Page 141 - Reflections on St. Joseph

proclaimed the Patronage of St. Joseph for the Universal Church. A few years later (1889)
Leo XIII explained the reasons in his Encyclical Quamquam pluries: “It is therefore
convenient and supremely worthy of blessed Joseph, that in that way in which once upon a
time he was used to guiding in a holy way and in every event, the Family of Nazareth, so now
he protects and defends with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ.”

Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Custos, speaks with particular veneration in regards to the
prayer which Leo XIII placed at the conclusion of his Encyclical, and in which he asks St.
Joseph to continue his mission as protector, keeping away from us “the plague of errors and
vices”, assisting us “in this battle with the powers of darkness”, and defending us “from the
insidious snares and every adversity”. “Today too - the Holy Father assures us - we have
numerous motives to pray in the same way [...]. Today too, we have enduring motives for
commending every person to St. Joseph.”

4. Conclusion

As a confirmation and conclusion of what we have up to now written, we would like to
remember the final words of the Founder to the Oblates, contained in his last letter written
to his sons in Santa Chiara two months before his death. It is as if it were his “spiritual
testament” to us Oblates.

This would be Letter 321, written from Acqui to Fr. Cortona on March 4, 1895. Once again
we are in the presence of a very difficult situation. Besides the serious problems we were
having with the Little House of Cottolengo in Turin, the greatest sufferings for the Brothers
of St. Joseph were due to the climate of pettiness and criticism that was diffuse in the city
and that moved also among the people, nurtured by that part of the clergy who supported
the reasoning of the Little House. The financial difficulties were increasingly greater,
because between the boarding students and the aspirants, living both in Asti and in Frinco,
they had reached the number of 200. The benefactors, seeing the situation and considering
the physical distance of Marello, becoming worried, were withdrawing the loans that they
had offered. It even had come about that the Brothers were accused of using for themselves
the offerings made for the poor.

So, in this climate of uncertainty, worry and anguish, the Founder recognizes that: “the
Brothers of St. Joseph, in the month dedicated to their Patron, more than at any other time
of the year, imitating him, miscent gaudia fletibus”. However, they do not need to become
discouraged! Whoever has chosen St. Joseph as Guide and Model of spiritual life will know
joys and sorrows are the ingredients of which the Will of God is made. Therefore, thinking
to bid farewell to his sons, the Founder leaves to them and to each of us this last
recommendation: “Be of good cheer under the paternal mantle of St. Joseph, the most secure
place of refuge in tribulationibus et angustiis.”

Once again, it is the confirmation of a life and spirituality totally consigned into the hands
of the great Patriarch St. Joseph. Totus tuus!

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Reflections on st. joseph