No words of St. Joseph are recorded In Scripture. In fact. little mention is made of him there. Yet. despite these seeming limitations. the Church nonetheless possesses an indescribably rich knowledge of St. Joseph and of his cultus. This book will astound most readers both with its scope and with its profundity. Based mainly on Scripture. but supported also by Tradition and the depositions of saints. it is a carefully reasoned analysis of the entirety of that great saint\'s role in the history of Salvation and the life of the Church. Includes details about his spiritual life and noble lineage; how he was prefigured in the Old Testament; his relationship to Mary and Jesus; why he has been named by Pope Pius IX \"The Patron of the Universal Church;\" and so forth. Many beautiful insights. 516 pgs. PB

"Spend your life in honouring St. Joseph, and your love and homage will never equal the love and homage paid to him by Mary; it will approach never so distantly to the obedience, the love, the homage paid to him for thirty years on earth by the Son of God. But in proportion as your heart grows towards him in the reverence and unbounded confidence of a son will you trace in your soul a more faithful copy of the Incarnate Word."-Letter on Devotion to St. Joseph, by Herbert, Bishop of Salford, 1877. Passages from the visions and revelations of saints and holy contemplatives-St. Bridget, Sister Maria of Agreda, and others-have been interwoven with the.narrative, simply in the way of illustration, and not as being invested with authority, except in the sense in which, after due examination, they have been favoured with ecclesiastical approval: namely, as containing nothing contrary to faith. and morals, and affording pious and profitable helps to meditation. Finally, observations and reflections have been introduced as occasion offered which were suggested by various authors whose works have been consulted, or which occurred to the writer's own mind from consideration of the materials before him. It is no uncommon idea, even among Catholics, that the devotion paid to St. Joseph and the lofty estimate of his prerogatives now prevailing in the Church are innovations of comparatively modern date, and that they have no precedent or sanction in antiquity. But this is far from being the case. In the writings of the ancient Fathers are to be found, not only what' may be called prolific germs, but also positive and explicit statements of doctrine, which sufficiently show how deep in the consciousness of the Church lay the belief of Joseph's exalted dignity and sanctity, and how definite a shape it had assumed even in the early ages. The devotion paid to him has, it is true, been much more distinctly formulated in later centuries, when his place in the celestial hierarchy came to be more fully recognised; but from the first this great Saint had a peculiar attraction for many holy and gifted souls, who regarded him with singular veneration and affection, as the citations given abundantly testify.