Today, March 19, is the Feast of St. Joseph. Pope Francis has named this year, a year to honor St. Joseph.

Our congregation has always had a devotion to St. Joseph; perhaps because our foundress, Mother St. Pierre, had a devotion to him. Her volume of letters has many instances where she prays to, or asks favors of, or even issues ultimatums to St. Joseph if he doesn’t do as he is asked!

On the golden jubilee of the Congregation, this statue (sculpted in Italy) was erected by the Sisters: “Among the preparations for the Golden Jubilee celebration, was the erection, on the lawn fronting the convent building, of the statue of St. Joseph” (Annals of the Congregation, 1869-1919, Volume 2, page 144).

In announcing the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis described him “as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.”

Francis continued by highlighting “the creative courage” of St. Joseph, which “emerges especially in the way we deal with difficulties.” “The carpenter of Nazareth,” explained the Pope, was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting in divine providence.” He had to deal with “the concrete problems” his Family faced, problems faced by other families in the world, and especially those of migrants.

Obtained from https://www.ccvichapel.org/post/feast-of-st-joseph