser degree, their recourse to Joseph is a special right, and
his example is for their particular imitation. For Joseph, of
royal blood, united by marriage to the greatest and holiest of
women, reputed the father of the Son of God, passed his life in
labour, and won by the toil of the artisan the needful support
of his family. It is, then, true that the condition of the lowly
has nothing shameful in it, and the work of the labourer is not
only not dishonouring, but can, if virtue be joined to it, be
singularly ennobled. Joseph, content with his slight
possessions, bore the trials consequent on a fortune so slender,
with greatness of soul, in imitation of his Son, who having put
on the form of a slave, being the Lord of life, subjected
himself of his own free-will to the spoliation and loss of
everything.
5. Through these considerations, the poor and those who live by
the labour of their hands should be of good heart and learn to
be just. If they win the right of emerging from poverty and
obtaining a better rank by lawful means, reason and justice
uphold them in changing the order established, in the first
instance, for them by the Providence of God. But recourse to
force and struggles by seditious paths to obtain such ends are
madnesses which only aggravate the evil which they aim to
suppress. Let the poor, then, if they would be wise, trust not
to the promises of seditious men, but rather to the example and
patronage of the Blessed Joseph, and to the maternal charity of
the Church, which each day takes an increasing compassion on
their lot.
6. This is the reason why - trusting much to your zeal and
episcopal authority, Venerable Brethren, and not doubting that
the good and pious faithful will run beyond the mere letter of
the law - We prescribe that during the whole month of October,
at the recitation of the Rosary, for which We have already
legislated, a prayer to St. Joseph be added, the formula of
which will be sent with this letter, and that this custom should
be repeated every year. To those who recite this prayer, We
grant for each time an indulgence of seven years and seven
Lents. It is a salutary practice and very praiseworthy, already
established in some countries, to consecrate the month of March
to the honour of the holy Patriarch by daily exercises of piety.
Where this custom cannot be easily established, it is as least
desirable, that before the feast-day, in the principal church of
each parish, a triduo of prayer be celebrated. In those lands
where the 19th of March - the Feast of St. Joseph - is not a
Festival of Obligation, We exhort the faithful to sanctify it as
far as possible by private pious practices, in honour of their
heavenly patron, as though it were a day of Obligation.
7. And in token of heavenly favours, and in witness of Our
good-will, We grant most lovingly in the Lord, to you, Venerable
Brethren, to your clergy and to your people, the Apostolic
blessing.
Given from the Vatican, August 15th, 1889, the 11th year of
Our Pontificate.
LEO XIII
Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
