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Prayers in Honour of St. Joseph for the Dying

Indulgenced by Leo XIII, 17 May 1884

Three petitions, one to each Person of the Trinity, for ourselves and for everyone in the world who is dying at this moment — because Joseph died with Jesus and Mary beside him, and is patron of a good death.

The Prayer
English · Original
Each is followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

Eternal Father, by the love which Thou bearest to St. Joseph, chosen by Thee from among all men to represent Thee on earth, have pity on us and on poor souls in their agony.

Eternal and divine Son, by the love which Thou bearest to St. Joseph, thy most faithful guardian on earth, have pity on us and on all poor souls in their agony.

Eternal and divine Spirit, by the love Thou bearest to St. Joseph, who with so great solicitude watched over most holy Mary the Spouse of thy predilection, have pity on us and on all poor souls in their agony.
When the Prayer is Said

At a deathbed; in the evening, for those who will die tonight; on Wednesdays.

History & Background

Joseph is absent from the Gospels by the time of the public ministry, and the Church has always drawn the obvious and moving conclusion: he died at Nazareth with Jesus and Mary at his side, which is the death everyone would choose. From that comes his patronage of the dying and the confraternities under his name that undertook to pray for those in their agony.

These three short prayers are addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in turn, each 'by the love which Thou bearest to St. Joseph', and each asks for the same two groups: us, and the dying. Leo XIII indulgenced them in 1884. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.

Indulgences Attached

Three hundred days, once a day — Leo XIII, 17 May 1884 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 307).

Related Saints
St. Joseph
1st century BC, Bethlehem (of the house of David) – c. AD 18–29, Nazareth (before the public ministry of Christ)
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