Consecration to St. Joseph?

It has been only a few weeks since Marian Press published Fr. Donald Calloway’s Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, and since the book seems to be gaining some traction I thought I should give it a read. I know almost nothing about Fr. Calloway save what he includes on the back cover—he is a vocation director for the Marian Fathers and lives in Steubenville—and a little bit from his social media footprint. I am not usually interested in reviewing new Josephite devotional material, but Calloway’s twist of a Montfort-esque consecration to the foster father of Christ piqued my interest.

Oddly, the focus on consecration is so strong that Calloway seems annoyed that any reader would want to take time and learn about St. Joseph before embarking on the 33-day preparation process:

Most likely, the majority of people who acquire Consecration to St. Joseph are going to go straight into the 33-day preparation. However, there might be some people who get the book but are not quite ready for consecration to St. Joseph. Some people might feel that they want to get to know St. Joseph better before committing to a month-long preparation for consecration to a saint they don’t know much about. (p. 7)

They might, indeed! St. Louis de Montfort made sure to lay the theological groundwork for his “total consecration” to the Virgin Mary before encouraging his readers to embark on the lengthy preparation process. Fr. Calloway has a difficult time understanding why St. Joseph would require any introduction, much less why any Catholic would need convincing before preparing himself for a sacred vow to the carpenter of Nazareth.

Fr. Calloway’s version of St. Joseph is, of course, the “New St. Joseph” that I have written so much about in my Josephology series on this blog. Those posts expound (perhaps at excruciating length) upon the Josephite doctrines I consider untraditional and therefore in error, and Calloway adds very little to the doctrinal list.

I would rather consider a bizarre aspect of Josephite devotion which crystalized for me while reading this book: Why is it that devotees of St. Joseph strive to make him so much like the Virgin Mary, both in doctrine and spirituality? Let us consider this list that traditionally applied in whole only to Mary, but which the New Josephites claim as the common property of them both:

Doctrines:

• Sanctification in the Womb
• Sinlessness
• Perpetual Virginity
• Annunciation
• Spiritual Parentage of All Christians (New Adam/Eve)
• Bodily Assumption
• Celestial Coronation
• A special kind of dulia (hyper for Mary, proto for Joseph)

Prayers/Devotions:

• Litany (of Majestic Titles)
• Memorare
• Seven Sorrows
• Seven Joys
• Flowery Iconography
• Consecration with a 33-Day Preparation

Why does New St. Joseph appear to be, for all intents and purposes, a male clone of Mary? Does he have no spirituality of his own? No doctrine or personality that could be considered particularly his? (I’m actually surprised no Rosary of St. Joseph exists. It would be the next logical step.) Calloway makes an attempt to push the idea of Joseph as “The Savior of the Savior” in reference to the Flight to Egypt, but other than this and a brief observation about manual labor, he comes up empty in demonstrating anything manly or even unique about St. Joseph. The historical trajectory of Josephite devotion is to mimic everything wonderful and special about the Mother of God, while gradually discarding those few facts concerning him we actually received from Tradition.

On the other hand, the Real St. Joseph is full of personality and is at no risk of losing himself as a dim reflection of the Virgin Mary. He is indeed virile, proven by the generous procreation of many sons who would become disciples of Christ. He is indeed manly, proven by the feeling of dishonor upon learning about Mary’s unexplained pregnancy. He is indeed both just and merciful, proven by the subtle decision to divorce her, but quietly. He is indeed wise, for he obeyed the angel always without complaint. He is indeed longsuffering, for he endured many trials, humiliations, anxieties, and undesired journeys for justice’s sake.

O how comely is judgment for a grey head, and for ancients to know counsel! O how comely is wisdom for the aged, and understanding and counsel to men of honour! Much experience is the crown of old men, and the fear of God is their glory. (Sirach 25)

Let the real glory of St. Joseph shine in all its radiance. We don’t need to carbon copy the Second Eve to make him seem worthwhile. Jesus is the sun, Mary is the moon; what glorious humility that they would bow down before Joseph of Nazareth! Perhaps he understands humility more than any other saint ever could. Let him remain humble.

St. Joseph and the Thomists

Whilst perusing the local parochial bookstore one never knows what one might find amidst the piles of pre-owned volumes of forgotten preconciliar lore. Some will be seminary castoffs, some will be dust magnets with even dustier theology, and some will be a long-lost collection of Thomistic Josephology.

A Thomistic Josephology is a collected edition of articles written between 1961-1966 by James J. Davis, O.P. for the purpose of examining "the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas on St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ." I had never heard of this collection before finding it on an unassuming shelf, and even a search online comes up with scarcely any results.

Those who remember my old series on Josephology may recall a brief installment concerning the relevant doctrines of St. Thomas. What I treated summarily, Davis treats with over 300 pages of commentary and quotation, both in translation and out of it. Indeed, the bulk of the word count can be found in the Latin footnotes.

The first two-thirds of the collection very straightforwardly quote Thomas on his few Joseph-related passages and a many other vaguely related passages. These come not only from the two Summas, but also from the Catena and Thomas's scriptural commentaries. If there is one thing Davis is not it is lazy; his thoroughness could be considered pedantic, but in reality he has provided a helpful compendium of all that St. Thomas could possibly be argued to have written about St. Joseph. Davis establishes Thomas's arguments with their many dependencies on St. Jerome, particularly his doctrines of Joseph's vow of celibacy and of an actual marriage between Joseph and the Virgin Mary.

At around page 190 Davis descends into the odd realm of later Thomistic speculation. Suarez's "order of the hypostatic union" appears, as do many arguments according to fittingness. Davis actually does address the problem of Joseph supplanting the older belief in St. John the Baptist's preeminence, and admits that there is no simple solution to the problem. His section on the virtues and gifts of St. Joseph do not admit that he was in possession of every possible spiritual magnificence. He suggests there is much to doubt at the doctrine of Joseph's sanctification in the womb, and also at the idea of his resurrection and assumption. He traces the origin of some now-forgotten quotation attributed to Thomas about the great patronage of St. Joseph and proves it false. All things considered, this is a very reasonable work and not one to be easily dismissed like many devotional books. It would be better if those popular works were all replaced by this forgotten volume on the shelves of Josephite devotees.

