Pope Declares 'Year of St. Joseph'

Just when it would seem this Dec. 8 couldn't be any sweeter for the Marian Fathers, Pope Francis dropped a spiritual bomb.

He has declared a "Year of St. Joseph" beginning today, a decision that underscores the Marian Fathers' yearlong effort promoting consecration to St. Joseph.

According to the Vatican, the Holy Father's decision was made against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Quoting the Holy Father's new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde ("With a Father's Heart"), Vatican News said the worldwide pandemic "has helped us see more clearly the importance of 'ordinary' people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble Saint Joseph, 'the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,' who nonetheless played 'an incomparable role in the history of salvation.'"

The announcement corresponds with the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX's declaration of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. The date also marks the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the patronal feast day of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, and 350 years since the founding of the Marian Fathers. Indeed, in 1670, St. Stanislaus Papczynski (1631-1701) - a Polish priest, mystic, preacher, and writer who staked his life upon the mystery of the Immaculate Conception - made what's known as his Oblatio, offering himself to God and to the Blessed Mother and professing his intention to found his spiritual Congregation. 

A patron of the Marian Fathers, St. Joseph has been a spiritual model for Marian priests and brothers since the Congregation's founding. Through Marian Press, the Marians have promoted St. Joseph as a spiritual model for all the Church, most notably with the publication one year ago of the book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC.

The book has sold 150,000 copies in the United States, making it one of the fastest selling Marian Press books of the last decade. It has routinely been in Amazon's top 10 list of Catholic books. Sales have been strong in the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand, as well. The book is available in Spanish. It will soon be available in German, French, Slovakian, Polish, and Croatian. A streaming audiobook launch this summer has been a major success.

Since the book's publication, 11 dioceses in the United States and two in England have declared a Year of St. Joseph. Bishop John O. Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, in New York, today released a pastoral letter titled "Go to Joseph."

"It's incredible. It's just been off the charts," said Fr. Donald. "My phone has been pinging every day, all day, for months. I am receiving emails from around the world. There is so much happening with St. Joseph I can't keep up with it."

For the record, last year (May 1, 2019), Fr. Donald wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking him to consider declaring a Year of St. Joseph for the entire Church. He had the letter translated into Spanish. On May 2, 2019, Bishop Hector Zordan from the Diocese of Gualeguaychu, Argentina, hand-delivered the letter to Pope Francis while in Rome. We have a picture of their meeting that shows the bishop and the Holy Father holding the letter and discussing it. We'll publish the photo in the next issue of Marian Helper magazine.

Father Donald sees the Holy Spirit at work in all of this.

"Something is up," he said. "Since 1870, when Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church - telling the world to turn to Joseph as our loving father, our spiritual father - there has been so much momentum, and now it's reaching a crescendo.

"The whole Church is now coming around to St. Joseph," said Fr. Donald. "I never anticipated the book being this big, but at a time when families are under attack, marriages are falling apart, when people have turned away from God, when there's so much anxiety and fear, we really do need St. Joseph. We need his protection. Now is the time of St. Joseph."

In tandem with the Holy Father's declaration, the Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree granting special indulgences for the year "to perpetuate the entrustment of the whole Church to the powerful patronage of the Custodian of Jesus." 

The "Year of St. Joseph" extends through Dec. 8, 2021.

According to the decree, throughout the year, the faithful will have the opportunity to commit themselves "with prayer and good works, to obtain, with the help of St. Joseph, head of the heavenly Family of Nazareth, comfort and relief from the serious human and social tribulations that besiege the contemporary world today."

Here are the conditions for receiving the plenary indulgence.

FCSJ

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