The Birth of Joseph a Joy in Heaven and in Limbo

The birth of the saints is, as St. Ambrose observes, the cause of joy to many. Thus, before John the Baptist came into the world the angel announced to Zachary that many should rejoice at his birth.¹ Now, Joseph was, next to Mary, the most eminent among the saints, and was to be born for the profit of all, since he was destined by God to be the Patron of all Christians. How, then, could it be possible that his nativity should pass unnoticed and not be the cause of joy in Heaven?

The Blessed Trinity rejoiced at the birth of him who by his wisdom and prudence, his virginity and his charity, should veil the admirable mystery of the Incarnation from the eyes of the profane until the day fixed for its revelation; him to whom the Eternal Father was wholly to confide His Only-Begotten Son for well-nigh thirty years; to whom this Only-Begotten Son was to make Himself subject,² regarding him in the place of a father; to whom the Holy Ghost was in full confidence to entrust His Immaculate Spouse; and through whom the Most Holy Trinity would be eternally blessed, as It was afterwards to be in a yet higher degree by the birth of Mary, of whom St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote, “Through her the Trinity was glorified, Heaven exulted, and the angels were made glad”.³ Moreover, as a sign of predilection, the Blessed Trinity was pleased immediately to confirm our saint in grace, so that by a special privilege he should never commit even a venial sin, a privilege which was most fitting in him who was to be in the place of a father to the Son of God and the true spouse of His immaculate and holy Mother. Scripture itself tells us that the glory of fathers rests upon their children;⁴ and so, too, the honor of a husband is reflected on his wife; wherefore the Blessed Trinity multiplied Its gifts and graces in Joseph, sanctifying him (as we have shown) in his mother’s womb. The holy doctor, Alfonso de’ Liguori, preaching on the heart of St. Joseph, says, “God having destined Joseph to fill the office of father to the Incarnate Word, it must be held as certain that He conferred upon him all the gifts of wisdom and sanctity befitting such an office”. And then he adduces in particular the three-fold privilege which Gerson and Suarez attribute to him: that of being sanctified in the womb, confirmed in grace, exempted from the rebellion of concupiscence. “O blessed for ever,” he exclaims, “be the adorable goodness of God who so nobly exalted Joseph, for our advantage also and that of the whole Church!”

All the angelic hierarchies rejoiced at the birth of Joseph, because they beheld the time arrived when Heaven should be re-opened and the seats which were left vacant by the rebel angels should again be filled. On seeing him raised to an order superior even to the highest angelic choirs, seized with a holy wonder, they sang Glory to God, and joyfully honored him as the foster-father of their King and the spouse of their glorious Queen. But especially did those heavenly spirits rejoice who were chosen by God to guard him with loving reverence. To every human being, as we know, God appoints at his birth a guardian-angel, who shall faithfully accompany, defend, and protect him in all the necessities and perils of life; and to one who is to hold high offices committed to him by God for the benefit of others, a second angel of a superior order is assigned, that he may be enabled more efficaciously to fulfill the mission with which he has been charged.⁵ “Oh, how high,” exclaims the great doctor, St. Jerome, “is the dignity of souls, which from the moment of their birth have each of them an angel appointed by God as guardian!”⁶ But if a soul is glorious which has a single tutelary angel given it, how much more glorious must that soul be which is surrounded by many sublime spirits of Paradise! And such we must fain believe was the case with our great saint.

But it may be asked, if Joseph was confirmed in grace and freed from the solicitations of concupiscence, what need had he of angelic guardianship? If he was thus specially protected by God, nay, was himself appointed to be the faithful guardian of Jesus and Mary, if he was placed in an order superior to that of the angels, does it not seem that these spirits should be given to him rather as attendants than as guardians? In reply to this objection we must repeat that if Joseph, as Doctors of the Church affirm, excelled the angels in dignity, he was not their superior in nature, since the angelic nature is undoubtedly higher than the human; and, indeed, in this was manifest the surpassing goodness of the Son of God towards us, that, when He would redeem the world from the bondage of sin, He humbled Himself to assume our human nature and not that of the angels.

