The Month of Saint Joseph

The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph, the beloved spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, the Son of God. Descended from the line of David, he is the Protector of the Universal Church, and Patron Saint of Workers.

Saint Joseph was visited by an angel when he discovered Mary’s pregnancy, and he trusted that which was revealed to him, that Mary’s child was from the Holy Spirit. Devoted protector of Jesus and Mary, he is the perfect model of the true Christian male, “sharing in authentic human fatherhood and the mission of the father in the family.” (Pope St. John Paul II) Known to many as Terror of Demons, St. Joseph rescued the child Jesus from deadly peril, and will assist us in our struggles with the powers of darkness. Dying a happy death, he passed with Jesus and Mary at this side.

Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas (Dominican Friar and Priest), born between Naples and Rome in 1225, is a Doctor of the Church and was one of the most influential thinkers in Catholic theology and philosophy. His father was a Count and despite his privileged family’s numerous attempts to keep him from his interest in the Dominicans (by locking him in a castle and tempting him with a prostitute), he joined the Dominican order of Naples in 1244. At age 31 he received his doctorate and had already been publishing and preaching beautifully as a priest and was made a master of theology at his lectureship in Paris. True to the heart of the Dominican, he refused dignified appointments such as Archbishop of Naples, and was a deep spiritual reader and thinker. His writing of Summa contra Gentiles is an authoritative text written to combat opposing faiths, and his vast work, Summa Theologica was not completed due to an apparition Thomas had of Christ in 1272, at which time he wrote: “All I have written seems like straw compared with what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.”

St. Thomas Aquinas died in 1274 leaving a legacy of writings, including hymns and prayers that are still used in the Church today. Some of his most well known pieces include Prayer Before Study, Prayers Before and After Communion, Hymns for the Feast of Corpus Christi, and Tantum Ergo, to name a few. His Feast Day is March 7.