Indeed, one wishes that Davis had applied his intellectual powers to a study of the Church Fathers and not restricted himself to Thomas's immediate influences and to the speculations of his followers. It is good to have a collection of Thomistic thought on St. Joseph, but Davis is too prone to accept Thomas's argument as a fait accompli rather than the thought of one Doctor among many, all working within an existing tradition. Many times Thomas is proof-texted in the way a Baptist might quote St. Paul. (In the prefatory material it is boasted that it "is obvious that the sole sources for this work are the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas," as if that were not indicative of a problem.)

This is a good reference volume for those who don't wish to rummage through their multi-volume set of the Summa Theologica for quotes, but it is not a useful survey of Church teaching and tradition on St. Joseph. Sadly, one comes away feeling that it could have been thus if the author had only been willing.

St. Joseph the Workingman, pray for us!

The Commentary of Fortunatianus

Some of our readers may already be aware of the recent publication in the “creative commons” of Fortunatianus’s (c. 300 – c. 360) long-lost Gospel commentary translated in English. This same commentator was the bishop of Aquileia during the Arian crisis, and influenced St. Jerome’s own scripture commentaries. He is also accused by Jerome of having pressured P. Liberius to concede to the heretics, although Jerome appears to be the only source of this accusation. (Fortunatianus himself calls Arianism a heresy when he writes on the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel [2925].)

In any case, the commentary remains an important historic text. The bishop’s exegesis is densely allegorical, as were many patristic commentaries. He identifies the four Evangelists with the four heavenly creatures of the Apocalypse, but in keeping with other early writers he identifies Mark as the Eagle and John as Lion:

Mark, observing the rule of prophecy, starts as follows: As is it written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my angel before your face. The Gospel according to Mark is therefore the face of an eagle, which is the likeness of the Holy Spirit. The prophets, when filled with this, prophesied continually. [10]

Fortunatianus’s references to the Gospel texts in Latin are quite different from Jerome’s later Vulgate, and even inconsistently rendered. He writes of an early and apparently very unpopular tradition that the Virgin Mary was martyred:

We believe that, in accordance with the prophecy of Simeon, she was put to death by the sword, because he said to her: And a sword will pass through your own soul. [355]

He is also a witness to the patristic tradition of St. Joseph’s first marriage:

For the reason that James and Jude are called the brothers of the Lord is undoubtedly not because they were born of Mary, but they were sons of Joseph from another wife. They were called the brothers of the Lord by normal custom because of Joseph, since he was from the same tribe, or Mary, since she was called the wife of Joseph. [360]

The talent and training for allegorical preaching is mostly lost in our time, and it is sometimes shocking to see the connections early commentators make within the Holy Writ. For instance, the mention of foxes and their dens in the eighth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel brings to mind Christ’s description of Herod as a fox and also the story of Samson burning the fields of his enemies with foxes:

Jesus said to him: Foxes have their holes. He calls heretical people foxes, just as he said of Herod, who was a Sadducee: Go, tell that fox: Leave it alone, I cast out demons. Foxes, he says, have their holes: for foxes, in order to feed, hide themselves in the deep earth, buried away in their holes. False people, heretics, who have earthly works and make dark and shady little gatherings for themselves, are similar to foxes. For Samson, too, having captured some foxes, tied firebrands, meaning torches, to their tails and set fire to their entire harvests and vineyards[...] showed because the tail is the outermost part of the body. Having taken a torch, it sets fire to the crops and vineyards, plainly through wicked preaching. [1140]

Gregory the Great’s magisterial commentary on the book of Job would run along similar lines of allegory and animal symbolism. One is hard-pressed to find anything similar in the last few centuries, arguably because of St. Thomas’s insistence on the primacy of the literal meaning.

For the modern reader, the Commentary of Fortunatianus will be more edifying when used as an occasional reference than as a systematic work of exegesis. His writing is dense and often alien to our sensibilities. It is what one friend of mine calls “holographically interesting,” in that each small part of it seems to contain an entire world. Our forebears had faith that could see the mountain in the grain of sand. In every action and word, the God-Man enfolded many teachings, prophecies, and explanations of things past. Preachers take note!

Josephology Appendix 4: Age and Debilitation

(source)

The question of Old vs. Young St. Joseph often brings up the following point: If Joseph was an elderly man at the time of the Incarnation and Flight into Egypt, how could he have adequately performed his necessary duties as the protector of the New Adam and Eve? Here is how Phillip Bellini, DRE puts the matter in an oft-quoted article on the Catholic Culture site:

Above all, the idea that St. Joseph would be an old man of eighty or more years stands in direct contradiction with the requirements of his vocation. Joseph was to appear publicly as the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus, at least to safeguard the honor of Mother and Son. Yet how could a man of patriarchal years be considered capable of fatherhood? A decrepit, senile guardian of Mary would open the door to public suspicion of adultery and illegitimacy. Again, hard work and trying situations of all sorts beset the Holy Family. How could such an old man perform duties that called for a robust provider and protector?

Ignoring the rhetorical excess, the main arguments against the plausibility of an elderly St. Joseph are: (1) nobody would have believed that Joseph was the father of Jesus, (2) he would have been incapable of providing for his family in old age, since he was a manual laborer, and (3) his age would have prevented him from fleeing swiftly to Egypt during Herod's slaughter. In answer to these complaints, let us look at the hardiness of the old, Hebrew patriarchal stock from which Joseph sprang.

