History of St. Joseph's Altar

Thank you Mary Jane for sharing the photo source. Be sure to click here to see all of them. Mary Jane also shared this article on St. Joseph's Altar. Mahalo to both of you!

Sicily, the largest and most populous of the Mediterranean Islands, is
located just across the Strait of Messina from the Italian mainland. Be-
cause of its location in the north central Mediterranean Sea, it has often
been used as a "stepping stone" to and from the European continent.
Invaders, at various times, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans,
the Arabs, the Normans, and Spanish have ruled Sicily. It was under
the Arabs in the ninth century that agriculture and commerce flour-
ished. By cultivating mountainous land, grapes, olives, and oranges
became the main crops and chief exports. The Arabs were driven out
by the Normans and so on, but the crops continued to be the chief
resource.

It was in the nineteenth century that Sicily discovered a new source of
trade, the United States. New Orleans was one of the chief ports of call
for Sicilian merchants, coming on a regular basis to trade their farm
products for American cotton. With this trade came numbers of Sicilian
businessmen, and thus a small Sicilian community came into being.
There were nine hundred fifteen Italians in New Orleans in the 1850
U.S. Census, more than any other U.S. city including New York at that
time.

When the great emigration from Sicily began in 1880, New Orleans
became the main destination for many Sicilians. In 1910 almost 40%
of the population of Louisiana was of Italian descent and more than
90% of these Italians were from Sicily. These new Americans brought
with them many of their old beliefs and customs. One of these was their
devotion to St. Joseph and the custom of the St. Joseph Altar.

The exact date of the origin and the circumstances of the St. Joseph
Altar is not known, but it is believed to be in the sixteenth century in
one of the small western farm communities located south of Palermo.
Whatever the origin, it reached its popularity in Sicily in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries with entire villages taking part. It is believed
that when a great famine occured, the people prayed to St. Joseph
and, in gratitude for their survival, staged a celebration in his honor.

The legend of "The Invited Ones" dominated the ceremony. In this leg-
end the Holy Family, played by three memebers of the village, are denied
food and drink at two locations; then at the third they are invited in to
eat and drink. Legend has it that at this third location food and drink
never runs out, no matter how much is consumed. At the end of the
ceremony, the food was distributed to the villages.

