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

The Venerable Sister Pudentia Zagnoni who is celebrated in the Franciscan Order for her eminent virtue, had a particular devotion to St. Joseph and received some singularly precious favors from him at the hour of her death. On that trying occasion the Saint appeared and for her greater consolation held in his arms the blessed Infant, Him who forms the joy of angels, the happiness of heaven, the life of pure souls.

No words can describe the transports of holy joy which this vision produced in the soul of the dying sister, and the Religious present were m some degree participators in her happiness when they heard her conversing with St. Joseph and the Divine Infant, thanking the former for having changed the bitterness of that dread hour into heavenly sweetness and expressing also her gratitude to the Divine Infant for coming in so loving a form to invite her to the marriage feast which He had prepared in heaven for those whom He had been pleased to dignify by the title of His Spouses.

It appeared also to the Religious that St. Joseph placed the Divine Infant in the arms of their dying sister, thus giving her death a closer resemblance to his own at Nazareth; for he had the happy privilege of dying in the sacred arms of Jesus.

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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.