• Abraham, progenitor of many nations, was 75 years of age when called by God to the promised land. It was after this that he went to war against the enemies of Sodom and Gomorrah to save his nephew Lot. He was over 99 when he brought his son Isaac up the mountain for sacrifice. He fathered Ishmael and Isaac both in his old age; the only concern about his promised seed was that his wife Sarah was barren, not that he was infertile.
• Job was afflicted when his children were old enough to feast and drink wine on their own, and lived afterwards to see four new generations of his children.
• Moses was 80 years old when called by God to deliver his people from the tyranny of Pharaoh. He led all of Israel through the desert until his death at the age of 120.
• Joshua led the military campaign of Israel into the promised land until he was "old, and far advanced in years."
• Joachim, father of the Virgin Mary, was elderly and long childless when an angel appeared and promised him and his wife a child. In the mean time he busied himself with the tending of his flocks, hardly a lethargic lifestyle.

So, to answer the supposed difficulties: (1) elderly men in the ancient past and in the present day have no enormous difficulty fathering children with younger women, so if God's intention was to hide Jesus as the son of Joseph until his ministry (which is itself contrary to some early speculations), Joseph's age would not be an impediment; (2) being a carpenter or artisan, Joseph probably would have stayed physically fit into old age, and if he was unable to personally work, his sons would have provided for him; and (3) since he was probably fit in his old age, the Flight into Egypt would not have been a great burden.

The matter of the Flight into Egypt is also colored by the traditional iconography that shows St. Joseph on foot while the Virgin rides a donkey and carries the Christ Child. I am not sure that any source earlier than the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (A.D. 400-600s) describes Mary riding their only beast into Egypt. It may have been the case that they possessed two beasts of burden, and that Joseph rode one instead of walking. The miracles during the Flight attested by the Coptic tradition would have also alleviated many of the journey's difficulties.

Joseph's Dream of God

Today being the external solemnity of the Feast of St. Joseph, I suppose I am required to say a few words. Thankfully, P. Francis has saved me from my writer's block with a new radio address (link courtesy of the ever-irascible Frank "Barnhardt Was Right" Walker):

Today I want to ask, grant to all of us the ability to dream, that when we dream great things, beautiful things, we might draw near to the dream of God, the things God dreams about us. [I ask] that he might give to young people – because he was young – the capacity to dream, to risk, to undertake the difficult tasks they have seen in dreams. And [I ask] him to give to all of us the faithfulness that tends to grow when we have a just attitude – Joseph was just – [the faithfulness that] grows in silence, with few words; that grows in tenderness that guards our own weaknesses and those of others.

Actually, I do like to imagine Joseph dreaming prophetically, when he was young, of his future bride and her Divine Son. Perhaps he, too, dreamed of the sun and moon bowing down before him, a figure of his eventual role as the head of the Holy Family.

Or perhaps Francis should re-read the ancient words of Sirach before encouraging the young to follow their dreams: "For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them." Food for thought.

St. Joseph the Burly

The following photo (not for the faint of heart) appeared recently on Christopher West's Facebook page, with the author's usual semi-disturbing commentary. Mr. Grump thinks that Joseph looks more like a blacksmith than a Roman occupation-era carpenter, or like I imagine Beorn from The Hobbit, but that's what happens when I am not consulted on these matters. I suppose we can thank our lucky stars that the art student did not also see fit to make the Virgin look like an American pop star.

Josephology Appendix 3: Artistic Portrayals of the Nativity

While the figure of St. Joseph is not ubiquitous in artistic portrayals of the Nativity, he has never been entirely alien to the subject. There are various forms of Nativity-related iconography, including the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, the Cave and the Stable, the Eucharistic Child (where the ox and the ass nibble on the Christ Child), and scenes of the Midwives. Often these forms are collapsed together in various combinations, depending on how much of the Gospel and apocryphal narratives the artist or patron wished to include.

Even though Joseph is often absent in earlier depictions, he does seem to make an appearance on this early 4^th-century Roman sarcophagus at the bottom-left (most of the early Nativities on sarcophagi depict the Virgin alone):

(source)

He is present in some panels of this 6^th-century cover of the Armenian Echmiadzin Gospel, though noticeably absent from the Cave and Stable panel:

(source)

This Palestinian painted box from the 6^th century shows Joseph, Mary, and Christ in iconographic positions that would remain standard in the West for many centuries, and in the East until the present day. All three figures are positioned physically apart, with Joseph contemplating the scene as one not directly involved with the mystery. The Virgin appears to be pointing the Christ Child out to Joseph or to the Christian viewing the icon.

(source)

Giotto’s fresco of the Nativity in the early 14^th century still has a discernible connection to the earlier iconographic tradition. Although Mary is now holding the Christ Child, St. Joseph still sits apart, with a look either contemplative or sullen.

(source)

The medieval books of hours often included an illustration of the Nativity. This book of the Use of Rome from Paris, France (late 14^th or early 15^th century) shows St. Joseph huddled up against the cold next to the Virgin’s bed, without even a glimpse of his face:

(source)

The late 14^th-century mystical visions of St. Brigit of Sweden instigated a major change in the depiction of the Adoration of the Christ Child. This passage especially marks a change in how Joseph is imagined in the Nativity scene:

When these things therefore were accomplished, the old man entered; and prostrating on the earth, he adored him on bended knee and wept for joy. Not even at the birth was that Virgin changed in color or by infirmity. Nor was there in her any such failure of bodily strength as usually happens in other women giving birth, except that her swollen womb retracted to the prior state in which it had been before she conceived the boy. Then, however, she arose, holding the boy in her arms; and together both of them, namely, she and Joseph, put him in the manger, and on bended knee they continued to adore him with gladness and immense joy. (source)

This painting by Niccolò di Tommaso (ca. 1372) is the first known representation of St. Brigit’s vision, in this regard. For the first time Joseph and Mary are mirrored in their placement and action.

(source)

Another example from a late 15^th-century book of hours from France:

(source)

There are exceptions. The 16^th-century Hours of Joanna the Mad, commissioned from the Flemish Gerard Horenbout, unusually depicts a stable-based Adoration without Joseph anywhere present:

(source)

The new iconography became standardized in the West, but with eventual modifications. For instance, St. Joseph is sometimes shown standing behind the kneeling or seated Virgin, perhaps to stand on guard or to better facilitate the sudden influx of visitors to the stable. St. Brigit’s vision of the Mother and Step-Father of Christ adoring in unison was becoming less ubiquitous, but Joseph in return became a more imposing figure.

