Patron of the Universal Church
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries

ALTHOUGH we have already many times ordered special prayers to be offered in the whole world that the interests of Catholicism might be insistently recommended to God, none will deem it a 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 fervor and perseverance to God, her Author and Protector, by recourse to the intercession of the saints, and chiefly of the Blessed Virgin, the 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 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 the sole resource, to beg for assistance from the divine power.

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. When the month of October draws near, already consecrated by us to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, we earnestly exhort the faithful to perform the exercises of that 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 favor, if humble and constant prayers are offered on all sides to her? Nay, we rather believe that her intervention will be the more marvelous as she has permitted us to pray to her for so long a time with special appeals.

Invocation of St. Joseph

But we entertain another object, which, in accordance with your wont, Venerable Brethren, you will advance with fervor. That God may be more favorable 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 very pleasing to the Virgin herself.

On the subject of this devotion of which we speak publicly for the first time today, we know without doubt that not only are the people inclined to it, but it is already established and is advancing to full growth. We have seen the devotion to St. Joseph which in times past the Roman Pontiffs have developed and gradually increased, grow into greater proportions in our time, particularly after Pius IX of happy memory, our predecessor, yielding to the request of a large number of Bishops, proclaimed this holy Patriarch the Patron of the Catholic Church. And as, moreover, it is of great 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 especially by our words and authority.

Why St. Joseph Is Patron of the Church

The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron of the Church—and for 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 anyone else to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God so nobly surpasses all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions, which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those joined together by it. 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 honor, 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 twofold dignity flowed the obligation which nature lays upon the heads of families, so that Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose head 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 bitterness of exile he was ever the companion, the helper, 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 very fact that the most holy Virgin is the Mother of Jesus Christ she is 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 Firstborn of Christians, who by 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 especially 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.

The Old Testament Joseph Prefigured the Joseph of the New

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—the significance of which has never been denied—that the same name was given to both, you well know the points of likeness that exist between them; namely, that the first Joseph won the favor and special good will 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 "savior 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 a great service 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 guardianship of blessed Joseph.

St. Joseph "Model for All" Especially the Workman

Fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses, a perfect example of love, peace and conjugal fidelity; virgins at the same time find in him the model and protector of virginal integrity. The noble of birth will learn 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 to be won only by putting forth their best efforts. 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 labor, 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 laborer not only is not dishonoring, 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.

Through these considerations, the poor and those who live by the labor 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 they aim to suppress. Let the poor, then, if they should 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.