JOHN XXIII: POPE OF SAINT JOSEPH

The papal states had been tumbled; the fathers of the First Vatican Council forced home. Rome was occupied; the Pope commenced the long Vatican captivity. On the surface, prospects appeared bleak for the papacy. In reality, things were not nearly so bad as they seemed. He who had preserved Christ himself from the designs of a wicked Herod still stood prepared to protect Christ's Vicar from the plots of a wicked world.

When things appeared at their worst, Pope Pius IX acceded to the desires of the faithful and various members of the First Vatican Council, and invoked the powerful protection of the guardian of the nascent Church, Joseph of Nazareth. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception that year, all Italy was invited to offer up Holy Communion for the Pope. Dec. 8, 1870, was Catholic Italy's day of prayer for the see of Peter. And Peter's heir seized the occasion to perform a great act of his apostolic authority. In the great Roman basilicas he published the decree Quemadmodum Deus declaring St. Joseph patron and protector of the universal Church.

Sixteen years earlier, to the day, the same Pope had officially opened a great Marian era by defining Mary's Immaculate Conception. Now he opened a proportionately great era honoring her life's companion, Joseph.

The Church has been on a search ever since then for new ways of honoring her perennial protector. Numerous new forms of devotion to him have resulted. Pius IX himself made Joseph's feast one of the first class. Leo XIII approved the St. Joseph Scapular and penned the encyclical letter Quamquam pluries on devotion to St. Joseph. The Litany of St. Joseph was endorsed for public use by Pope St. Pius X. Benedict XV sanctioned a proper preface in Joseph's honor and added his invocation to the Divine Praises. Pius XI designated him special protector against Communism. Pius XII instituted a first class feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope after Pope vied with his predecessors in amplifying this cult.

It was hardly surprising, then, that from the very outset of his reign, Pope John XXIII should sing Joseph's praises. So persistently and dynamically, however, did His Holiness sustain

this theme, that he has more than merited a niche alongside Pius IX as a "Pope of St. Joseph."

This devotion of the Pontiff could be evidenced already in the conclave that elevated him. Faced with selecting a name, Cardinal Roncalli seriously considered "Joseph." He demurred only because no Pope had ever had the name before,1 admittedly curious words on the tongue of precedent-breaking Pope John.

Brushing aside the fact that he had long answered to the name of Angelo and Angelino rather than Giuseppe or Beppo, however, the Pope adopted March 19 as his name day. At the first celebration in 1959, the Holy Father addressed Rome's streetcleaners. Not at all reticent about his personal veneration of Joseph, the Pope told of his thought of taking the name Joseph as Pope, and on this occasion, as well as later in his apostolic letters on devotion to St. Joseph (Mar. 19, 1961) and on the Rosary (Sept. 29, 1961), he referred to the prayer "To thee, O Blessed Joseph" (which Leo XIII prescribed to be said after the October Rosary) as "the most beautiful prayer that did so much to enrich the time of Our childhood.”2

Skillfully His Holiness blended these reminiscences of personal devotion with wise pastoral teachings on St. Joseph.

All the saints in glory assured merit and honor and a particular respect, but it is evident that St. Joseph possesses just title to a place in our hearts, a place which belongs to him alone, sweeter, more intimate, and penetrating. . . . Add to all this the experience of life and the knowledge of Christian doctrine . . . and we will be able to measure more completely the complete grandeur of St. Joseph, not only by reason of the fact that he was close to Jesus and Mary, but also by the shining example which he has given us of all the virtues.

To these encomiums of the heights of the honor due to Joseph and of the sanctity which he possesses, Pope John added a word on his patronage.

St. Joseph is the protector par excellence of the family, along with the other two of whom he was the incomparable guardian. The simple

1 Discorsi messaggi colloqui del Santo Padre Giovanni XXIII, Vatican Press [hereafter cited as DMCSPG], I, 627.

2 The Pope Speaks [hereafter cited as TPS], VII, 125, from AAS LIII, 207. See also AAS LIII, 647 [Eng.: IER XCVI, 322] and DMCSPG I, 627.

mention of Jesus, Mary and Joseph reminds us that there [in the Holy Family] we find all human history and there we find also the salvation, the grandeur, the beauty, the splendor of the Catholic Church.3

In another address later that same day, Pope John reminded the sick and suffering that Joseph was an example for them in how to bear suffering patiently.*

The first day of May each year always found Pope John, in the tradition of Pius XII, addressing the Christian Associations of Italian Workers (A.C.L.I.), always recommending devotion to and imitation of their patron. On this occasion in 1959, he left them with a beautiful prayer which underscored Joseph's eminent dignity and sympathetic patronage.

Glorious Saint Joseph, who disguised the incomparable and sovereign dignity of guardian of Jesus and Mary under the humble appearance of an artisan and with your work provided for their daily sustenance, give your protection to those who are especially entrusted to your care.

