Devotion to Saint Joseph

The desire of the Father in composing it, was to contribute to spread devotion to St. Joseph, as well as nourish his clients' piety. The same is our desire. Does not this great Saint, whom God has distinguished above all others by the glorious titles of Spouse of Mary and Father of Jesus, and whose heroic aets have admirably corresponded to this twofold dignity, which no creature, human or angelic, can ever share with him-does not, I repeat, this great saint merit on our part a special worship and particular homage? A great number of writers and sacred orators have undertaken, in elegant panegyrics, to show forth the prerogatives and the virtues of St. Joseph, and they have succeeded in rallying around him a multitude of devout clients, who invoke him as their advocate and their father, as the worthiest object of their confidence and love, after Jesus and Mary. We shall endeavor, our turn, to attain the same result, hut by an easier and shorter way-that of examples; a way to which Fr. Patrignani has given the preference. Examples, in fact, more easily enter into the mind, and penetrate more readily into the heart, than do the most solid reasonings. 'The latter merely convince; the former, besides conviction, carry something more soul-stirring-persuasion. In the first book we shall present the homage and services which have been rendered to St. Joseph, as so many motives for attaching ourselves to his worship: in the second, we shall narrate the favors granted by this saint to those devoted to his interests. The third book will contain certain pious practices calculated to honor St. Joseph and to make him known.