The Pope celebrates
his name day
March 19, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti exchanged best wishes in a brief telephone conversation today.
March 19th is the feast day of St. Joseph, and the name-day of Pope Benedict XVI, who was baptised Joseph Ratzinger. It is also the birthday of Monti, the head of Italy’s government.
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Earlier, the Holy Father received the following greeting from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, translated here:
Holiness, on the happy occasion of your name-day. I am particularly happy to extend my best wishes in my onw personal name and that of the Italian people.
The Feast of St. Joseph is dear to the Italian nation, who recognize him as a beloved paternal figure and an elevated reference to the familial institution.
In this spirit, i ask you, Holiness, to accept our most sincere wishes for your well-being and serenity.
The Holy Father’s Name-day was also celebrated here at the Vatican, where papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope is inspired by his patron saint:
Saint Joseph guided his family ‘as one who serves.’ He teaches us that one can love without possessing, and he reveals to us the secret of living in the presence of mystery.
In him there is no separation between faith and action, because his faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Joseph is a ‘just man’ because his existence is always ‘adjusted’ to the word of God. This is how the Pope spoke about his patron some time ago, in a beautiful sermon that expressed not only his devotion, but also the inspiration he receives from this humble and sublime model (March 18, 2009, Vespers in Yaounde).
On behalf of everyone here at Vatican Radio, as well as for the members of the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) and the Press Office of the Holy See, Father Lombardi then addressed the Pope directly: “In this same spirit, we wish you a very happy Name Day, especially in light of your upcoming duties of faith and service. Best wishes, Holy Father!”
In the Catholic faith, one's name day - onomastico in Italian - is almost as important as the birthday. Persons named for one of the saints whose feast is observed on the day they are born obviously celebrate the birthday and name day on the same day. Traditional Catholics still use the names of saints or important liturgical events espcially those associated with Mary (In Hispanic countries, names like Anunciacion, Asuncion, Presentacion, Immaculada, Concepcion, Encarnacion, are not uncommon) for their children.
St. Joseph:
Model of fatherhood
March 19, 2012
Childhood of Christ, Gerri van Honthorst, 1640, oil on wood.
Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church. It is also the Holy Father's name day.
The head of Vatican Radio’s English for Africa service, Fr. Moses Hamungole, offered his reflections on the role of St. Joseph in the life of the Church.
“Today is the day to celebrate fatherhood,” he said. “To be a father is not an easy challenge – there are many difficulties that go with it.”
At the same time, Fr. Moses said, “We can look to St. Joseph, who quietly – as I would say, one of the ‘silent fathers’ – handled whatever needed to be handled.”
Speaking of St. Joseph’s exemplary faith and wisdom, Fr. Moses said, “it is important [that fathers] pray for discernment, to pray for patience, to pray for these qualities, which can make one a good father.”
At the Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict thanked the faithful for all those who sustain him by their prayers, especially around his name day. Fr. Moses said it is extremely important to pray for the Pope, who is spiritual father to the whole Church. “If he has to discharge his ministry, he needs the spiritual support of every one of us.”
St. Joseph:
Father of the New Evangelization
by Anita Bourdin
ROME, MARCH 15, 2012 (Zenit.org).- March is the month of St. Joseph, whose feast the Church will celebrate Monday.
Currently the holy patron of Vatican II is now seen as the “Father of the New Evangelization” and “the holy patron of the third millennium,” according to an initiative launched by the bishop of the French diocese of Frejus-Toulon, Bishop Dominique Rey.
On Saturday, the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon will be consecrated to Saint Joseph.
Saint Joseph had a special role in the preparation of Vatican Council II, given that Pope John XXIII chose him as a protector of the event, with his Apostolic Letter of March 19, 1961.
In the text, Blessed John XXIII mentions “the voices that come to Us from all points of the earth” and the documents on Saint Joseph of his predecessors, from Pius IX to Pius XIII.
In his document, the Pope proposed, in addition, that on March 19, Saint Joseph’s altar in the Vatican Basilica “be clothed in new splendor, wider and more solemn” to become a “point of attraction and religious piety for individual souls, for innumerable crowds.”
Then, in October of 1962, he made a gift of his papal ring to Joseph, offering it to the Polish shrine of Kalisz, where a painting of Saint Joseph is kept, which is considered miraculous.
It was Blessed John XXIII, moreover,
who had Saint Joseph’s name inserted in the Canon of the Mass, as he announced in his address at the closing of the first session of the Council on Dec. 8, 1962.*
John Paul II and St. Joseph
John Paul II also gave his ring to Saint Joseph, to whom he had also been devoted since his childhood.
[He was baptized 'Karol Josef'!] The ring was placed by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, archbishop of Krakow, in the church of Carmel, a shrine dedicated to Saint Joseph, on March 19, 2004.