Now, let us see if it was needful that Joseph should have the guardianship of angels, and in what sense it was needful. The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, speaking of man in his state of innocence, says that, although, through his possession of original justice, all within him was well regulated, nevertheless, as he was exposed to dangers from without, he needed the guardianship of angels. And the same great doctor says, speaking of the Blessed Virgin, that, as she was not in statu comprehensorum, but was still in via,⁷ she required while on earth to have angelic guardians. From all which we may infer that Joseph, albeit innocent and confirmed in grace, needed the same loving tutelage. For if it behooved the Blessed Virgin to have this guardianship, who was Mother of God and herself the Queen of Angels, how much more must Joseph, who was far inferior, have required it, both on account of perils from without, and also because he was in the state of viator; for it is precisely to such as are in the way that God appoints the angels as guardians;⁸ with this difference, however, that, whereas to other men the angels are given as veritable guides, directors, and tutors, as superiors for the government of inferiors, who have actual need of being assisted and ruled in all things, to Mary and to Joseph they were assigned as guards of honor, who, clearing the way before them and removing every external peril, should bring them high messages from Heaven, and form their glorious retinue. A learned doctor, Tostatus Abulensis, thus sums up the purposes for which guardian-angels were assigned to Joseph from his birth. 1. For his solace and comfort in life. 2. To guide him externally, and warn him of impending dangers. 3. To remove every impediment which men or devils should cast in his way. 4. For the fuller enlightenment of his mind. 5. For the increase of his merit. 6. To communicate to him the will of God. 7. To pay him honor as the spouse of Mary and the reputed father of Jesus.

And that not one angel alone but many were assigned to Joseph may be inferred from the fact that, when Divine Goodness elects any individual for a sublime position involving most important offices, It never fails to furnish him with the necessary means of fulfilling his obligations, among which, in addition to interior gifts and graces, must be reckoned the consolations and external advantages which the guardianship of angels affords. St. Bernardine of Siena, quoting the opinion of St. John Chrysostom, St. George of Nicomedia, and St. Bonaventura, affirms that to the Blessed Virgin, already so specially protected by God Himself, many legions of angels were assigned as guardians. How, then, could it be that to Joseph, the spouse of Mary, to him who was honored by God not, indeed, as highly as was Mary, but, next to her, above all others, only one angel should be given, considering, moreover, the various exalted offices for which he was chosen, for each of which we may believe he had a special angel appointed to assist him? Some would have to serve as a guard to his person, others to pay due honor to his dignity, as the reputed father of Jesus and the spouse of Mary. Whence a pious writer, P. Patrignani, says that “St. Joseph was the most highly favored of men, being assisted and honored by angels. He received from them consolation in sufferings, light in perplexities, service and aid in toils and labors”. Then, turning to the saint, he exclaims, “I marvel not, O most glorious St. Joseph, that you were so favored by the angels, since you were so like to them in your own angelic purity. Neither do I marvel that they should be, so to say, ambitious of serving you, seeing that they regarded you as superior in dignity to themselves.”⁹ And these very angels, belonging even to the highest among the angelic hierarchies, who afterwards consoled him, accompanied him, and strengthened him in the numerous painful vicissitudes of his life, these same glorious spirits does Joseph now employ to succor so many who mourn, so many afflicted families, and, in fine, the whole Church Catholic placed under his protection; saying to them, in the language of the prophet Isaias, “Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces . . . to a nation expecting and trodden under foot”.¹⁰ These angels, not only joyfully fulfill his behests, but vie with each other in forestalling his holy desires; and no wonder, since, seeing that Jesus, their King, the King of angels and of men, made Himself subject and obedient to Joseph, they know not how better to honor so great a saint than by paying him the highest reverence and homage, the humblest and most entire subjection. Here, then, we perceive the reason why at his happy birth they surrounded him with such festal joy.

The joy they felt must have had its echo among the tristful inhabitants of Limbo, to whom angels, doubtless, reported the blessed tidings that the hour of their deliverance was approaching. The birth of Joseph was the first signal of the coming of Christ. Joseph was the morning star announcing the aurora which precedes the day. The rays of this star must have filled that gloomy abode with light. And, oh, with what exceeding complacency the holy Fathers, turning their eyes to Bethlehem, must have contemplated the infant Joseph, seeing how in him all their patriarchal and prophetic dignity was about to bear its promised fruit! How they must have blessed the birth of this child, whose appearance in the world brought with it the assurance that soon their bonds would be broken, their prison opened, their banishment ended, and that they would behold their long-desired Redeemer! The very thought must have caused them unutterable joy.