Maech 1, 2025

Each month in the Catholic Church, is dedicated to a specific devotion, often linked to feast days or significant themes. The month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph, an example of faith, fatherhood, and the model of a just and righteous man.

I never thought of St. Joseph as having a part in the First Saturday Devotion or the Rosary. But, my latest research has shown me that a Devotion to St. Joseph is an essential part of Christ’s message to all men, the Fatima message and in bringing peace to the world.

This was made clear in the vision seen by the three children at Fatima on October 13, 1917. In the first of three visions representing the mysteries of the Rosary, Sister Lucia described this blessed appearance in her memoirs saying:

“After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.” - Memoirs, 183.

That vision reminds us, that through the Joyful Mysteries a devotion to St. Joseph is contained in the Rosary and therefore in the First Saturday devotion. The better we understand the role of St. Joseph, the better we will be able to meditate on the Rosary, especially the Joyful Mysteries. The better we are able to meditate on the Rosary, the better we will be able to practice the First Saturday and many other Devotions. While St. Joseph may not be explicitly mentioned in the conditions for practicing the First Saturday Devotion, nevertheless, a devotion to him greatly enhances our practice of the First Saturday Devotion and many others.

In addition, we could say that St. Joseph is a model of devotion to Jesus and His Mother. When St. Joseph heard Simeon say that a sword would pierce the soul of Our Lady so that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed, this also revealed Joseph’s heart. For St. Joseph loved Mary greatly and wished to console her for the suffering she would endure because of the sins of the world. As a just man and a good Jew, St. Joseph knew that reparation must be made for sin. So St. Joseph knew that he could console Our Lady by trying to make reparation for the sins which pierced her Heart. We learn from this example of St. Joseph that with the help of His intercession we can console Our Lady more fervently.

In the Western Church, the feast of St. Joseph wasn’t fixed until the 15th century. According to tradition, March 19 was the day of Joseph’s death. Although the circumstances of Joseph's death are not known, it is likely that he died before Jesus's ministry began, and it is implied in John 19:26-27, that he was dead before the Crucifixion. In 1621 Pope Gregory the 15th extended the feast of St. Joseph to the entire Church, and it was elevated even more when Pope Pius the 9th declared Joseph the “Patron of the Universal Church” in 1870.

We forget St. Joseph too often. Fatima is a reminder to call on him frequently, daily, in fact. After all, he is the foster father of Jesus, the head of the Holy Family. His name appears in the Canon of the Mass, and, after our Blessed Mother, he is the greatest of all saints and angels.

St. Paul said in Ephesians 3:14-15, "I bow my knees to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ of whom all paternity in Heaven and earth is named." The fatherhood of St. Joseph, as with all human fathers, is a reflection in a human creature of the fatherhood of God the Father. - Saint Joseph, though he doesn’t speak a word in Sacred Scripture, stands as a model for all men to be in essence, the human face of God the Father.