Charles Le Brun’s 17^th-century painting shows the Nativity scene as it had eventually become more frequently commissioned:

(source)

Today’s more popular crèche scenes of miniature statuary are usually patterned either after the Brigitean double-adoration…

…or the later “Joseph at the Ready” version:

The subject of the Nativity has lost some of its fashion in favor of images of the Holy Family, but it remains at least a seasonally prominent subject.

Contentions via the Holy Family

Joseph and his brethren, the iconic unhappy family.

A recent sermon at Tradistan was cause for some unfortunate Joseph-related debate. Speaking on the occasion of the feast of the Holy Family (instituted in 1893), the priest talked about Catholic family life from the perspective of the Household of Nazareth. The sermon was decent enough, and the lessons drawn for Catholic family life were not unreasonable, but the priest’s opinion of St. Joseph’s virginity and confirmation in grace after his marriage to the Virgin sparked some previously calm disagreement between friends into dissension.

My own opinions on St. Joseph are well known among my close friends, not only by His Traddiness and my bride. Recently it has become a point of contention in a larger group of friends, drawing a line between those with a devotion to Young St. Joseph and those who prefer Old St. Joseph. The Tradistani sermon further sparked a flurry of text messages, arguments in the parish hall, and emails to the priest, most of which I successfully avoided until later in the day. By the time I was able to catch up on this activity, the various parties had more or less sullenly retreated to their own corners, still certain of their own opinions and no longer willing to engage in debate.

Thankfully, my wife is on my side on this matter, as she is with so many things. I have no doubt we will be putting up an image of Young St. Joseph somewhere in the home, if only because it was a gift from a friend or family member. Such are the small compromises that one makes for the sake of a happy family and social life. She has suggested I compile and edit all of my original Josephology series into a book format and think about publishing it, although I cannot think of any Catholic publisher—traddy or neo-conservative—who would be interested in printing such a volume. Even the now-defunct Thomas A. Nelson publishing house would never print something so traditional. Nonetheless, while agreement on things like St. Joseph’s age and marital history might be objectively minor, such an harmony of thought can be a major step towards long-term familial happiness.

Among friends, disagreements on minor matters can be a cause for good-humored ribbing, intensely engaging debate, or miserable complaints. It’s a pity when the latter ends up being the case. Damage control is always tedious work, especially when most of the damage is self-inflicted. Those who are unwilling to put in the work to research a topic are too often the loudest at expressing their opinion, and do not know how to react to an intellectual argument except for a quick retreat paired with an unimpressive Parthian shot.

When the priest in question finally responded to my friend’s email, he admitted that he was unsure if Joseph had been married before the Annunciation, but doubted it. The casual misuse of words, like “virginity” when “chastity” is meant, can cause great problems, it would seem. Ideas have consequences, and so do intellectual mistakes. St. Jerome’s fabulation of a vowed-to-virginity St. Joseph certainly has had consequences some 1600 years later, including the occasional haze of stubbornness and hurt feelings. I remember a similar argument with a good friend that ended in him spitefully shutting it down when he thought it absurd that the perpetual virginity of Mary had anything whatsoever to do with physical integrity, in spite of the theology of the Church Fathers. The cause of his reaction was a simple-minded emotionalism about certain aspects of womanhood (especially not wishing women to feel bad about certain… incidents) and an assumption that the Patristic position was due to their sexual naïveté. That friendship survived, but in a noticeably altered form after I refused to back down.

Emotion sometimes gets the better of the intellectual life, and devotionalism often has an emotional spillage that goes to great lengths to protect the object of devotion. Such was Jerome’s zeal to protect the belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity that he created for her a celibate warrior-bodyguard from whom she need never fear any lusty rudeness. But truth can not allow its terms to be dictated by emotion, no matter how well-placed they may be. The heart must learn what is lovable from the head, or else the soul ends up like the old image of Phyllis riding on Aristotle’s back: reason subjected to desire, in a kind of inversion of the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.

Be like Joseph, instead.

Josephology Appendix 2: Why Divorce Mary?

The Christmas season has brought out a fresh set of reflections on the Gospel accounts of the Nativity, and with them comes a lot of the usual speculation about the motivations of the acting parties. The motivation of St. Joseph when he was “minded to put [Mary] away privately” (Mt. 1:19) is a special subject of concern. If Joseph was a just man and suspicious of her faithfulness, they ask, why did he not have her tried and stoned as the Mosaic Law demanded? Does this not constitute consent to her sin?

Thomas Aquinas posits three possible reasons for Joseph’s decision to quietly and privately divorce the Blessed Virgin in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. He does not here give an opinion on the truth of any of these options.

The first interpretation is based on the opinion of John Chrysostom, that justice is twofold. Justice can exist as the cardinal virtue (special justice), which is a rendering to each man what is right; or as a general virtue (legal or general justice), in the sense that “justice” can serve as a synecdoche of all virtues, because it is just to be directed towards the common good. St. Joseph would then be called a “just man” in the general sense, which would include the virtues of piety, clemency, and mercy, and not only in the sense that demands strict restitution for sin.

The second interpretation is from Augustine, who observes that sins are of two kinds: private and public. A private or hidden sin is not to be made public knowledge without a grave reason, and should be dealt with privately. Since only Joseph knew of Mary’s supposed sin, there was no reason yet to expose her to public condemnation. And if or when others discovered her pregnancy, they would assume that Joseph was the father, and would not ascribe to her any sin.

The third interpretation is from Rabanus (via Jerome), who believed that Joseph knew Mary to be pure and faithful, and, having already concluded that she was bearing the Christ, considered himself unworthy to take her in marriage. He had decided to put her away out of holy fear. (This opinion is approved by Thomas in his Summa Theologiae.)

