St. Joseph has been Patron Saint of Canada for 400 years
The Feast of St. Joseph is celebrated throughout the universal Church on March 19. Instituted in the 15th century, the feast day became obligatory throughout the Church in 1621 under the pontificate of Gregory XV.
Missionaries were first sent to the colony of New France in 1615. Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec City in 1608, wanted to send missionaries to the region, and in 1615, Franciscan Friar Denis Jamet was appointed Provincial Commissioner for the mission of the new colony. He came with three others, Fathers Joseph Le Caron and Jean Dolbeau, and Brother Pacifique Duplessis.
Father Joseph Le Caron celebrated the first Mass at Huronia on August 12, 1615. He named St. Joseph as the patron of the country in his memoir dated March 19, 1624: "We held a great solemnity where all the inhabitants and several Amerindians were present, by a vow we made to St. Joseph, whom we chose as our patron saint of the country and protector of this newborn church.
In 1637, the choice of St. Joseph as patron saint of the country was ratified in a slightly more official manner. "The Supreme Pontiff Urban VIII sanctioned this decision and granted a plenary indulgence for the day of the patronal feast."
Even before coming to Canada, St. Mary of the Incarnation saw St. Joseph and the "great country" that was shown to her. "He was the guardian of this place," she said. Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine herself confided that she had"... in different circumstances of her life, seen St. Joseph and heard from him the affirmation that God had constituted him father, guardian and defender of the country of Canada."
Pope Gregory XVI definitively approved Father Le Caron's vow made in 1624, and St. Joseph officially became the Patron Saint of Canada. St. Joseph was thus honoured as patron and protector of the Church in Canada, before being declared patron and protector of the universal Church by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1870.
Pape François
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