I have a little Prayer Card ... how these things do accumulate with the passing decades ... encouraging devotion to S Joseph. It indicates 200 days of Indulgence; and bears the Imprimi potest of + Joannes Carolus Archiep. Dublinen. Hiberniae Primas Dublini, die 11a Februarii, 1958. I wonder who on earth he was, and whether the date has any significance.
'Tween ourselves ... and I hope I'm not upsetting too many readers ... I find the Prayer somewhat ... laboured. It is based on the Ave Maria, but, frankly, such things do not always come off.
The English version is: Hail, Joseph, so abundantly endowed with the grace of God, thou whose arms did enfold the Infant Saviour and whose eyes did gaze on Him as He advanced in years, how blessed art thou among men, and how blessed is Jesus Christ, God made Man, the Son of Mary thy Virgin Spouse.
O chosen one, Saint Joseph, fosterfather of the Only-Begotten Son of God, intercede for us through all the days of our life in the midst of our many cares of home and health and toil, and graciously come to our aid at the hour of our death. Amen.
And, in Latin: Ave Joseph, gratia Dei abundantius praedite, cuius ulnae Salvatorem parvulum portaverunt et oculi crescentem aspexerunt: benedictus es inter viros, et benedictus filius almae Sponsae tuae Jesus.
Sancte Joseph, qui Unigenito Dei in patrem es electus, quamdiu in terris inter familiae valetudinis laborisque curas versamur, ora pro nobis et morte imminente nobis subvenire dignare. Amen.
Interesting, that the author of the English version felt the need to interpolate God made Man. But I hope the writer is not under the impression that alma and virgo are synonyms. I think one often gets the best out of alma by remembering that its roots are in the verb alere.
Has anybody any information to share about these formulae?
4 comments:
It was by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. I find these versions of prayers modelled on the Ave Maria and the Memorare of St Joseph to be frankly intolerable. There are many beautiful prayers to St Joseph, such as those in A Novena of Meditations in Honour of St Joseph, 1874 (translated from the French).
To answer the first query: the great John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin. The only, recorded, archbishop or metropolitan in the 1956 consultation of the episcopate on reform of the Office to say no reform whatsoever was necessary as the Roman Office was edifying to both clergy and people.
I assume "who on earth he was..." was tongue in cheek, Father, as you know perfectly well who John Charles was. I do, also, as it was he who ordained me in the late 1960s... His 'laying on of hands' was more like trampling the grapes or the work of a winepress!
He leaned heavily on you and - for a small man - was surprisingly strong. He later explained why he did that as, early in his pontificate, he had some priests scrupulously wondering if in fact he had laid hands on them. He then resolved to leave no doubt about it!
Well, alma and almah are a nice pun to put together.
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