QUAMQUAM
PLURIES
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH
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.
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