The book, The Month of St. Joseph, presents daily considerations for the month of March in the form of meditations and practical examples. The example for today is as follows.

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EXAMPLE

During the plague which scourged the city of Lyons in 1638, a great number of the inhabitants were either preserved from it or recovered when attacked by means of the intercession of St. Joseph.

The child of a lawyer, a boy seven years old, was attacked by the plague and had all the symptoms which in such cases usually denote the near approach of death. The father, who was a good and pious man, did not lose confidence, but invoked St. Joseph, and made a promise that if his child recovered he would for nine days hear Mass in the church dedicated to him, burn wax candles in his honor, and place a votive inscription commemorating the favor obtained through his intercession.

In the meantime the physicians continued their visits to the sick child, whose state became so much worse that they ordered him to be taken to the Lazaretto, saying he had scarcely two hours to live. The order was promptly executed, but no sooner had the child reached the pest-house than he was perfectly cured. The father, overwhelmed with gratitude to his glorious benefactor, fulfilled immediately the vow he had made.

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This anecdote comes from the Month of St. Joseph by Abbé Berlioux, originally published in English in the year 1887. This book contains meditations and an example story for each day of the month. In an effort to preserve short inspiring stories from our Catholic past, every day for the month of March you can find the example story for the day published on the website under people/stories.

The same author also published similar books for the months of, May (Our Lady), June (Sacred Heart), and November (Holy Souls). We are planning to post the stories for these months in the future and are working with Mediatrix Press to re-publish these as a four book collection, so be sure to check back. The Month of St. Joseph is available now.