Ad te, beáte Ioseph, in tribulatióne nostra confúgimus, atque, imploráto Sponsæ tuæ sanctíssimæ auxílio, patrocínium quoque tuum fidénter expóscimus. Per eam, quǽsumus, quæ te cum immaculáta Vírgine Dei Genetríce coniúnxit, caritátem, perque patérnum, quo Púerum Iesum ampléxus es, amórem, súpplices deprecámur, ut ad hereditátem, quam Iesus Christus acquisívit Sánguine suo, benígnus respícias, ac necessitátibus nostris tua virtúte et ope succúrras.
Tuére, o Custos providentíssime divínæ Famíliæ, Iesu Christi sóbolem eléctam; próhibe a nobis, amantíssime Pater, omnem errórum ac corruptelárum luem; propítius nobis, sospitátor noster fortíssime, in hoc cum potestáte tenebrárum certámine e cælo adésto; et sicut olim Púerum Iesum e summo erípuisti vitæ discrímine, ita nunc Ecclésiam sanctam Dei ab hostílibus insídiis atque ab omni adversitáte défende: nosque síngulos perpétuo tege patrocínio, ut ad tui exémplar et ope tua suffúlti, sancte vívere, pie émori, sempiternámque in cælis beatitúdinem cónsequi póssimus. Amen.
✦To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wouldst look graciously upon the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by His Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in this our warfare with the powers of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.
This prayer to St. Joseph was given to the Church by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Quamquam Pluries of 15 August 1889 — the same pontiff, and the same troubled hour, that produced his celebrated Prayer to St. Michael. Confronted by aggressive secularism, the loss of the temporal power of the Papacy, and open hostility to the Church, Leo turned her devotion to the foster-father of Our Lord, the guardian who had once protected the Holy Family and now watches over the whole household of faith.
The prayer builds upon a decree of Leo's predecessor: on 8 December 1870, in the decree Quemadmodum Deus, Blessed Pius IX had proclaimed St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church. Leo XIII drew out the consequence of that title. If Joseph guarded the Child Jesus and His Mother, then the Church — the Mystical Body of that same Christ — may fly to him with equal confidence. In Quamquam Pluries the Pope directed that this prayer be added to the Rosary, especially throughout the month of October.
Its two movements mirror the two offices of the saint. First the Church appeals to Joseph's charity toward Mary and his fatherly love for the Child Jesus, asking that he look upon the inheritance Christ purchased by His Blood. Then, in language that echoes the St. Michael prayer, she begs the "most mighty protector" to assist her "in this our warfare with the powers of darkness," and to rescue the Church as once he rescued the Child from Herod in the flight into Egypt.
The closing petition gathers the whole of the Christian hope into three phrases — to live piously, to die holily, to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. It is fitting on the lips of those who invoke St. Joseph, for the Church honors him as patron of a happy death: tradition holds that he departed this life in the very arms of Jesus and Mary, the most blessed passing any soul could desire.
To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wouldst look graciously upon the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by His Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in this our warfare with the powers of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.
Ad te, beáte Ioseph, in tribulatióne nostra confúgimus, atque, imploráto Sponsæ tuæ sanctíssimæ auxílio, patrocínium quoque tuum fidénter expóscimus. Per eam, quǽsumus, quæ te cum immaculáta Vírgine Dei Genetríce coniúnxit, caritátem, perque patérnum, quo Púerum Iesum ampléxus es, amórem, súpplices deprecámur, ut ad hereditátem, quam Iesus Christus acquisívit Sánguine suo, benígnus respícias, ac necessitátibus nostris tua virtúte et ope succúrras.
Tuére, o Custos providentíssime divínæ Famíliæ, Iesu Christi sóbolem eléctam; próhibe a nobis, amantíssime Pater, omnem errórum ac corruptelárum luem; propítius nobis, sospitátor noster fortíssime, in hoc cum potestáte tenebrárum certámine e cælo adésto; et sicut olim Púerum Iesum e summo erípuisti vitæ discrímine, ita nunc Ecclésiam sanctam Dei ab hostílibus insídiis atque ab omni adversitáte défende: nosque síngulos perpétuo tege patrocínio, ut ad tui exémplar et ope tua suffúlti, sancte vívere, pie émori, sempiternámque in cælis beatitúdinem cónsequi póssimus. Amen.
To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wouldst look graciously upon the inheritance which Jesus Christ hath purchased by His Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in this our warfare with the powers of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.