One of my favorite sections in the book “CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH, THE WONDERS OF OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER” by Fr. Donald Calloway is Day 21 – St. Joseph Most Faithful, Pray for Us. This section and meditation show St. Joseph’s faithfulness in rescuing Jesus and Mary in different life and death circumstances (Mat. 2:13 & 2:22) they faced. Fr. Calloway writes, “St. Joseph was faithful to Jesus and Mary in good times and in bad times.”
In a time where everyone and everything including institutions, governments, and countries are unraveling, St. Joseph is a very good model of faithfulness for us to follow and keep in mind. If you, too, take him as your spiritual father, he will never fail you especially during these crazy plague-ridden times!
One of the traditional ways to seek and obtain favors from God and the Saints is to make a vow. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the significance of a vow,
“In many circumstances, the Christian is called to make promises to God…Out of personal devotion, the Christian may also promise to God this action, that prayer, this alms-giving, that pilgrimage, and so forth. Fidelity to promises made to God is a sign of the respect owed to the divine majesty and of love for a faithful God…A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible and better good which must be fulfilled by reason of the virtue of religion. A vow is an act of devotion in which the Christian dedicates himself to God or promises him some good work. By fulfilling his vows he renders to God what has been promised and consecrated to Him. The Acts of the Apostles shows us St. Paul concerned to fulfill the vows (Acts 18:18; 21:23-24) he had made [CCC 2101-2102].”
The book, “The Glories of the Catholic Church” describes the pious practice of vows made while imploring a saint’s intercession. In this case, vows made to Saint Joseph during a plague in France. The people of France understood that St. Joseph is very faithful. They made vows on their deathbeds for St. Joseph’s faithful intercession and received miracles of healing and deliverance from the plague.
I wish to share a few of these miracles in the book “The Glories of the Catholic Church” so you, too, can encounter the faithful and powerful healing intercession of Saint Joseph. Illustrations are by Laura Beth Ramsay (A very talented artist from Austin, Texas who can be reached at laurab.ramsay@gmail.com for commissioned artwork.)
MIRACLE 1:
“Fr. Melchior, of Faug, a religious of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), being a month exposed to serve those who were in the quarantine or the pest-house, having taken the plague, and lying near death, all despairing of his recovery – after having been three days in agony, a friend of his, of the same religious order, made a vow, and invited the sick man to do the like, in case he recovered, to offer nine masses in the Church of St. Joseph, in thanksgiving for his recovery. At the same hour that the vow was made, he recovered his speech, and found himself out of all danger.” (The Glories of the Catholic Church)
MIRACLE 2:
“Bennet Gontelle, a gardener, living in a garden that joins St. Joseph’s Church, every day lost one of his family members, consisting of seventeen; out of which one daily fell sick, and was led to the pest-house, where his wife and children were already dead from the plague, and he and one servant only left in the house, who daily expected to follow the rest. I visited him in this sad affliction, and, being his next neighbor, counseled him to make a vow to St. Joseph, which he did, and I joined with him in it; promising to offer several masses and Holy Communions in his honor, if by his intercession he would obtain his and his servant’s preservation from the plague. God heard his prayers and preserved them both from the infection.” (The Glories of the Catholic Church)
MIRACLE 3:
“Martin de Bau, a little child, four years old, was struck with the plague while he was at play. All gave him up for lost; and his mother, being in a very great desolation and affliction, was counseled to recommend him to St. Joseph, which she immediately did, in these words, “St. Joseph, to you I recommend my child.” About two hours after, the child’s father perceiving some signs of death called his wife, who, giving him up for dead, made a kind of pious complaint, saying, “Ah, St. Joseph!” She came to the child, and found the evil diminished, who a little after called to his mother for some meat, recovered his wonted countenance, rose from his bed, and cried out, “I am well – St. Joseph has cured me.” The morning following, there was not the least sign of any complaint, and he felt no more weakness than if he had never been sick. His parents carried him to the Church of St. Joseph to give thanks, where they hung up a votive picture, to testify not only the child’s but the father’s deliverance from the plague; who afterwards was visited and delivered also by St. Joseph’s intercession, from the same evil.” (The Glories of the Catholic Church)
MIRACLE 4:
“Mr. Augery, an advocate in the parliament of Dauphine, being at Lyons, and understanding, on July 15, 1638, that Theodore Augery, his son, seven years of age, was seized by the plague … he made a vow to God, that if St. Joseph, by his intercession, would procure his son’s recovery, and preserve his family from the plague, he would for nine days together hear Mass in his church in his honor… the sick youth, being visited by the plague surgeons, who gave him up for dead, was taken out of the house, and carried to St. Laurence, the pest-house, for fear of infecting others. Suddenly, here he found himself perfectly well, nor were any more of his family, nine in number, infected.” (The Glories of the Catholic Church)
MIRACLE 5:
“Tevenet, a good old man of St. Laurence Dauger, a village near Lyons, infected with the plague, asked the vicar of the place whether there were no means for his recovery, who answered him that there were none but by having recourse to St. Joseph, and by making a vow every year to keep his feast, and to confess and communicate upon it, and for nine days to say seven paters (Our Fathers) and aves (Hail Mary’s), and conclude it with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The pious old man immediately made the vow, and at the same time found himself freed from the plague.” (The Glories of the Catholic Church)
Many people continue to give witness that the book ‘Consecration to St Joseph’ is best thing that has happened to them during these times of isolation and quarantine! The author, Fr. Calloway, shared with me the impact ‘Consecration to St. Joseph’ has had on the faithful during the pandemic,
“There have been vocations, healing of marriages, renewal of faith, and people come back to the Church as fruits of this consecration. Without a doubt, now is the time of St. Joseph!”
Eight U.S. bishops have declared a Year of St. Joseph because of ‘Consecration to St. Joseph.’ They are the dioceses of Charlotte, NC; Green Bay, WI; Lafayette, LA; Scranton, PA; Venice, FL; Ogdensburg, NY; La Crosse, WI; St. Augustine, FL; and a 9th diocese will go public in December.
The artwork for the book has been selling off the charts! The entire world wants better images of St. Joseph and other artists and sculptors are beginning to get commissioned requests around the world. The book has sold nearly 200,000 copies so far and is being translated into other languages. Truly, it is the Era of St. Joseph!
The book is now available in Spanish at this English link or in Spanish at this Spanish website link. The English version is now available on audio at this link.
Finally, don’t be left out! The next big ENGLISH consecration is from November 8th – December 10th (Feast of Our Lady of Loreto). The next big consecration in SPANISH is from November 10th – December 12th (Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe). You can follow in Spanish on this YouTube link
THE END
