Prayer to St. Joseph for the October Devotions
Ordered by Pope Leo XIII to be said as Part of the Devotions for the Month of October
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 to 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 powerful intercession. Protect, O most provident guardian of the Holy Family, the elect children of Jesus Christ; ward off from us, O most loving father, every contagion of error and corrupting influence; 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 from all adversity. Finally, shield every one of us with thy patronage, that, imitating thy example and strengthened by thy help, we may