Now, the first and second interpretations are harmonious and need not exclude the other. They also agree well with the earliest extra-scriptural accounts of the Nativity, especially the Proto-Gospel of James. This interpretation is of St. Joseph as confused and hurt, but unwilling to rashly throw his young betrothed to the brutality of the Law. The Proto-Gospel suggests that Joseph was uncertain that Mary’s pregnancy was the result of adultery, so the accusation of St. Jerome in his Matthean commentary that Joseph would be guilty of her sin if he did not accuse her publicly—“There is also a precept in the law that not only the accused but also the confidants of evil deeds are guilty of sin”—would not be entirely applicable.

St. Matthew does not do much to explain the inner workings of Joseph’s mind, and any deeper exegesis is going to lack the certainty of revelation, but I have long agreed with the early interpretation of Joseph as a conflicted man who was trying to do his best in a very confusing situation. He may have been mindful of the recent miraculous pregnancy of Mary’s kinswoman Elizabeth but, as yet lacking any angelic visitation, chose as best he could using his own judgment. He was just, not only in the sense of the letter of the law, but of its spirit. He was not given to rash judgments, but deliberate and considerate. When commanded to take Mary as wife by the angel, he was swiftly obedient.

In a sense, then, I think that all three interpretations are right. Joseph considered the possibility that Mary’s pregnancy was of supernatural origin, but also had reason to suspect fornication and adultery. He was wise and deliberate, and the interjection of the angel is an image of the divine assistance God gives to those who seek wisdom but lack the knowledge to choose with complete rightness.

Joseph Resurgent?

Back in May of this year, The Remnant organized a pilgrimage to La Salette, advertised specifically as an apparition site of St. Joachim’s son-in-law. A few weeks ago, a blog story about approved contemporary apparitions of St. Joseph made the rounds. Pope Francis won’t shut up about Joseph, even praising the sainted carpenter’s homeschooling skills. Some male friends of mine recently bought a house and placed it under St. Joseph’s patronage. And so on.

Why does the stepfather of Our Lord, particularly the fraudulently youthful version of him, appear to be regaining popularity? While I have no objection to the veneration of anyone raised to the altars, the devotionalism surrounding Joseph is awkward and anti-intellectually sentimental. What is it about New St. Joseph that attracts the adoration of men’s groups and doe-eyed mystics?

Pictured: Doe-Eyed Mystic

Firstly, I think the “Joseph the Worker” angle is very appealing to the modern man who finds it difficult to orient himself in the increasingly inhuman Western workplace. Opus Dei’s spirituality is too intense to appeal to everyone, but a more generic devotion to Joseph as a workman is attractive to those repulsed by Hispanic spirituality.

Secondly, New St. Joseph is palatable to young Catholic men trying to regain a sense of masculinity in a culture besieged by feminists and perverts. This version of Joseph serves as an ideal for young men looking for virtuous examples of saints living in the world as husbands and fathers.

Thirdly, the hatred of old age and idolization of youth continues apace. As Romano Amerio expounded upon in Iota Unum, the unthoughtful exuberance of youth is glorified in the modern world, while the calm wisdom of the elderly is belittled. The Hebrew proverb that said “Old age is a crown of dignity” has been forgotten, and the Church continues to idolize the young with its annual World Youth Day summer camps.

Fourthly, the Holy Family devotion is still a beacon of hope for those Catholics stuck in desperately poor family conditions, and this devotion falls apart without New Joseph at its head. As Catholic prelates continue to allow the Catholic doctrines of the family to burn while they light cigars on the flames, expect to hear much more from them about how devotion to the Holy Family can patch up everything.

St. Joseph, king of the road trips, pray for us!

The Mysteries of Marriage

Rule #1: Maintain a stoic front at all times.

Fr. Smiles

“Every sacrament has matter and form, both,” Fr. Smiles preaches.

The occasion is a friend’s wedding, and many of the groom’s Protestant relations are present. Presumably they had no idea they were about to be catechized in Catholic sacramental theology.

“The matter is the stuff that is used in the sacrament, the form is the words used to indicate what that sacrament is doing. The words inform the matter.”

Close enough. A good introduction for the ignorant.

“So what are the matter and form of marriage? That’s a little more difficult. The Church teaches that the matter of matrimony is the husband, offering his role as the head of the family to the wife. The form is when she accepts that.”

I steal a glance at my fiancée. She appears as shocked and confused as me.

“And then it goes the other way. She offers her service and obedience, and he receives it. The matter and the form. The offering is the matter, the reception the form. He’s offering something. It’s just stuff that doesn’t have form yet, until she accepts it.”

Are there two forms (man and woman both offering themselves) and two matters (both receiving the other)? At this point I imagine legions of Thomists spinning in their graves so fast it solves the world’s energy crisis.

Later, after the wedding and reception, we discuss Fr. Smiles’ peculiar sacramental theology. We wonder if he was perhaps trying to be appealing to the Protestant guests, since many Protestant churches include the wife’s obedience to her husband in the marriage vows. I start browsing through the Summa on my phone and find the following excerpt:

Now the sufficient cause of matrimony is consent expressed in words of the present. Therefore whether this be done in public or in private, the result is a marriage. Further, wherever there is the due matter and the due form of a sacrament there is the sacrament. Now in a secret marriage there is the due matter, since there are persons who are able lawfully to contract—and the due form, since there are the words of the present expressive of consent. (sup.45.5)

God bless St. Thomas and his pedantic quest for brevity and clarity.

Joseph to the Rescue

“While you’re preparing for marriage,” Mr. Helpful instructed me, “you should really take St. Joseph to be your model.”

“Old, cranky, and surprised to find himself betrothed to a younger woman?” I said.

“Well, he was the perfect husband, you see,” Mr. Helpful continued, ignoring my restorationist sarcasm, “and the perfect model of masculinity. He can teach you how to be a great husband and father.”

“I don’t know. People who take St. Joseph very seriously as their model sometimes end up not consummating their marriages.”

“Oh, sometimes you can find a good compromise. Look at Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, who abstained from the marriage bed for their first year of marriage, offering it up to God as a sacrifice, so that God would bless them with many holy children! And look, they gave us the Little Flower, herself!”

