Saint Joseph. Confessor. Spouse Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 19 March (Transferred In 2017 To 20 March).

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless stated otherwise.

Saint Joseph.

Confessor.

Spouse Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Feast Day 19 March (Transferred In 2017 To 20 March).

Double of The First-Class.

White Vestments.

Illustration: PINTEREST

The Church always honours Saint Joseph with Mary and Jesus, especially during The Christmas Solemnities. Today's Gospel is, indeed, that  of 24 December. A Coptic Calendar tells us that Saint Joseph was Liturgically honoured in a special way  on 20 July from the 8th-Century A.D.

At the end of the 15th-Century, his Feast was kept on 19 March and, in 1621, Pope Gregory XV extended it to the whole Church. In 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph Protector of The Universal Church.

This Saint "of The Royal Race of David" was a Just Man (Gospel). As, by his marriage with The Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph has certain rights of The Blessed Fruit of The Virginal Womb of his spouse, a moral affinity exists between him and Jesus.

He exercised over The Child-God a certain paternal authority, which the Preface of Saint Joseph delicately alludes to as that of a Foster-Father. Without having begotten Jesus, Saint Joseph, by the bounds which unite him to Mary, is legally and morally the Father of the Son of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

It follows that we must honour, by  a special homage, this dignity, or supernatural excellence, of Saint Joseph. "In the family of Nazareth", says Cornelius-a-Lapide (a Flemish Jesuit and Exegete (1567-1637), "were the three greatest and most excellent persons in the World. Wherefore, to Christ is due The Divine Worship, to The Virgin a higher Worship than to Saints, and to Saint Joseph the full Worship due to Saints".

God revealed to Saint Joseph The Mystery of The Incarnation (Ibid.) and "chose him among all" (Epistle) to commit to his care The Incarnate Word and The Virginity of Mary.

The Hymn at Lauds says that: ""Christ and The Virgin were with him at his last hour and watched by him, their faces gleaming with sweet serenity".Saint Joseph went to Heaven for ever to enjoy The Beatific Vision of The Word, whose humanity he had so long and so closely contemplated on Earth.

This Saint is, therefore, justly considered the patron and model of interior and contemplative Souls. And, in the Heavenly Home, Saint Joseph has a powerful influence of The Heart of The Son of his Most Blessed Spouse (Collect).

Let us imitate, at this Holy Season, the purity, the humility, the spirit of Prayer and Meditation, of Saint Joseph at Nazareth.

Every Parish  Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

Mass: Justus ut.
Commemoration: Of The Feria, in Lent.
Credo.
Preface: Of Saint Joseph.
Last Gospel: Of The Feria, in Lent.

If 19 March happens to fall in Holy Week, The Feast of Saint Joseph is Transferred to The Tuesday after Low Sunday. An Alleluia is then added to every Antiphon, Verse, or Responsorial.

The following Text is from ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

In the pre-Vatican II Pope Saint Pius X Divine Office "Divino Afflatu", with yesterday being the Third Sunday of Lent, Saint Joseph's Feast Day was Transferred to today, 20 March 2017. 

The reason being is that Saint Joseph's Feast Day is a Double of The First Class and this does not take precedence over a Sunday in Lent.

However, in The Rubrics of 1568 (Trent), and, thus, prior to "Divino Afflatu", The Feast Day is just a Double (and not a Double of The First-Class), so Saint Joseph can be Commemorated in the Third Sunday of Lent Mass and Office.