On March 19, 1961, Pope Saint John XXIII, affectionately known as the ‘Good Pope,’ announced through L’Osservatore Romano—the Vatican’s daily newspaper—the publication of an apostolic letter dedicated to Saint Joseph. In this document, the Holy Father entrusted Saint Joseph with the protection and guidance of the Second Vatican Council, considered one of the most important events in the contemporary history of the Catholic Church.
This council was inaugurated in 1962 by Saint John XXIII and concluded in 1965 by Saint Paul VI. As a result, a body of doctrine was created to promote the Catholic faith in the world, renew Christian life, adapt liturgy, and encourage the laity’s action in the Church’s life.
An article published on March 18 in LOR, noted that for Saint John XXIII, the Council required “lights of truth and grace, discipline of study and silence” in terms of human aspects, but also divine assistance that should be invoked by the faithful “with a lively cooperation of prayer.”
LOR also mentions that the Good Pope considered Saint Joseph as “the best teacher and patron of the Holy See’s diplomats” because he knew how to obey and, when necessary to speak, did so with measure and grace, characteristics of a diplomat.
The Vatican’s newspaper states that the Pope told this to the then Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, when he learned that he had been appointed Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria and would be ordained bishop, an event that took place on the feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 1925, when he was 43 years old.
In the letter published in 1962, as the Supreme Pontiff, Saint John XXIII highlighted the devotion to Saint Joseph of his predecessors: Pius IX declared him Patron of the Church, Pius XI referred to the Holy Custodian as defender of Christian nations against global atheism; and Pius XII established May 1 as the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.
For Raimondo Manzini, director in the 1960s of LOR, the letter of Saint John XXIII on Saint Joseph exhorted the Church to cultivate his devotion “so that the strong and gentle saint” would ensure “certainty and fruitfulness” to the works of the Second Vatican Council.
The article also recalls that in the Mass celebrated on March 19, 1959, a few months after his election, Saint John XXIII told the faithful that he would have chosen “Joseph” as his Pontifical name, but he did not do so because it was not “the custom of the Popes,” so he ultimately opted for the name “John.”
Though he did not take the name “Joseph,” the text indicates, John XXIII knew that Saint Joseph would always be by his side “as an excellent protector and companion, as well as an exemplary model.”
