Message from Fr. Withoos for St.Joseph's Feast Day

The Angelus (Millet, 1859)

Feast or Fast

Dear Friends,

We have kept the fast, we have run the race…

The Lenten period in certain days celebrates important feasts and one of them occurs today for certain Dioceses, where St. Patrick is celebrated as a First Class Feast, particularly in places where the Irish immigration was strong.

We won’t argue over whether St. Patrick should or should not be considered by you as a feast day in your particular locale.

This Thursday, however, we celebrate the great patron of the Universal Church, St. Joseph. Suffice to say there is no doubt that this is a first class feast and so for those of us living the Septuagesima70 we will celebrate by a lightening of our penances.

Firstly we try to celebrate liturgically the feast - that should be a no-brainer. And for our practices we retain only one of the many penances we have taken on, or things we have given up. Ladies, enjoy that warm shower!

May the great St. Joseph intercede for us all, and particularly for the Holy Father and the Church universal in this most difficult time.

S. Joseph…ora pro nobis!

(NB. The next feast day of similar ilk before Easter will be Lady Day - the feast of the Annunciation on March 25).

In Our Blessed Lord and Our Lady,

Fr. Withoos, Chaplain, Septuagesima70 - 2026