“Is that what happened? I read that Zélie was furious with her husband for springing the ‘Josephite marriage’ thing on her at the last minute, and then had to pester him into listening to a priest who knew better. It sounds to me like taking St. Joseph as a model for marriage is a terrible idea!”

“Well, you should pray about it more.” Mr. Helpful began fishing through his pockets, pulling out a small white rope with knots. “Here’s a St. Joseph cord. You should ask Fr. Smiles to enroll you when you see him next. You’ll need to daily recite the prayer in this booklet”—swiftly produced—“and the Glory Be. It has indulgences attached and grants the benefits of purity and chastity.”

“I’m getting married soon. Chastity may not be what I’m in the market for.”

“Also be sure to meditate on the seven sorrows and joys of St. Joseph every day. Tie the cord around your waist like a girdle. It will protect you against temptations.”

“Thanks, I’ll place it next to my scapular.”

Anathema Sit

Some choose to respond to the ravings of clerical loons with mockery or silence. For myself, I enjoy opening up the sessions of old ecumenical councils while sipping a good scotch in one hand.

Wondering about the “fidelity” or “real marriage” of cohabitating adulterers?

If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema. 

If any one saith, that the Church has erred, in that she hath taught, and doth teach, in accordance with the evangelical and apostolical doctrine... that both, or even the innocent one who gave not occasion to the adultery, cannot contract another marriage, during the life-time of the other; and, that he is guilty of adultery, who, having put away the adulteress, shall take another wife, as also she, who, having put away the adulterer, shall take another husband; let him be anathema.

Take that, sycophants!

Also, a little bonus canon I noticed whilst browsing this Tridentine session:

If any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony; let him be anathema.

Feel free to quote that to the next “Theology of the Body” missionary who insists that marriage is a spiritual good as great as the life of the evangelical counsels. Anathema sit!

Bear-Facedness

Between the Scylla of bureaucratic diocesan requirements and the Charybdis of Pope Francis’ devil-may-care demolition of marriage, we only lost a few sailors along the way.

The paperwork is endless: forms for the engaged couple’s parents’ to fill out, forms for getting the music approved, forms for ensuring compatibility, forms for obtaining sacramental records from all previous parishes, forms for requesting altar servers, forms for keeping track of every associated fee. Somewhere in the middle of all this is actual preparation.

On our own initiative, the little lady and I have begun reading Fulton Sheen’s Three to Get Married. The late bishop spends a lot of time arguing with the pop-Freudianism of his day. Doubtless this was useful at the time and might occasionally be so today, but one gets impatient to reach the meat of his marriage advice. I am assured it will eventually be worthwhile.

More interesting is the marriage advice found in the pre-Christian Jewish wisdom literature. The book of Ecclesiasticus contains such wonderful selections as:

Happy is the husband of a good wife, for the number of his years is double. A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband, and shall fulfill the years of his life in peace. A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in the portion of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds. (ch. 26)

And:

There is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman. The wickedness of a woman changeth her face, and she darkeneth her countenance as a bear, and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her neighbours, her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed a little. (ch. 25)

You said it, Jesus.

An Episode in Clericalism

(Alfred Weber)

Location: Local Tradistani Parish

Occasion: Monthly Men’s Group Meeting During Lent

Mr. B: Any other suggestions for Lenten reading?

Mr. C: I haven’t had the time to read much, unfortunately.

Mr. J (Me): I’ve been reading Dante’s Divine Comedy. It was recommended by the pope! (Polite laughter from the others.) Augustine’s Confessions would make for good Lenten reading, I think.

Mr. B: Well, I have been reading this collection of devotions to St. Joseph. It has a lot of good prayers and novenas you can use.

Mr. J: (Twitching noises.)

Mr. D: Oh yeah, St. Joseph is great! He’s really helped me out with finding a job after I had to leave my last one.

Mr. B: There are some interesting biographical things about St. Joseph in here I had never heard of before. Like how he was from the royal line of David—

Mr. J: (More twitching noises.)

Mr. B: —and how he was actually pretty young when he and the Blessed Virgin were married.

Mr. J: Ahem. Actually, the oldest traditions about St. Joseph were that he was older and widowed at that time.

Mr. B: You know, that’s what I always thought. I don’t know where this writer got his information. He also says that there’s good reason to believe that Joseph was assumed bodily into Heaven, but I can’t figure out where he gets those beliefs.

Mr. J: They were made up in the late Middle Ages, just as the Renaissance was kicking in.

Mr. B: Huh. I was not aware of that. It’s good to know. Oh well, it’s still a decent book if you just stick to the prayers.

Mr. J: (Sigh of relief.)

Mr. D: We should definitely pray to St. Joseph. His intercession is very powerful.

Mr. B: No doubt. Well, unless anybody else has reading suggestions, I suppose we can break for toni—

(He is interrupted as Fr. M walks in. This is the first time Mr. J has ever seen one of the parish priests show up in a Men’s Group meeting.)

Fr. M: I hope I’m not interrupting. I thought I’d pop in since I was done with confessions.

Mr. B: Not at all, Father! We were just talking about reading suggestions for Lent.

Fr. M: Oh, you should all read about Fatima! We’re coming up on the centennial, after all. Our Lady has many important messages for our time.

Mr. B: I was also talking about this St. Joseph book I’ve been reading.

Fr. M: Oh, if you want to read about St. Joseph, you should read The Life and Glories of St. Joseph, by— oh, I can’t remember who the author is.

Mr. J: (Twitching noises.)

Fr. M: But you can find the whole thing online. Joseph is a great saint. He’s the patron of the universal Church! The Life and Glories has lots of great information about St. Joseph, and all the wonderful graces given to him in accordance with his state in life.

Mr. B: Wow, I’ll have to get my hands on that.

Fr. M: You should! It’s very well researched, with many quotes from the Doctors and Fathers of the Church. He even received the grace of sinlessness and of being assumed bodily into Heaven with Our Lady!

