The Prayer to St. Joseph

Leo XIII's prayer in full, Pope Francis's prayer from Patris Corde, and what the Church actually says about going to the guardian of the Holy Family.

Prayer to St. Joseph — full text

To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction, and having implored the help of thy thrice holy Spouse, we now, with hearts filled with confidence, earnestly beg thee also to take us under thy protection. By that charity wherewith thou wert united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by that fatherly love with which thou didst cherish the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wilt look down with gracious eye upon that inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by His blood, and wilt succor us in our need by thy power and strength. Defend, O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen off-spring of Jesus Christ. Keep from us, O most loving Father, all blight of error and corruption. Aid us from on high, most valiant defender, in this conflict with the powers of darkness. And even as of old thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from the peril of His life, so now defend God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Shield us ever under thy patronage, that, following thine example and strengthened by thy help, we may live a holy life, die a happy death, and attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven. Amen.

This is the English printed at the end of Leo XIII's encyclical Quamquam Pluries on the Vatican's own site — the formula he prescribed for the October Rosary.

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Where the prayer comes from

Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Quamquam Pluries on 15 August 1889, on devotion to St. Joseph, and appended this prayer to it. He did not merely recommend it. He wrote: "We prescribe that during the whole month of October, at the recitation of the Rosary, for which We have already legislated, a prayer to St. Joseph be added, the formula of which will be sent with this letter, and that this custom should be repeated every year."

His reason was the one the prayer itself gives — Joseph guarded the Holy Family, and the Church is the household he is now asked to guard. Leo recalled that Pius IX had "proclaimed, yielding to the request of a large number of bishops, this holy patriarch the patron of the Catholic Church." Pope Francis later gave that act its date: Blessed Pius IX declared him "Patron of the Catholic Church" on 8 December 1870.

Pope Francis's prayer to St. Joseph

Francis closed his apostolic letter Patris Corde, given 8 December 2020, with a prayer of his own. Before it he wrote the line that tells you what to ask for: "We need only ask Saint Joseph for the grace of graces: our conversion."

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.

What the Church calls him

Francis lists the titles in one paragraph of Patris Corde: Blessed Pius IX declared him "Patron of the Catholic Church"; Venerable Pius XII proposed him as "Patron of Workers"; St. John Paul II as "Guardian of the Redeemer." And, Francis writes, "Saint Joseph is universally invoked as the ‘patron of a happy death.’"

That last title rests on a long tradition that Joseph died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Scripture does not record his death; the tradition is what the title is built on, and Francis reports the title as one the faithful universally use.

Why a father goes to Joseph

Leo XIII put it plainly in the same encyclical: "Fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity." And for working men he went further: "As to workmen, artisans, and persons of lesser degree, their recourse to Joseph is a special right, and his example is for their particular imitation." A workman who "passed his life in labour, and won by the toil of the artisan the needful support of his family" is not a remote patron for a man who works with his hands.

That is the whole argument for a Catholic man praying this: he is asking a saint whose recorded work was to protect a household and feed it. If you want that built into a rhythm, our free thirty-day program The Priest of Your Home gives one three-minute letter each morning, one order for that night, and one prayer.

A short prayer for fathers and working men

St. Joseph, you rose in the dark and took your family out of danger, and you went back to the bench in the morning. Get me up. Keep my hands honest and my temper quiet. Let my work be enough for them, and let them see me pray. Guard my wife, guard my children, and be there at my death. Amen.

Those words are ours, not the Church's. Say them, change them, or leave them — an approved formula is not required to ask a saint for help.

The "never known to fail" prayer — read this first

A prayer circulates online and on prayer cards claiming to be the oldest prayer to St. Joseph, "found in the fiftieth year of our Lord," with a promise attached: whoever reads it or carries it will never be lost, will not drown, will not be burned, and so on. It is usually followed by an instruction to send it to a number of people.

We could find no Church document that authenticates that origin or that promise, and we are not going to print a promise we cannot stand behind. Treat it as an unverified legend. The Church does not teach that any prayer guarantees an outcome, and a prayer that asks you to forward it is a chain letter wearing a saint's name. St. Joseph deserves better, and so do you: the two prayers above are published by the Holy See, and they ask for the right things.

When to pray it

Through October, at the Rosary — the place Leo XIII prescribed.
19 March, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, and 1 May, St. Joseph the Worker.
Before work, at the truck or the desk, when the day is about to take what you have.
For the dying — your own people, and yourself when the time comes.
For the Church, which is the household the prayer actually asks him to defend.

Questions men ask

What is the prayer to St. Joseph?

One of the best known is Pope Leo XIII’s, which begins “To thee, O blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our affliction.” Leo gave it to the whole Church with his encyclical Quamquam Pluries of 15 August 1889 and prescribed that it be added to the Rosary through the month of October.

What did Pope Francis’s prayer to St. Joseph say?

He closed his 2020 apostolic letter Patris Corde with it: “Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.”

When should you pray to St. Joseph?

Leo XIII asked for his prayer through October, at the Rosary. Beyond that: 19 March (the Solemnity of St. Joseph), 1 May (St. Joseph the Worker), Wednesdays by custom, before work, and for anyone who is dying. There is no rule binding you to a schedule.

Is St. Joseph the patron saint of fathers and workers?

Pope Francis lists the titles in Patris Corde: Blessed Pius IX declared him “Patron of the Catholic Church” (8 December 1870), Venerable Pius XII proposed him as “Patron of Workers,” and St. John Paul II as “Guardian of the Redeemer”; he is “universally invoked as the ‘patron of a happy death.’” Leo XIII wrote that fathers of families find in Joseph “the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance.”

Is there an ancient prayer to St. Joseph that has never been known to fail?

A text circulates claiming it was “found in the fiftieth year of our Lord” and that whoever recites it will never be lost. Treat that as an unverified legend: we have found no Church document that authenticates its origin or its promise, and the Church does not teach that any prayer guarantees a result. Pray to St. Joseph freely; do not pray a chain letter.