When the first St. Joseph Altar in New Orleans was held is uncertain,
but it was probably just before World War I and was celebrated in a
private home. Altars became popular in the years that followed, taking
place in private homes given for reasons ranging from a family member's
recovery from illness to help in a financial venture. In later years the
altars have become less and less private and more and more public
functions sponsored and given by church, ethnic, and social organiza-
tions. Among these is the St. Joseph Women's Club of St. Joseph
Church in Gretna, Louisiana, who put on one of the largest altars in
the Metropolitan New Orleans area.

~~~Taken from the St. Joseph's Women's Club
Altar Cookbook, Gretna, Louisiana

Feast of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Joseph statue - St. Joseph's Church, Molokai

A very blessed Feast of St. Joseph to all the Josephs especially those in my family and our beloved Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger).

Prayer to St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church

O Most powerful patriarch, St. Joseph,
patron of that universal Church,
which has always invoked thee in anxieties and tribulations;
from the lofty seat of thy glory,
lovingly regard the Catholic world.
Let it move thy paternal heart to see the mystical spouse of Christ
and His vicar weakened by sorrow and persecuted by powerful enemies.
We beseech thee,
by the most bitter suffering thou didst experience on earth,
to wipe away in mercy the tears of the revered pontiff,
to defend and liberate him,
and to intercede with the Giver of peace and charity,
that every hostile power being overcome
and every error being destroyed,
the whole Church may serve the God of all blessings in perfect liberty.
Amen.

ON THE HOLY MARRIAGE OF ST. JOSEPH AND MARY:

"Our Lady, in giving him her hand, gave him also her whole heart. Never did a wife love her husband so tenderly, so ardently, nor revere him more profoundly. Mary and Joseph says St. Bernardin of Siena, were but one heart and soul; they were two in one same mind, one same affection, and each of them was the other's second self, because Our Lady and he were, so to speak, only one person. The heart of Mary with that of Joseph, and the heart of Joseph with that of Mary, who ever could imagine a union so intimate, a grace so great!"

ST. JOSEPH, SAVIOR OF THE SAVIOR:

"...St. Joseph, ... had the honour of preserving the Divine Infant from the fury of Herod..."

ST. JOSEPH, VIRGIN:

"In the first place, he was a virgin, so much that his virginal purity yielded in brilliancy and merit to that of the Queen of Virgins alone. What supreme graces he must have received to preserve this angelical virtue in an age which despised virginity, and to guard this delicate lily without the slightest taint or stain on its brilliant whiteness! According to the Holy Fathers , he that preserves intact the treasure of virginity ranks highter than the angels. To what a degree of holiness must not St. Joseph have attained, who was the first to preserve it in the state of marriage, and preserved it with such fidelity!"

SPOUSE OF MARY:

"...According to St. John Damascene the dignity of Spouse of Mary is one so elevated that no human eloquence can express it. Neither is it possible worthily to celebrate the greatness of St. Joseph without understanding that of his holy Spouse, who is the Queen of the Saints and the Angels, and the Mother of God. Who, then is the form a true idea of the dignity of St. Joseph*, as also of the graces he holds in the consequence of that dignity..."

""St. Bernardin of Siena says that the virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph was only contracted on earth after having been decided in heaven, and that these two spouses were perfectly worthy one of the other. Mary surpassed all men and Angels in the sovereign plenitude of her graces; therefore it was necessary that, after her, Joseph should be the most holy human being that existed, that had ever existed, or that should ever exist upon earth..."

"...Now, there never were two hearts, two souls more united than those of Mary and Joseph; nor could this faithful Virgin ever remain satisfied with rendering half service to God. Therefore she used every endeavour that her other half, St. Joseph, should be supremely exalted in all sorts of perfections. To use St. Gregory's own words, she intensely desired that her spouse should be perfect in order that no part of herself should remain imperfect..."

*According to the ancient law, whoever espouses a queen becomes king by the fact of his marriage... notwithstanding...the Church has consecrated the custom of addressing this invocation principally to Jesus Christ."

Excerpts from The Divine Favors Granted to St. Joseph by Pere Binet, published by Tan Books

St. Patrick

Picture source

To all my Irish friends and to those who have gone to God...Sister Lucy...Father Duffy...Father Diffley... Happy St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Breastplate sung by Angelina.



A special treat: Dana singing the beautiful Our Lady of Knock.

Fr. Marcel Guarnizo’s Response to the Eucharistic Incident

I would like to begin by once again sending my condolences to the Johnson family on the death of Mrs. Loetta Johnson.
I also feel obliged to answer questions from my parishioners, as well as from the public, about the incident on February 25th.
Here are the facts: On Saturday February 25th I showed up to officiate at a funeral Mass for Mrs. Loetta Johnson. The arrangements for the Mass were also not my own. I wish to clarify that Ms. Barbara Johnson (the woman who has since complained to the press), has never been a parishioner of mine. In fact I had never met her or her family until that morning.

You can read the rest of Father Marcel Guarnizo statement here

Mother Angelica Classics - On Conscience

Sunday Night Prime - Father Groeschel's Guest Father Michael Gaitley, MIC

One of the books I am reading this Lent is Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Father Michael Gaitley, MIC. It is a beautiful book and a beautiful "do it yourself" spiritual retreat. Father has a new book 33 Days to Morning Glory.

Letting God be in Charge

The following is from the meditation of the day in today's Magnificat reading. It gives us much to contemplate.

Jesus, I trust in You!

Let us imagine our confusion when we appear before God and understand the reasons why He sent us the crosses we accept so unwillingly. The death of a child will then be seen as its rescue from some great evil had it lived, separation from the woman you love the means of saving you from an unhappy marriage, a severe illness the reason for many years of life afterwards, loss of money the means of saving your soul from eternal loss. So what are we worried about? God is looking after us and yet we are full of anxiety! We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business. He orders an operation which involves cutting away part of our body and we accept it. We are grateful to him and pay him a large fee because we judge he would not act as he does unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on his skill. Yet, we are unwilling to treat God in the same way! It looks as if we do not trust His wisdom and are afraid He cannot do His job properly. We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake- a mistake which may cost us our life and protest when God sets to work on us.

If we could see all He sees we would unhesitatingly wish all He wishes. We would beg Him on bended knees for those afflictions we now ask Him to spare us. To all of us He addresses the words spoken to the sons of Zebedee: You know not what you ask - O blind of heart, your ignorance saddens me. Let me manage your affairs and look after your interests. I know what you need better than you do yourselves. If I paid heed to what you think you need you would have been hopelessly ruined long ago. - St. Claude de Colombiere, spiritual director of St. Mary Margaret Alacoque.

SILENCE IS INDISPENSABLE FOR PRAYER

...the Pope explained that the first of these aspects "concerns accepting the Word of God. Interior and exterior silence are necessary in order to hear that Word", he said. Yet, "our age does not, in fact, favour reflection and contemplation; quite the contrary it seems that people are afraid to detach themselves, even for an instant, from the spate of words and images which mark and fill our days"...

You can read the entire article here at VIS.

A FAMILY LESSON FROM THE RATZINGERS

Speaking with Monsignor Georg Ratzinger revealed to Michael Hesemann two critical convictions: There is a family secret that explains something of the impressive trajectory lived by the two Ratzinger sons; and divine providence laid the foundations for Joseph's path to the See of Peter before he was even born.

Read the rest of the Zenit article here


Also read The EXCERPT FROM "MY BROTHER THE POPE"

A Muslim's Remarkable Conversion to Catholicism

The fascinating autobiography of Muhammad Moussaoui, who narrates his conversion from Islam to Catholicism, shows miracles of grace and of human correspondence, on the one hand, and on the other hand the terrible harshness of Islamic mentality and persecution of Christians. The book’s title, The Price to Pay, summarizes well what this elite soul had to go through in order to be faithful to the call of grace. After his conversion, he took the name Joseph Fadelle.

You can read the rest here