A Novena to Saint Joseph
Ite ad Ioseph
Go to Joseph
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
The phrase Ite ad Ioseph, go to Joseph, is borrowed from Genesis 41:55, where Pharaoh directs the starving Egyptians to the other Joseph; the Church later applied the same words to the husband of Mary.
The Just Man
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
Matthew's Gospel gives Joseph a single descriptive word, just (Matthew 1:19), and no line of dialogue anywhere in the New Testament; every instruction he receives comes through a dream and is followed without recorded comment.
Obedience in the Dark
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
Joseph is recorded receiving instructions in dreams on four separate occasions in Matthew's infancy narrative: to take Mary as his wife, to flee to Egypt, to return to Israel, and to settle in Nazareth.
The Worker
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
Joseph is identified as a tekton in Mark 6:3, a Greek word usually translated carpenter but covering general craftsmen who worked in wood or stone; Jesus is called by the same trade term.
Guardian of the Household
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
Pope Pius IX declared Joseph patron of the universal Church in 1870, the same year as the First Vatican Council, at a time when the Papal States themselves were under direct military threat.
Chaste and Faithful
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
The title most chaste spouse, applied to Joseph in the Litany of St. Joseph, reflects the traditional doctrine that his marriage to Mary, while a real marriage, did not include ordinary marital relations, a position already argued by early Christian writers including Jerome.
The Hidden Life
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
No words of Joseph are recorded anywhere in the four Gospels; he disappears from the narrative after the finding in the Temple when Jesus was twelve, and most scholars infer from his absence during the adult ministry that he had died before it began.
Patron of a Happy Death
The Novena Prayer
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires.
O Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near thy heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
Saint Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me.
Joseph's patronage of a happy death rests on the traditional belief, not recorded in Scripture, that he died in the presence of both Jesus and Mary, making his the model of an attended death surrounded by holy company.
Terror of Demons, Hope of the Sick
The Novena Prayer
Holy Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Illustrious scion of David, light of patriarchs, spouse of the Mother of God, chaste guardian of the Virgin, foster-father of the Son of God, watchful defender of Christ, head of the Holy Family, pray for us.
Joseph most just, most chaste, most prudent, most valiant, most obedient, most faithful, pray for us. Mirror of patience, lover of poverty, model of workmen, glory of domestic life, guardian of virgins, pray for us.
Pillar of families, solace of the wretched, hope of the sick, patron of the dying, terror of demons, protector of the Holy Church, pray for us.
O God, who in Thine ineffable providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thy most holy Mother, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven, whom on earth we venerate as our protector.
The Litany of St. Joseph used above was formally approved for the universal Church by Pope Pius X in 1909, gathering titles that had accumulated around Joseph's cult over the preceding centuries.
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great… is the traditional prayer, long in public circulation, and opens the first eight days here; the ninth uses instead titles from the Litany of St. Joseph. What follows each day is a fact about Joseph drawn from Scripture or from the history of his cult, one per day.