Mr. J: I’ve read a lot of Mr. Healey’s book. I can’t say I was very impressed with his scholarship. In fact, he includes some patristic quotes nobody has ever been able to verify.

Fr. M: Oh, I don’t know. He quotes many Doctors of the Church, including St. Francis de Sales!

Mr. B: Well, if it’s online, I’ll have to find it. Maybe we’ll talk about that book in the next meeting.

Fr. M: Oh, that would be wonderful.

Mr. B: All right, let’s break for tonight. Have a good rest of Lent, everybody.

Mr. J: (The twitching noises become eerily calm.)

Narrow and Stifling

Sleepy St. Joseph, pray for us!

I have no intention of commenting extensively on the recent papal exhortation, nor even on reading the thing. It would get in the way of me completing Augustine’s City of God, for one thing. If you’re looking for extensive thoughts on the matter, Mr. Skojec has been providing birds-eye view commentary, and Mr. Bear is examining the document in excruciating detail.

Perusing the document quickly drives one to exhaustion. It has that almost hypnotic effect so indicative of intentionally non-offensive yet passive aggressive rhetoric. It either lulls the reader to sleep or drives him mad.

But I digress. After about half an hour of bored reading, I started running text searches, and my running obsession with St. Joseph paid off in spades. Here is a fascinating little selection from the middle of the document:

No family can be fruitful if it sees itself as overly different or “set apart”. To avoid this risk, we should remember that Jesus’ own family, so full of grace and wisdom, did not appear unusual or different from others. That is why people found it hard to acknowledge Jesus’ wisdom: “Where did this man get all this? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (Mk 6:2-3). “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Mt 13:55). These questions make it clear that theirs was an ordinary family, close to others, a normal part of the community. Jesus did not grow up in a narrow and stifling relationship with Mary and Joseph, but readily interacted with the wider family, the relatives of his parents and their friends. This explains how, on returning from Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph could imagine for a whole day that the twelve-year-old Jesus was somewhere in the caravan, listening to people’s stories and sharing their concerns: “Supposing him to be in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey” (Lk 2:44). Still, some Christian families, whether because of the language they use, the way they act or treat others, or their constant harping on the same two or three issues, end up being seen as remote and not really a part of the community. Even their relatives feel looked down upon or judged by them. (Amoris Laetitia 182)

Jesus listening to people’s stories
and sharing their concerns.

The reader is left to his own conclusion about what sort of families are being described as “constant[ly] harping on the same two or three issues.” It’s a vague accusation easily used as a weapon against any family the reader does not like because of some real or perceived assumption of moral high ground. (Maybe a family in which the parents have remained married for fifty years in spite of difficulties is “looking down” on their divorced and adulterous cousins.)

The really interesting language is used to describe what is in fact the popular idea of the Holy Family, in which the threesome of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph make up a kind of self-sufficient unit like an “Earthly Trinity.” P. Francis calls such a small unit “narrow and stifling.”

And he is right! A distorted devotional ideal of the Holy Family is indeed narrow and stifling, and earlier beliefs about the widowed St. Joseph’s children from a previous marriage and the so-called Holy Kinship are great antidotes to this narrowing devotional crutch.

Let us take this opportunity to move past the propagandist devotionalism of the past, and venerate the relatives of Our Lord as tradition tells us they actually were!

“Even their relatives feel looked down upon or judged by them.”

Akathist Hymn to St. Joseph the Betrothed

The following hymn is sung in the Kyivan (Ukrainian) Catholic Church. Translation from the Russian is from the Akathist Collections blog. I have not found the origin of this hymn, and I have no guesses as to its antiquity.

~

KONTAKION

O righteous Joseph! Chosen protector of the Most-Holy Virgin, Mary, and instructor and nurturer of the God-Man: glorifying your service to the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation of God the Word, we dedicate hymns of praise to you. Standing now before the throne of Christ our God, and having great boldness before Him, pray for us that cry out to you:

Rejoice! O righteous Joseph, ready helper and intercessor for our souls!

FIRST IKOS

Preserving the mystery of the birth of God the Word by the all-Pure Virgin, which is inaccessible even to the angels, from the slander of people and the craft of the devil, God chose you, O righteous Joseph, a lowly carpenter, to be the protector and witness of the virginity of the all-Holy Mary. Therefore, glorifying you as a chosen initiate of the mysteries of God, we cry out to you:

Rejoice! Honored offshoot of the root of Jesse!

Rejoice! You who were adorned within with royal majesty!

Rejoice! By lack of earthly things, you acquired spiritual wealth!

Rejoice! Through obscurity you obtained everlasting glory!

Rejoice! You who are far more glorious than kings!

Rejoice! You who are more righteous than the patriarchs and forefathers!

Rejoice! O righteous Joseph, ready helper and intercessor for our souls!

SECOND KONTAKION

Beholding the Virgin Mary who had grown to maturity in the Temple, Zachariah the High Priest cried out to the Lord: Show me a man worthy to be betrothed to the Virgin, O Lord! And when the rod of Joseph blossomed forth, committing the Virgin to him, he cried aloud to God: ALLELUIA!

SECOND IKOS

Your righteousness is known to all the ends of the earth, O holy Joseph! You were accorded the incomparable honor of being betrothed to the most blessed Virgin. From her Christ God came forth without the aid of man. You were chosen for this because of your steadfast faith, purity, humility and excellence in all the virtues. Therefore, we cry out to you:

Rejoice! O righteous One: betrothed of the most-Pure one!

Rejoice! O man of faith: taking under your roof the holy Virgin, Mary, who, through faith was made the throne of God!

Rejoice! You who are humble of spirit!

Rejoice! You who are simple of heart!

Rejoice! You who are exceedingly adorned with virtues!

Rejoice! O holy one, who ministered unto the most holy!

Rejoice! O righteous Joseph, ready helper and intercessor for our souls!

Josephology Appendix 1: Apparitions & Visitations

While not nearly as popular as the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph or someone pretending to be him has indeed appeared to many Christians over the centuries. What follows is a brief overview of his many manifestations to the faithful.