The Polish Pope recalled the importance of Saint Joseph for the life of the Church in his Apostolic Exhortation
Redemptoris Custos (August 15, 1989), a century after Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical
Quanquam Pluries (August 15, 1889) on devotion to Saint Joseph.
For his part, Benedict XVI announced recently a Year of Faith, starting on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. On many occasions, Benedict XVI has invited Catholics to learn from the school of Saint Joseph, to have a “spiritual conversation” with him, linked to a renewal of faith.
Before the Angelus on December 18, 2005, for example, he said: “It is therefore particularly appropriate in the days that precede Christmas to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St Joseph, so that he may help us live to the full this great mystery of faith.”
On March 18, 2009, in Yaounde, Cameroon, the Pope dedicated his homily to his patron saint. Addressing all the people of God, he concluded saying that in Saint Joseph there is no separation between faith and action.
“Dear brothers and sisters, our meditation on the human and spiritual journey of Saint Joseph invites us to ponder his vocation in all its richness, and to see him as a constant model for all those who have devoted their lives to Christ in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in the different forms of lay engagement.
"Joseph was caught up at every moment by the mystery of the Incarnation. Not only physically, but in his heart as well, Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life. In Joseph, faith is not separated from action.
"His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Paradoxically, it was by acting, by carrying out his responsibilities, that he stepped aside and left God free to act, placing no obstacles in his way. Joseph is a 'just man' (Mt 1:19) because his existence is 'ad-justed' to the word of God.”
The Year for Priests
On December 19, 2010, the 4th Sunday of Advent, Benedict XVI reflected before the Angelus on the Announcement to Joseph, entrusting to his protection all priests worldwide, stressing his role of “legal Father” of Jesus in God’s plan of salvation.
“In witnessing to Mary’s virginity, to God’s gratuitous action and in safeguarding the Messiah’s earthly life St Joseph announces the miracle of the Lord. Therefore let us venerate the legal father of Jesus (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 532), because the new man is outlined in him, who looks with trust and courage to the future. He does not follow his own plans but entrusts himself without reserve to the infinite mercy of the One who will fulfil the prophecies and open the time of salvation.” said the Pope.
“Dear friends, I would like to entrust all Pastors to St Joseph, universal Patron of the Church, while I urge them to offer “Christ’s [humble] words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world”, (Letter Proclaiming the Year for Priests, 16 June 2009).),” he continued.
Brother Andre and Cotignac
On Sunday, October 17, 2010, the Pope canonized in Rome the Canadian Religious apostle of Saint Joseph, Brother Andre Bessette (1845-1937), who had Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal built, of which he was custodian until his death.
For its part, the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon has on its territory the shrine of Cotignac, entrusted to the Brothers of Saint John, where
in June of 1660 the Holy Custodian appeared to a 22-year-old shepherd of Provence, Gaspard Ricard, pointing to a large rock and saying simply: “I am Joseph, move it and you will drink.” [I have been unaware of this till now. Inf act, I have never thought that St. Joseph may have had such apparitions at all!. Must look up the subject more!]
Louis XIV, going on pilgrimage to Cotignac, only 10 days after his ascent to the throne, entrusted France to the protection of Saint Joseph the following year, on March 19, 1661.
*My personal footnote to Blessed John XXIII including St. Joseph in the Canon of the Mass back in 1962:
As a child, I was so impressed with the inclusion of St. Joseph in the Mass Canon that I clipped the news item from my local newspaper when it was announced, and to this day it serves as my Missal marker for the Feast of St. Joseph.
Indulge me as I share a reproduction of part of that clipping - a poor one since by now (50 years later), the clipping is yellow with age, so it doesn't scan as well as if the background were still white! The lead paragraphs read:
"The Sacred Congregation of Rites issued the decree entitled 'Urbis et Orbis' concerning the insertion of the name of St. Joseph in the Canon of the Mass, which will take effect beginning Saturday. The decree which was published in the Dec. 1 issue of L'Osservatore Romano was in consonance with the disposition of Pope John XXIII in the same mater. The full text in Latin of the decree is as follows..."
I have recalled previously that my devotion to St. Joseph and to St. Anthony of Padua was influenced by the strong devotion in my hometown to these two saints, whose confraternities, men and women, attended Mass and religious events in their distinctive habits - green with a yellow cord sash for St. Joseph, brown with a white cord sash for St. Anthony; and that my devotion to St. Joseph was further intensified in the 1980s after I first visited the great shrine built for him by St. Andre Bessette in Montreal.... I suppose all of it was a preparation for my eventual devotion, in a different sense, of course, to a man named Joseph who became Pope.]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 20/03/2012 11:03]