Monday 19 March at 18.00 in the chapel of the Montfort Missionaries of Arbizzano (VR) the Christus Rex Club met to pray to SAINT JOSEPH, PATRON OF THE CHURCH. They recited the Sacred Mantle, the Litanies and invocations, the prayer of Saint Pius, after a brief instruction on the figure of the greatest of all the Saints, guardian and protector of the Holy Family, example of domestic virtues, example for all workers, example of a model husband and father. Above, a detail of the Montfort chapel.
And the, O blessed Joseph, gripped by tribulation we resort and confidently invoke your patronage, together with that of your most holy Bride.
Deh! For that sacred bond of charity, who held you close to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and for the paternal love you brought to the child Jesus, regard, we beg you, with a benign eye, the dear inheritance that Jesus Christ purchased with his blood, and with your power and help assist our needs.
Protect, O provident Guardian of the divine Family, the chosen offspring of Jesus Christ; move away from us, O most loving Father, the plague of errors and vices that infects the world; assist us favorably from heaven in this fight against the power of darkness, O our very strong protector; and how you once saved the threatened life of the child Jesus from death, so now defend the holy Church of God from hostile snares and all adversity; and extend your patronage over each of us, so that by your example and through your help we can live virtuously, die piously, and achieve eternal bliss in heaven. Amen.
This prayer was added by Leo XIII at the bottom of the encyclical Although many times of the 15 August 1889. Devotion to Saint Joseph, already declared patron of the universal Church by H.S. Pius IX on 8 December 1870, was particularly supported by Leo XIII who, elected Pope 20 February 1878, From the beginning he placed his pontificate "under the very powerful protection of Saint Joseph, celestial patron of the Church" (address to the cardinals of 28 March 1878).
This year, the third consecutive with which our Club wanted to remember St. Joseph, it took place in prayer alone, differently to other years, where conferences were organised.
