Novena to St Joseph
Feast: 19 Mar
When to pray: Begin on 10 Mar and finish on 18 Mar, the eve of the feast. When 19 Mar falls in Holy Week, the solemnity moves; follow the Church calendar. A novena is prayed on nine consecutive days.
Prayer for each day
St Joseph, you led your family with few words and steady hands. Teach me to work honestly, to protect those given to me, and to do God's will without delay. Carry this intention to Jesus, whom you held in your arms. Amen.
Said every day
Prayer to St Joseph (Pope Leo XIII)
To thee, O Blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction, and, after imploring the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that affection which united thee with the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by the fatherly love with which thou didst embrace the Infant Jesus, look down, we beseech thee, with gracious eyes on the precious inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his blood, and help us in our necessities by thy power and aid. Protect, O most provident Guardian of the Holy Family, the elect children of Jesus Christ; ward off from us, O most loving Father, all plagues of errors and depravity; be propitious to us from heaven, O most powerful Protector, in this our struggle with the powers of darkness; and as thou didst once rescue the child Jesus from the greatest peril to his life, so now defend God's holy church from the snares of the enemy and all adversity. Finally, shield every one of us with thy patronage, that, imitating thy example and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a happy death and attain to everlasting happiness in heaven. Amen.
Prayer to St Joseph (Pope Leo XIII): The New Raccolta (1903), p. 395. The day prayers were written for The Crusade.
Day by day
Day 1: The silent man who obeyed at once
And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife.
Matt 1:24, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, when the angel spoke to you in sleep, you rose and did as he commanded, without delay and without complaint. No word of yours is recorded in the Gospels, yet your obedience speaks clearly. Teach me to listen to God in silence and to do his will at once. Amen.
Day 2: Guardian of the Holy Family
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.
Luke 2:51, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, the Son of God was subject to you and to Mary at Nazareth. Watch over my family as you watched over yours. Keep us in peace, in faith and in love for one another, and protect our home from every harm. Amen.
Day 3: Worker at the bench in Nazareth
Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude:
Matt 13:55, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, Jesus was known as the carpenter's son, and he learned your trade at your side. Bless my work, whatever it may be. Help me to do it honestly and well, to offer it to God, and to provide for those who depend on me. Pray for all who are without work. Amen.
Day 4: Courage on the flight into Egypt
Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod:
Matt 2:14, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, you rose by night and took the Child and his mother into Egypt, a stranger in a foreign land. Give me courage when I must leave what is familiar for the sake of God's will. Protect refugees and all who travel in danger, and keep them in the care of your Holy Family. Amen.
Day 5: Searching three days for the lost Child
And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
Luke 2:48, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, with Mary you searched for three days for the Child Jesus in sorrow, and found him in the Temple. When I lose sight of Jesus through my sins or my carelessness, help me to seek him until I find him, and never let me rest apart from him. Amen.
Day 6: Chaste husband, faithful father
Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.
Matt 1:19, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, the Gospel calls you a just man. You were the chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary and a faithful father to Jesus. Obtain for me purity of heart, fidelity in my state of life, and the grace to love with a love that gives rather than takes. Amen.
Day 7: Patron of the dying: a peaceful end
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Ps 115:15 [Ps 116:15], Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, tradition holds that you died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. You are the patron of a holy death. Be with me and those I love at the hour of death, so that we may die in the grace of God, comforted by Jesus and Mary. Amen.
Day 8: Protector of the whole Church
And when there also they began to be famished, the people cried to Pharao, for food. And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you.
Gen 41:55, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, protector of the universal Church, as Pharaoh once told his people, Go to Joseph, so the Church sends us to you in every need. Guard the Church on earth from error and division, protect the Holy Father, and defend all Christians who suffer persecution. Amen.
Day 9: Terror of demons: strength for men in battle
Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith: knowing that the same affliction befalls, your brethren who are in the world.
1 Pet 5:8-9, Douay-Rheims
St Joseph, terror of demons, the devil goes about seeking whom he may devour, and we must resist him, strong in faith. Be the strength of fathers and of all men who must fight to protect what is good. Defend me in temptation and keep me faithful to Christ until the end. Amen.
Scripture
Douay-Rheims numbering (modern in brackets): 1 Pet 5:8-9; Gen 41:55; Luke 2:48; Luke 2:51; Matt 13:55; Matt 1:19; Matt 1:24; Matt 2:14; Ps 115:15 [Ps 116:15]. Scripture index
Source
Written for The Crusade, 2026. How we check sources