HAPPY SAINT JOSEPH'S DAY! EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY, EVEN ON A LENTEN FRIDAY!

Happy Saint Joseph Day from Saint Joseph Catholic Church, Macon, Georgia, not far from Pio Nono Avenue or as Maconites call it, "Pie Ah None Ah" Avenue! My humble Cathedral, I mean Church:

Good Old Saint Joseph on the left of the reredos decorated for last Easter, nice no?


Because it is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

You can eat this:


and this:



and these too!


and these two!


You really don't have to do penance on one of these today, so don't!

The 1983 Code of Canon Law states:

Canon 1251: "Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ."


Friday 19 March is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Therefore, because of the solemnity, Friday Lenten abstinence is not required.

Of course you are not obliged not to abstain either. You can voluntarily abstain from meat on a solemnity if you choose.

We should take into consideration that in some places where there are people of Italian origin there is custom of preparing a free and open "table" dedicated especially for the poor. Such initiatives will often include dishes with meat. The Church’s law should put people at their ease that, were they to eat meat on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, they would not be breaking the Church’s law on abstinence on Fridays of Lent.

The current Enchiridion Indulgentiarum #19 attaches an partial indulgence to the following prayer in honor of St. Joseph.

This will also be our Holy Father’s (Pope Benedict XVI or Joseph Ratzinger) name day. Pray for him.

Other prayers in honor of St. Joseph also gain a partial indulgence. For example, The Litany of St. Joseph, and Office of St. Joseph.

Ad te Beate Ioseph
To thee, O blessed Joseph

TO thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. Through that charity which bound thee to the immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which thou embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg thee to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holy, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.

AD te beate Ioseph, in tribulatione nostra confugimus, atque, implorato Sponsae tuae sanctissimae auxilio, patrocinium quoque tuum fidenter exposcimus. Per eam, quaesumus quae te cum immaculata Virgine Dei Genetrice coniunxit, caritatem, perque paternum, quo Puerum Iesum amplexus es, amorem, supplices deprecamur, ut ad hereditatem, quam Iesus Christus acquisivit Sanguine suo, benignus respicias, ac necessitatibus nostris tua virtute et ope succurras.

Tuere, o Custos providentissime divinae Familiae, Iesu Christi subolem electam; prohibe a nobis, amantissime Pater, omnem errorum ac corruptelarum luem; propitius nobis, sospitator noster fortissime, in hoc cum potestate tenebrarum certamine e caelo adesto; et sicut olim Puerum Iesum e summo eripuisti vitae discrimine, ita nunc Ecclesiam sanctam Dei ab hostilibus insidiis atque ab omni adversitate defende: nosque singulos perpetuo tege patrocinio, ut ad tui exemplar et ope tua suffulti, sancte vivere, pie emori, sempiternamque in caelis beatitudinem assequi possimus. Amen.

HAPPY SAINT JOSEPH DAY, EAT UP!