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St. Joseph has been Patron
Detail of the stained glass window “Centre mondial de dévotion à saint Joseph”, Guido Nincheri, 1964. Collection SJO (2017)
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 Provin-
cial 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 Incar-
nation 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 be-
came the Patron Saint of Canada. St. Joseph was thus hon-
oured as patron and protector of the Church in Canada, be-
fore being declared patron and protector of the universal
Photo source: www.saint-joseph.org
Church by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1870.