Consecration to Saint Joseph: How did they get here?

When the Catholic Church recalls the anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church some 150 years ago, Pope Francis proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” from December 8, 2020, to 8 December 8, 2021. He wrote a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), wherein he describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. These virtues are exactly what every man or a head of the family should mirror.

It is through this inspiration that the leaders of the church decided to know more about St Joseph, the man who lived at “the crossroads between the Old and New Testament”. And there is no better way of knowing and experiencing the wonders of Saint Joseph than undergoing a deeper encounter through a spiritual retreat.

There have been numerous publications in the past about a spiritual encounter with St Joseph through a personal or group retreat. But the one that caught the attention of the author was the one written by St. Louis de Monfort who wrote the 18th-century spiritual classic “True Devotion to Mary.” And it was through this inspiration that Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC who himself have consecrated to the Blessed Mother years back, began to realize that a similar consecration must be done to St Joseph, considering the huge amount of societal challenges we are facing these days, more particularly about marriage and fatherhood.

And so this book was written, published and getting a huge public support. It sold 80,000 copies two months after its publication and have been translated to at least 5 languages so far. Fr. Calloway’s fervent hopes were for the Pontiff to declare a Year of Saint Joseph for the universal church with another hope that the Vatican will adopt the formula endorsed by this book to a 33 day spiritual retreat which put together a process of consecration to St. Joseph.

And so, on December 8, 2020 – The Holy Father declared a Year of Saint Joseph and supported the Act of Consecration to Saint Joseph. The Book of Rev. Fr. Donald Calloway is the one most prescribed by Vatican to follow as a preparation for the big day, hence the book: Consecration to St Joseph, The wonders of Our Spiritual Father. It is a guided material for a 33 day spiritual enrichments, each day going deeper into getting to know St Joseph understanding the wonders of him being our spiritual Father.

Bishop Gimmy of the Diocese of Digos started giving copies to the priests as early as October and they waited for the right moment when to start the 33 day retreat until the CBCP decided unanimously to have the whole country be consecrated to Saint Joseph on May 1 – Feast of St Joseph the Worker. Bishop Gimmy was very right to start the priests’ retreat shortly before the announcement because on February 15th, the clergy of the Diocese of Digos began their journey. The prescribed date given by CBCP to start is on March 30, ending on May 1 for the Day of Consecration. Meaning, our priests & religious men and women are one cycle ahead of us.

Today, on March 19th [as of this writing], as we celebrate the Solemnity of St Joseph, Spouse of Mary, we also witness some of our dear priests and the religious men and women of the Diocese of Digos consecrate themselves to St Joseph. The Bishop picked the oldest existing parish of the diocese for the venue which coincidentally is the only St Joseph Parish the Worker throughout the Diocese in Sta Cruz. The Bishop himself led the Act of Consecration before the image of St Joseph, he was joined by all the priests and the religious congregations present on the said date. (Blaze Q. Cantaros | SJWP-SUGID)