S. IOSEPH OPIFICIS

Ad Officium lectionis: Evaristus antverpensis 1968

Te, pater Ioseph, ópifex colénde,

Názaræ felix látitans in umbra,

vócibus lætis humilíque cuncti

  corde canámus.

Régiam stirpem tenuémque victum

mente fers æqua tacitúsque portas,

sacra dum multo mánuum labóre

  pígnora nutris.

O faber, sanctum spéculum fabrórum,

quanta das plebi documénta vitæ,

ut labor sudans ut et officína

  sanctificétur.

Qui carent escis, míseros fovéto;

témpera effrénos perimásque lites;

mýsticus Christus pátriæ sub umbræ

  tégmine crescat.

Qui Deus trinus simul unus exstas,

qui pater cunctis opiféxque rerum,

fac patrem Ioseph imitémur actu,

  morte imitémur. Amen.

O father Joseph, venerable worker, happily hidden in the shadows of Nazareth, we all sing to you with humble hearts and glad voices. With a mind at peace in poverty you kept your royal lineage secret, while with the great labor of your hands you nourished your family. O worker, holy example to all workers, by your life you give such great witness to the people that labor by sweat of the brow of a vocation made holy. Show your favor to those who lack food, the wretched, soften the unbridled and destroy strife; that the mystery of Christ may grow under the shade of a father’s roof. O God, both three and one, you who are the Father to all and craftsman of all things, grant that we may imitate Joseph in our deeds and in a holy death. Amen

Ad Laudes matutinas

Auróra solis núntia,

mundi labóres éxcitans,

fabri sonóram málleo

domum salútat Názaræ.

Salve, caput domésticum,

sub quo supérnus Artifex,

sudóre salso róridus,

exércet artem pátriam.

Altis locátus sédibus

celsæque Sponsæ próximus,

adésto nunc cliéntibus,

quos vexat indigéntia.

Absíntque vis et iúrgia,

fraus omnis a mercédibus,

victus cibíque cópiam

mensúret una párcitas.

Sit Trinitáti glória,

quæ, te precánte, iúgiter

in pace nostros ómnium

gressus viámque dírigat. Amen.

Dawn the herald of the sun arouses the workers of the world, the sound of the carpenter’s hammer greets in the house of Nazareth. Hail, O head of the family, who under the supreme Builder, drenched in salty sweat you exercise your fatherly craft. Raised to the highest abodes, next to the heavenly Bride, now assist your petitioners who are vexed with poverty. May violence and conflicts, all fraud in wages, be gone; may abstinence alone be the measure of the abundance of goods and food. To the Trinity be glory, who, by Joseph’s prayers, ever direct the steps of all in the way of peace. Amen.  

Ad Vesperas: Hieronymus Casanate

Te, Ioseph, célebrent ágmina cælitum,

te cuncti résonent christíanum chori,

qui, clarus méritis, iunctus es ínclitæ

  casto fœdere Vírgini.

Almo cum túmidam gérmine cóniugem

admírans, dúbio tángeris ánxius,

afflátu súperi Fláminis ángelus

  concéptum púerum docet.

Tu natum Dóminum stringis, ad éxteras

Ægýpti prófugum tu séqueris plagas;

amíssum Sólymis quæris et ínvenis,

  miscens gáudia flétibus.

Eléctos réliquos mors pia cónsecrat

palmámque eméritos glória súscipit;

tu vivens, súperis par, frúeris Deo,

  mira sorte beátior.

Nobis, summa Trias, parce precántibus;

da Ioseph méritis sídera scándere,

ut tandem líceat nos tibi pérpetim

  gratum prómere cánticum. Amen.

O Joseph, the heavenly hosts celebrate you, and all the choirs of Christendom resound your praise, you who with merits bright are joined in a chaste bound with the glorious Virgin. When you were surprised at your wife pregnant with her loving child, anxiously you were seized by doubt, an angel told you that the child was conceived by the breath of the heavenly Spirit.  You took the newborn Lord that you might follow him on the journey to the far-off land of Egypt; you searched for and found him, when he was lost in Jerusalem, your joy mingled with weeping.  A holy death consecrates other chosen men and glory and palms of victory greet the deserving; but you living had a more blessed and wondrous lot, you were here with God like those in heaven. Highest Trinity, grant to us by the merits of Joseph to reach the stars that at last we may sing forever to you a canticle of thanks. Amen.