You know their sufferings and their anxieties, because you shared them yourself by the side of Jesus and his Mother. Do not allow them, under the burden of so many worries, to forget the end for which God created them; do not allow the poison of mistrust to conquer their immortal souls. Remind all workers that in the fields, in the factories, in the mines and in the laboratories of science, they are never alone in their joys and in their sorrow, but that Jesus is always with them, to wipe the perspiration from their brow, and to ennoble their toil. Teach them to transform their labor, as you did, into an exalted instrument of sanctification.5

In his 1959 Christmas message, Pope John spoke of the indispensable role of the family in human society and noted especially the role of the family of families in Christ's Incarnation and redemptive work.

Christmas is the great family feast. In coming upon earth to save human society and restore it to its high destiny, Jesus manifested himself with Mary his mother, with Joseph his putative father who is there as the shadow of the eternal Father. Thus was the great restoration of the entire world begun. . . .

6

8 Cahiers de Joséphologie, Montreal [hereafter cited as CJ] IX, 148, cit. DMCSPG I, 627.

4 DMCSPG I, 202 [Eng.: TPS V, 332]. TPS V, 419, from AAS LI, 359.

6 DMCSPG II, 96-97.

Candlemas Day the following year, the Pope sent candles to the principal sanctuaries of the world "where Mary smiles and where St. Joseph is venerated." He made special mention of the great Canadian sanctuary, St. Joseph's Oratory, Montreal. The candles burning in these shrines were to symbolize the petition of divine assistance there for the future ecumenical council. To this same end, Pope John exhorted a fervent devotion towards the glorious Patriarch. "He is the best-known saint after the Blessed Virgin. He is the most powerful intercessor, from whom nobody is turned away without being heard.”

Once again in 1960, His Holiness ended his May 1st allocution to the A.C.L.I. with a priceless prayer to the patron of laborers, which this time made special mention of the intimacy in which Joseph lived with Jesus and Mary.

O Saint Joseph, guardian of Jesus, chaste spouse of Mary, who passed your life in the perfect fulfillment of duty, sustaining the Holy Family of Nazareth with the labor of your hands, protect kindly those who trustingly turn to you. You know their aspirations, their miseries, their hopes, and they have recourse to you because they know that they will find in you one who will understand and protect them. You too have known trial, labor and weariness. But, even in the midst of worries of the material life, your soul was filled with profound peace and it exulted in unerring joy through intimacy with the Son of God entrusted to you, and with Mary, his most sweet mother. Make those whom you protect understand that they are not alone in their labor, but show them how to discover Jesus near them, to receive him with grace, to guard him faithfully, as you have done. And assure that in every family, in every factory, in every workshop, wherever a Christian works, all may be satisfied in charity, in patience, in justice, in seeking to do well, so that abundant gifts may descend from heaven.8

A homily on the Ascension that same year (May 26, 1960) afforded Pope John the opportunity to assert that it may be piously believed that St. John the Baptist and St. Joseph were bodily assumed into heaven at the time of our Lord's ascension.9

Two months later (July 26, 1960), the Pope reformed and codified the Church's liturgical law. Included in this legislation

7 DMCSPG II, 708.

8 St. Joseph—the Worker: Pope John's Message to Workers, May 1, 1960, N.C.W.C., 4 [Ital.: AAS LII, 400]. 9 AAS LII, 456.

1961),19 his letter to the bishops coming to the Council (Apr. 15, 1962),20 his letter to nuns and sisters begging prayers for the Council (July 2, 1962),21 and finally his address at the opening of the Council (Oct. 11, 1962),22 all carry like messages: Invoke St. Joseph, patron of the Council!

At a general audience near the beginning of March, 1962, the Pope urged the thousands present: "Consecrate yourselves. . . to St. Joseph so that he may obtain grace and blessings for the Council and so that the Council may be tranquilly prepared for and well-conducted, thus bringing abundant fruit to souls."23

Toward the end of Le voci, the Pope announced his intention of seeing to it that the altar of St. Joseph in St. Peter's Basilica "takes on a new and fuller and more solemn splendor . . . and becomes a point of attraction and of religious devotion for individual souls and for countless crowds."24

A few hours after the release of Le voci, Pope John spoke to various lay and religious groups dedicated to St. Joseph. Once again he reminisced on his own devotion to the Saint, offering at the same time his own precious views on various subjects, for example, that Joseph presided over the rite of circumcision and that he was not only present at the arrival of the Magi but was the one who received them.

We would like to let you in on a secret today. Cardinal Peter Gasparri ... was the one who informed Us of Our nomination as Apostolic Visitor in Bulgaria. . . and of the promotion to the episcopal dignity that would go with it. When he heard mention of the fact that We would be consecrated on the feast of St. Joseph . . . he asked Us in that very direct and pointed but friendly way that he had, “And why in the world on the feast of St. Joseph ?"

Our reply was a simple one: "Because this is the Saint We think would be the ideal teacher and patron for diplomats of the Holy See." "Oh! Is that so?" said the Cardinal. "I would never have guessed that."

19 AAS LIV, 11 [Eng.: TPS VII, 359].

20 AAS LIV, 564 f.

21 AAS LIV, 517 [Eng.: TPS VIII, 162].

22 Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 28, 1962, 8 f.

23 Catholic Standard (Washington), Mar. 9, 1962, p. 9.

24 TPS VII, 130, from AAS LIII, 212.