III. The Cult of St. Joskpu.— Any notice of Joseph can in tliese d.iys liardly be complete with- out some mention of his Cult, which has of recent years attained to such an extraordinary develop- ment.
( 1 ) The latter part of the precedin" section shows that to some writers, especially to those who lived in Epypt and occupied themselves with reli<,'iou8 romances, Josejih's attractive personality afforded scope for religious devotion. But very little, if any, trace of this is to be seen in the Fathers.* St. Bernard of Clairvaux is the first writer to show it clearly. He says (if Mgr. Ricard's quota- tions may be trusted), ' Josejih alone among all men was, here below, the faithful co-worker of her who was the greatest of the works of God ' ; + and again, ' Remember the ancient patriarch who was sold into Egypt, and know that this man (Joseph) not only inherited his name, but possessed, moreover, his chastity, his innocency, and his grace.' t Thomas Aquinas also writes 8trongly.§ But the Roman Church has given much credit to the writings of female mystics, wlio from the 14th cent, onwards have spoken much of the veneration with which St. Joseph is honoured. Tluis Gertrude the Great (t 1310) saw in her revelations, when the name of Joseph was pronounced 'all the saints bowed their heads with respect, as a sign of honour to tliat glorious patriarch, and congratulated him, and rejoiced with him on his incomi)arable dig- nity.'II St. liridget of Sweden (t 1373), Marie d'Agreda (t 1GU5), Catherine Emmerich (t 1824), give innumerable details of Joseph's life seen by them in visions, which are combined in popular lives of St. Josepli for Roman Catholic use to-day. Even Gerson at the Council of Constance (1414) says of Joseph's jiowers of intercession, 'non im- petrat sed imperat.' St. Teresa (t 15S2), St. I'raiicis de Sales, and Bossuet vie in exalting him.
(2) Furtlier, the growth of the Cult may be seen in the public honours allotted to his feast, and in the status that he holds among the saints by the express decree of the pope. ' In Western Martyr- ologies of the 9th cent, the name of Joseph is found, and from the same time the Greeks com- memorated him along with other saints of the Old Testament on the Sunday before Christmas, and along with Mary, David, and James the Less on the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas' (Ctilh. Diet. s.v. ' Joseph '). In the breviarv of Sixtus IV. (1471-I4S4) the fea.«t of St. Josepir(Mar. 19) is a simiile rite ; in that of Innocent VIII. (1484-1492) a dou ble rite. I'ius v. ( 15G6-1572) ordered that the ollice of St. Joseph should be in that of confessors
• Roman Catholic writPrt (e.g. Mgr. Rirard, St. Joseph, sa vit et Kfm ruUe, I.ille, IbliO) tneiition Ircno'us, Origen, Kiim?1>Ui8, Epi)>hariius. (.•re^^ory of NazianzuH, Grtvory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poiliere, Kplirni-Tii tne Syrian. Cyril of Ji-ruKaleni, Chrynontom, Jerome, AuKUittine, Cyril of Alfxanclria, ami Hilary of Aries aa Bunporting the Cull of Si. Jt^eph. But they aelilom pve relerencea or dialinfruJHh helwern jfenuine and spuriouB worlta, Tliui* AupiHtine is «]UotCil as Navin^, ' Rejoice, Joseph, that by the inehl of the virtue of the aniji-ls you live so an^felically as to lie JilHlly called the father of the Saviour.* This is douhlleaa from a !<purioufl sermon In Mi^ne, t. p. t\V\. Irenvus says Joseph 'serve<l Jesus with a continual Joy * ('cf e. Itarr. iv. 40, etl. (>rat)C, ^'tX 1. ed. Maasuet); tiul Irenmus really Hays, 'Joseph Joyfully yieldtnl ot>eilient-r [to th* anijei] In re^jard to all the restof'lhe e<luralion of Christ' (Josejth et Mariam accepit et In reliipia unlverea cducatione Chruti gaudeus obaequium prvstiiit).
t Ki.anl. p. 270.
J K. II. Tliomson, T)u Lift and Oloritt of St. jMrph, 1881, p. 11).
I RIosrd, p 282. 1 ib. p. SM.
wlio were not po)ies. Gregory XV. in 1621 made it a feast of obligation for the whole world.* Urban VIII. in 1042 renewed this order. Clement XI. (1700-1721) arranged the hymns and all the parta of the ofhce peculiar to St. Joseph, and raised it to the double degree of the second class. Much discussion was held as to the place in the Litany of the Saints which Joseph's name oufjht to take; but it was decided by Benedict Xlll. in 1726 that it should precede the names of the Apostles and Martyrs, and follow immediately that of St. John the Baptist.
Two other feast days were added in honour of St. Joseph. One is the day of the Patronage of St. Joseph, which was fixed for the 3id Sunday after Easter by the Congregation of Rites in 1680, and after being observed in a gradually increasing number of places was established througliout Roman Catholic Christendom by I'ius IX. in 1847. The other is that of the betrothal or marriage of Mary and Joseph (for which an office was drawn up by Gerson), and allowed (with a diH'erent office) by I)enedict XIII. in 1725 to be observed in all churches on Jan 23. ' The feast is kept in England as a greater double.' t
Lastly, Pius IX. in 1871 proclaimed St. Joseph Patron of the whole Church as follows : ' Our most Holy Lord, Pius IX., Pope, moved by recent deplor- able events, was pleased to comply with the desires of the Prelates, and to commit to the most power- ful patronage of the Holy Patriarch, Josepli, both Himself and all the faithful, and solemnly declared him Patron of the Catholic Church, and com- manded his festival, occurring on the 19th day of March, to be celebrated for the future as a double of the first class, but without an octave, on account of Lent.' t