Worship and devotion towards St Joseph in the Carmelite Order
The Carmelites are among those religious Orders and congregations that worship Saint Joseph with the highest veneration.
They have a strong devotion towards St Joseph, the upright man upon whom was “entrusted the mystery of salvation as it was still in its infancy” and the person who dedicated his life to his two big loves: Jesus and Mary.
For the Carmelites, St Joseph is a model of how they should live their vocation that is, giving themselves wholly to the service of Christ and his mother Mary. He is the main protector of the Carmelite Order.
If you visit the Carmelite or discalced Carmelite churches, you will notice that they all have a statue or a painting dedicated to St Joseph. A beautiful example, is the lovely wooden statue of St Joseph found at the entrance to the Basilica Sanctuary of Mount Carmel in Valletta. It was made by the sculptor Nazju Portelli in 1694 and emphasises the strong devotion the Carmelites have always had towards St Joseph. An interesting fact is that Blessed Nazju Falzon is known to have often prayed in front of this statue.
Pope Benedict XIV (16751758) believed that it was the Carmelites who first brought over, the ‘commendable custom’, of the whole cult of St Joseph from the East to the West. However history shows that St Joseph’s day was already being celebrated in the West in the 10th century, and was only officially accepted by Pope Sixtus IV in 1479.
In 1480, the Carmelites had a proper liturgy for the feast of St Joseph and is considered to be the first liturgy of the Latin church in honour of St Joseph. The liturgical readings were taken from the writings of Cardinal Peter of Ailly (1350-1420) and the hymns were taken from the writings of the Carmelite friar and Renaissance poet, Blessed Battista Spagnoli of Mantua (1447-1516).
According to Fr John Brenninger O.Carm, the Carmelite Order was among the first to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in honour of St Joseph, and from then on many Carmelites began to spread the devotion towards him.
During Pope Sixtus IV (14141484) reign, he established the 19th of March, as a day of veneration towards St Joseph throughout the whole Catholic church.
The Carmelites, continued spreading the devotion towards St Joseph so much so that in the General Chapter of 1680, St Joseph was officially recognized as the Main Protector of the Order. The Discalced Carmelites at the same time, included the feast of the Patronage of St Joseph into their calendar, held on the third Sunday of Easter.
In 1847 Pope Pius IX ordered the liturgy to be celebrated in the whole Church.
During the reform of the Second Vatican Council, the feast of the Patronage of St Joseph was removed from the Roman Liturgical Calendar. However the Carmelites were allowed to celebrate St Joseph’s feast on the 19th of March under the title: St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Protector of Our Order.
Besides the Liturgical cult in honour of St Joseph, the Carmelite Order have other particular devotions towards the saint. For example; Upon entering a Carmelite priory, by the door you would generally find the image of St Joseph protecting the house and religious family of Mary.
The Carmelite Ritual that was practiced before the Second Vatican Council contained the rite to bless the Rosary of St Joseph. This Rosary is composed of nine mysteries, divided into three parts to recall:
• Jesus’s Conception
• The annunciation to Joseph
• The Birth of Jesus
• Presentation in the Temple
• The flight into Egypt
• The finding of Our Lord in the Temple
• The hidden Life in Nazareth
• The death of Joseph
• The assumption of Joseph in heaven
Another custom was the rite of blessing the ring of St Joseph, which was worn not only as a sign of devotion towards Saint Joseph but also as a symbol of the commitment of the wearer to Jesus and Mary, to serve following the example of St Joseph.
It is worth noting that many Saints and Blessed Carmelites, spread the devotion towards St Joseph such as Saint Theresa of Jesus who chose St Joseph to be her Counsel and Patron, and out of the 17 monasteries that she set up, she dedicated 12 of them to St Joseph. Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus and Doctor of the church, used to pray to St Joseph the protector of the Virgin, to guard her and shield her from the perils of the soul. This fact is found in her book Story of a Soul.
Furthermore in the year of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, Pope Saint John XXIII, offered his papal ring to decorate the hand of St Joseph in the cathedral of Kalisz in Poland. Over forty years later, on the 19th of March 2004, inspired by the example of his predecessor Pope Saint John Paul II, a Carmelite Tertiary, gave the Discalced Carmelites of Wadowice, Poland, his birthplace, his papal ring to decorate a painting of St. Joseph. He did this to demonstrate and urge the Carmelites to contemplate on St Joseph’s life the perfect model of intimate life with Jesus and Mary as well as to venerate him as the Patron of inner prayer life and the tireless life of service towards others.
Over the centuries there have been many Carmelites who have done profound theological studies on St Joseph including Raphael the Bavarian and the theologian Andrea Horuken. Since 1947, the Discalced Carmelites in Spain have published a scientific magazine called Estudos Josefinos urging theological and pastoral research associated with St Joseph.
I would like to end this article with a prayer to St Joseph by the Pope St John Paul II
Saint Joseph, with you, for you, we bless the Lord.
He chose you among all men to be the chaste spouse of Mary, the one who would remain at the threshold of the mystery of her divine maternity, and who, after her, would accept it in faith as the work of the Holy Spirit.
You gave to Jesus legal paternity in the line of David.
You constantly watched over the Mother and the Child with an affectionate concern, in order to protect their lives and to allow them to accomplish their destiny.
The Saviour Jesus deigned to submit himself to you, as to a father, throughout his childhood and adolescence and to receive from you an apprenticeship in human life, while you shared his life in the adoration of his mystery.
You remain at his side.
Continue to protect the whole church, the family born of the salvation of Jesus.
See the spiritual and material needs of all those who beg your intercession, particularly families and those who are poor, in every sense; through you, they are certain to find Mary’s maternal face and the hand of Jesus to assist them.
Amen.