Anything under the sun
St. Joseph – patron of a happy death
It cannot be denied that St. Joseph is a special protector of his dying clients and all those in their last agony. This has been experienced by countless persons who practiced special devotion to St. Joseph during their lives.
At the hour of death, man is subject to untold suffering and anguish. At that supreme moment, every Christian must undergo a terrible trial, upon the final outcome of which depends eternal joy or eternal woe.
The fury of hell, the remembrance of past sins, the uncertainty of the future, the pains of death, the terror of the judgment – all these are the sources of untold sufferings. What saint could defend us better than St. Joseph, whom the whole Christian world acknowledges as the protector and patron of the dying!
There are three reasons why St. Joseph is a special patron for the dying:
1. He is the foster father of the eternal judge, who can refuse him no request.
2. He is terrible to the demons; the Church calls him the Terror of Demons and Conqueror of Hell.
3. His own death was most beautiful, for he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. This is the principal reason why he is patron of a happy death, the death of no other Saint was so happy, so glorious.
St. Francis de Sales was of the opinion that St. Joseph died of the love of God; St. Alphonsus Liguori considered this view most reasonable. Venerable Mary of Agreda says that before his death, St. Joseph experienced a rapture which lasted 24 hours, during which she beheld the Divine Essence the face of God, His glory, which Moses had in vain asked to see.
Jesus and Mary together closed the eyes of St. Joseph in death and shed tears at his departure. If Jesus wept over Lazarus, how must He have wept over St. Joseph.
So, let us pray to St. Joseph for a happy death – the moment which may determine whether we go to heaven or hell.