“Everyone can find in Saint Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, the man of the discreet and hidden daily presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty”. (Pope Francis: Apostolic Letter “Patris corde” – With a Father’s Heart – December 2020: Introduction)
Pope Francis records, in his Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” (with Father’s Heart), that Saint Joseph was very loved by his predecessors, who dedicated important documents of the Church to Saint Joseph. Let’s see:
Was he [St. Joseph] old or young? Most of the statues and pictures we see of Joseph today represent him as an old man with a gray beard, one who took Mary and her vow under his protection with somewhat the same detachment as a doctor would pick up a baby girl in a nursery. We have, of course, no historical evidence whatsoever concerning the age of Joseph. Some apocryphal accounts picture him as an old man; Fathers of the Church, after the fourth century, followed this legend rather rigidly. …
We are in the month of March, the month of St. Joseph in the year of St. Joseph. So naturally we will reflect on St. Joseph! Continuing our journey through the Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, issued by Pope Francis and considering the second section with the title above, “Tender and Loving Father”
“The title alone is significant, since by it Pope Francis is recognizing that Joseph is a father, and a beloved father, not a “foster” father or a “supposed” father.”
The Holy Spouses Society teaches couples with Mary and Joseph in mind.
Every Jan. 23, couples head to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Bakersfield, California, and St. Joachim parish in Madera, also in the Golden State, for Mass on the feast of the Holy Spouses. Celebrating this feast together at Mass is one of eight ways these husbands and wives, who are members of the Holy Spouses Society, learn to emulate the Holy Spouses — Mary and Joseph — every day of the year.
With the Apostolic Letter “Patris corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis recalls the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father has proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” from 8 December 2020, to 8 December 2021.
By Vatican News
In a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde(“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.
The Letter marks the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To celebrate the anniversary, Pope Francis has proclaimed a special “Year of St Joseph,” beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same feast in 2021.
The Year of St. Joseph: What Catholics need to know
CNA Staff, Dec 10, 2020 / 05:46 pm MT (CNA).- On Tuesday, Pope Francis announced a Year of St. Joseph, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church.
Pope Francis said he was establishing the year so that “every member of the faithful, following his example, may strengthen their life of faith daily in the complete fulfillment of God’s will.”
Here’s what you need to know about the Year of St. Joseph:
