For a Happy Death and Other Good Intentions. Said for thirty consecutive days.

Ever-blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and indulgent father, and compassionate friend of all in sorrow, through that bitter grief with which thy heart was saturated when thou didst behold the sufferings of the Infant Saviour, and in thy prophetic view didst contemplate His most ignominious passion and death, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities, counsel me in my doubts, and console me in all my anxieties. Thou art the good father and protector of orphans, the advocate of the defenceless, the patron of those who are in need and desolation. Do not, then, disregard the petition of thy poor child; my sins have drawn down upon me the just displeasure of my God, and hence I am surrounded with sorrows. To thee, O amiable guardian of the poor neglected family of Nazareth, do I fly for shelter and protection. Listen, then, I entreat of thee, with a father's solicitude, to the earnest prayer of thy poor supplicant, and obtain for me the objects of my petition.

I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which induced Him to assume our nature and be born into this world of sorrow.

I ask it by the grief which filled thy heart when, ignorant of the mystery wrought in thy immaculate spouse, thou didst fear thou shouldst be separated from her.

I ask it by that weariness, solicitude, and suffering which thou didst endure when thou soughtest in vain at the inns of Bethlehem a shelter for the sacred Virgin and a birthplace for the Infant God, and when, being everywhere refused, thou wert obliged to consent that the Queen of heaven should give birth to the world's Redeemer in a wretched stable.

I ask it by that most sad and painful duty imposed on thee when, the divine Child being eight days old, thou wert obliged to inflict a deep wound on His tender body, and thus be the first to make flow that sacred blood which was to wash away the sins of the world.

I ask it by the sweetness and power of that sacred name, Jesus, which thou didst confer on the adorable Infant.

I ask it by that mortal anguish inflicted on thee by the prophecy of holy Simeon, which declared the Child Jesus and His Mother the future victims of their love and our sins.

I ask it through that sorrow and anguish which filled thy soul when the angel declared to thee that the life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies, from whose impious designs thou wert obliged to fly with Him and His blessed Mother into Egypt.

I ask it by all the pains, fatigues, and toils of that long and perilous pilgrimage.

I ask it by all the sorrows thou didst endure when in Egypt thou wert not able, even by the sweat of thy brow, to procure poor food and clothing for thy most poor family.

I ask it by all the grief thou didst feel each time the divine Child asked for a morsel of bread and thou hadst it not to give Him.

I ask it by all thy solicitude to preserve the sacred Child and the immaculate Mary during thy second journey when thou wert ordered to return to thy native country.

I ask it by thy peaceful dwelling in Nazareth, in which so many joys and sorrows were mingled.

I ask it by thy extreme affliction in being deprived three days of the company of the adorable Child.

I ask it by thy joy at finding Him in the temple, and by the ineffable consolation imparted to thee in the cottage of Nazareth with the company and society of the little Jesus.

I ask it by that wonderful condescension by which He subjected Himself to thy will.

I ask it through that dolorous view, continually in thy mind, of all thy Jesus was to suffer.

I ask it by that heroic sacrifice of thy will and best affection by which thou didst offer up to the Eternal Father the last awful moment when the Man-God was to expire for our salvation.

I ask it by that perfect love and conformity with which thou didst receive the divine order to depart from this life, and from the company of Jesus and Mary.

I ask it by that exceeding great joy which filled thy soul when the Redeemer of the world, triumphant over death and hell, entered into the possession of His kingdom, and conducted thee also into it with especial honours.

I ask it through Mary's glorious assumption, and through that interminable bliss which with her thou wilt eternally derive from the presence of God.

O good father! I beseech thee by all thy sufferings, sorrows, and joys to hear me and to obtain the grant of my earnest petitions. (Here name them, or reflect on them.) Obtain for all those who have asked thy prayers all that is useful to them in the designs of God; and finally, my dear protector, be thou with me and all who are dear to me in our last moments, that we may eternally chant the praises of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Amen.