Fairly Reputable

Mt. Bessillon – 1660

source

St. Joseph is said to have appeared to a young man named Gaspard Ricard on June 7, 1660. Ricard was herding his sheep on the eastern side of Mt. Bessillon in Cotignac, France. In the heat of the day, the young shepherd grew thirsty and rested on the rocky terrain. A tall, old man appeared, pointed to a large rock nearby and said, “I am Joseph. Lift the rock and you will drink.” Thinking the rock too heavy for even seven men to lift, Ricard tried it anyway, succeeded, and found a spring of fresh water underneath. When he looked up, the old man had vanished.

On this very day, Maria Theresa of Spain left her native country to marry King Louis XIV of France. Perhaps interpreting the miraculous spring as a sign, the very next year the Sun King decreed March 19 to be celebrated as the Feast of St. Joseph throughout his kingdom.

New Mexico – 1878

source

After the chapel for the Sisters of Loretto in Sante Fe was completed in the late 19th century, the Mother Superior was very perturbed that there was no good way to access the choir loft twenty-two feet above the ground floor. The sisters began a novena to St. Joseph to send them a carpenter who could build something better than a ladder, and on the ninth day a grey-haired man appeared with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work.

After three months, and using only a few humble tools, the staircase was finished, and the man disappeared without a trace. The sisters ran an ad in the newspaper asking him to return for his pay, but he never did. The stairs themselves are described as “mysterious” and “miraculous” due to their surprisingly superior construction and durable nature.

The sisters came to the conclusion that St. Joseph himself had come down from Heaven to build them a staircase, although it is not outside the realm of possibility that Joseph sent a local woodworker to do a good deed on his behalf. The chapel has since been deconsecrated and now operates as a private museum.

County Mayo – 1879

source

The Virgin Mary appeared silently with St. John the Apostle and St. Joseph on August 21, 1879 to fifteen people in the village of Knock, Ireland. One of the witnesses, Mary Byrne O’Connell, said of Joseph that “he looked old,” and other witnesses described his beard as being colored an “iron grey.” Very little happened during the apparition besides prayer.

Multiple popes have lent their support to the Knock apparition, including Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and (especially) John Paul II. The lack of a message being delivered from Heaven probably made the apparition much easier to approve.

Ourém Municipality – 1917

source

During the Miracle of the Sun (October 13, 1917) at Fátima, Portugal, Sr. Lúcia de Jesus Rosa Santos says that St. Joseph appeared next to Mary and holding the Child Jesus. This vision is strange in that she says Jesus and Joseph both “seemed to be blessing the world, making the sign of the Cross.” Since Joseph was no priest (Jewish or Christian), it is odd that he would appear to be giving a blessing. He soon vanished and only Mary remained in the sky, appearing now in the Carmelite habit.

Somewhat Less Reputable

Germany – 13th Century

During one of her mystical visions, St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) is said to have caught a glimpse of St. Joseph during the readings on the Vigil of the Annunciation. As one later religious of the Order of St. Benedict describes it: “At the name of St. Joseph, all the saints made a profound inclination to him, testifying, by the serenity and sweetness of their looks, that they rejoiced with him for his exalted dignity.”

I have been unable to find any such event described in an original source, but that may simply be because some of her works are not readily available in English.

Belgium – 16th Century

The devotion of the “Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph” is said to have been requested by the saint himself after rescuing two shipwrecked Franciscan priests off the coast of Flanders. Their ship destroyed, the priests had grabbed onto a large plank to keep from sinking. A radiant man appeared in answer to their prayers, and led them into safe harbor. After revealing himself as St. Joseph, he asked for the “Sorrows and Joys” devotion to be prayed in his honor.

Only a handful of sources claim this story as the origin of that particular devotion. In spite of this, most claimants say that this event is “never omitted by any historian of the saint,” which is clearly untrue.

The German Woods – 19th Century

In one of the folktales collected by the Grimm brothers Jacob and Wilhelm, “St. Joseph in the Forest,” the saint appears as an old man who lives in the forest and looks out for little girls who are lost or turned out of their homes. In this tale, he meets three sisters in succession, and rewards them each according to their virtue or lack thereof.

Another of the brothers’ tales is untitled, having been discovered in 1983 in a letter written by Wilhelm Grimm to a little girl in 1816. Published in 1988 as Dear Mili, this story is of another lost girl who is sent into the woods after her mother fears the approach of war. The elderly St. Joseph gives her shelter in his forest hut, and after three days sends her on her way with a rosebud. She returns to find that thirty years have passed, and she dies after finding her now-aged mother.

The Americas – 20th Century

source

The Americas have been home to quite a few visionaries who claim to have seen and heard from St. Joseph. Whereas previous apparitions proved him to be taciturn, the last century has apparently given him much to talk about.

In the late 1950s St. Joseph is reported to have spoken, and eventually appeared, to Sr. Mary Ephrem of the Congregation of the Precious Blood while in Indiana and Ohio, USA. He spoke at length about his sanctification in his mother’s womb “immediately after my conception,” and when he appeared visibly it was as a man “quite youthful.” These mystical experiences were a piece of the larger “Our Lady of America” devotion, so they have gained some purchase in the traddy world thanks in no small part to the approval of Cdl. Raymond Burke.

The 1960s saw the start of purported messages from St. Joseph and other saints given to a certain Frances Marie Klug (1921-2009) in Southern California. Mrs. Klug claimed to be passing on new revelations from God, including the novel idea that Joseph was the physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Klug’s visions and cult (St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope) were unambiguously condemned by a joint letter from three bishops—of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino—in 1981.

Since the mid-1990s Mary and Joseph have supposedly been appearing to Edson Glauber (b. 1972) in Itapiranga, Brazil with various messages. The visionary has some episcopal approval through the current archbishop, but the visions appear to be ongoing. He describes St. Joseph as “very young with an indescribable beauty,” but also as possessing “brilliant green eyes.” The main thrust of the Josephite devotion here is a call to venerate his Most Chaste Heart (also described as “most pure”) along with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.