Lead Us Out of Exile, Good Saint Joseph
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
Today is the traditional feast of Saint Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church, in Paschaltide, coming on the Wednesday before the Third Sunday after Easter. Although not all traditional communities observe this traditional feast day of the foster-father of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb, I think that everyone can agree that it is a good and salutary thing for Catholics to honor Saint Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church, especially during Paschaltide.
Our Lord is the new Moses. His new and eternal Passover, which He instituted at the Last Supper and ratified by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross, is meant to lead us out of the bondage to sin and eternal death by participating in the life of Sanctifying Grace that is infused into our souls in the Sacrament of Baptism and grows with our worthy reception of Himself in Holy Communion and by our earnest efforts to root out our slightest venial faults and failings, no less to confess Mortal Sins that kill the life of Sanctifying Grace in our souls, in the Sacrament of Penance. The first Moses had led the Chosen People out of their bondage to the Egyptian Pharaohs, under whom they had served as slaves for 440 years, through the parted waters of the Red Sea. The new Moses, Our Lord, leads us out of captivity to the devil by means of Original Sin in the flood waters of the Baptismal font. Our Lord also leads us out of captivity to the devil in the Sacrament of Penance if, as mentioned above, we have surrendered ourselves to the adversary by means of Mortal Sin. Thus it is that Our Lord leads us out of various forms of "spiritual" Egypts at various points in our life.
The new Moses, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, actually lived in Egypt for about seven years as King Herod the Great sought to kill Him shortly after His birth in Bethlehem. Good Saint Joseph, who took upon himself the care of his foster-Son, was told by Saint Gabriel the Archangel in a dream to take His Most Chaste Spouse, Our Lady, and His foster-Son, Our Lord, into Egypt. It was in God the Father's Holy Providence that His Co-Eternal Son, Who was made Man in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of God the Holy Ghost, spend time in exile where the Hebrews had worked as slaves of the Pharaohs for over four centuries. Saint Joseph was thus charged with the responsibility of providing for the needs of the Holy Family in a strange land, having to find a place to live and having to make his living amongst people whose language he did not speak. Saint Joseph had to protect the Holy Family from any agents that might be sent to Egypt by Herod, and he had to make sure to protect the Holy Family from the pagans in Egypt who might be hostile to descendants of the people who had been led out of that land by Moses during the first Passover.
The land of Egypt was sanctified by the presence of the Holy Family. Holy Mother Church teaches us that the life's work of the desert hermits, such as Saint Paul the Hermit Saint Anthony of Egypt, was made fruitful by the fact that the Holy Family had lived and worked in the very land that the ancestors of the first Moses had been held as captives to the Pharaohs, symbolic of mankind's captivity to the devil following the Fall from Grace in the Garden of Eden and prior to Our Lord's Redemptive Act on the wood of the Holy Cross (and also symbolic of each man's captivity to Original Sin prior to Baptism and the captivity of any one man's soul to the devil by the means of Mortal Sin committed after Baptism). Undeterred by the obstacles that he faced, therefore, Good Saint Joseph worked to support the Holy Family by plying his trade as a carpenter, teaching his foster-Son in His Sacred Humanity to work with His Holy Hands with the very wood of the trees that He Himself had created. All the while, however, Saint Joseph kept listening to the will of God, responding when He was told in a dream to return to Nazareth following the death of Herod the Great.
We are, if you think about it, in a spiritual Egypt at present. The Catholic Faith that has been handed down to us over the centuries under the infallible protection and guidance of God the Holy Ghost has been thrown out of "Jerusalem," that is, from the "official" quarters of a counterfeit church that presents itself to most Catholics as the "Catholic" Church. Modern-day Herods wearing miters and Roman collars have seized control of the Vatican and its curial offices, diocesan chancery offices, local parishes and allegedly "Catholic" institutions of education. Catholics have been forced into the catacombs of a spiritual "Egypt," finding themselves among pagans who speak languages alien to the Catholic Faith and finding themselves among other Catholics who speak languages that have their philological origins in the multifaceted, inter-related heresies of Modernism. It is to Saint Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church, to whom we must fly for protection in this time we are spending in a true spiritual "Egypt," exiled from our own native places and parish churches and estranged in many cases from our own relatives and longtime friends.
Good Saint Joseph has won for us many wonderful shepherds during this time of difficult exile in Egypt as we endure the barbs of fellow Catholics for having "abandoned" the "Church." Saint Joseph, acting as the Patron of the Universal Church, has pleaded with His Divine foster-Son to send forth shepherds such as Bishops Daniel Dolan and Donald Sanborn and Mark Pivarunas and Robert McKenna, among others. Saint Joseph, tenderly caring for the flock who had been brought to spiritual rebirth by the pangs of suffering of His Most Chaste Spouse, Our Lady, as she stood by the foot of their Divine Son's Most Holy Cross, has won for us many holy priests, some of whom saw the entirety of the problems facing the Church as early as in the immediate aftermath of the "Second" Vatican Council over forty years ago now. These priests have been given the humility and the courage to respond to the graces that Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces, had sent to them, taking it upon themselves to protect the flock of Our Lord's true sheepfold that is the Catholic Church with the love and tenderness and strength of Good Saint Joseph himself.
We have been privileged to meet may of these priests in the past two years realizing how wrong we had been to accept the "direction" that had been given us years and years ago by priests (some validly ordained, some not) in the "indult" and, later, by priests (once again, some validly ordained, some not) in non-sedevacantist independent chapels and in the Society of Saint Pius X. Catholics are not free to "pick and choose" what comes from a true Sovereign Pontiff. Catholics are not free to parse every word that comes out from a true pope and his curial offices. Catholics are not free to reject the liturgy that is offered by a true Roman Pontiff and his bishops. Catholics are not free to separate themselves from true bishops appointed by true popes. That any of us have come to accept these lies, which are as novel as the novelties that have emanated from Rome during its time of conciliarist captivity, is attributable to the recrudescence of the heresy of Gallicanism, which contended that civil kings and diocesan bishops could resist the decrees and decisions of legitimate Roman Pontiffs on matters of Faith and morals, order to avoid coming to the conclusion that those who appear to hold ecclesiastical offices at the present time are men who have indeed defected from the Catholic Faith and are thus deprived from the holding of such offices and of exercising any authority or privileges attached thereto.
Pope Pius VI attacked the essence of the Gallicanism that has thwarted the work of those Catholic priests in the catacombs who have insisted, quite rightly, in the past forty years that the Catholic Church cannot be the author of the errors and novelties and heresies of the past forty years and that no one can hold ecclesiastical office who has defected from the Catholic Faith. Writing in Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794, wherein he condemned the Gallican (and other heretical, including Jansenist) principles. most of which are the essence of enunciated by the illegal Synod of Pistoia, Pope Pius VI attacked the following principles that are of the essence of the "resist and recognize" approach to the current crisis caused by the Modernist takeover of the institutions that belong solely to the Catholic Church:
The Name Ministerial Head Attributed to the Roman Pontiff
3. In addition, the proposition which states "that the Roman Pontiff is the ministerial head," if it is so explained that the Roman Pontiff does not receive from Christ in the person of blessed Peter, but from the Church, the power of ministry, which as successor of Peter, true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church he possesses in the universal Church,—heretical.'
The Power of the Church for the Establishing and the Sanctioning of Exterior Discipline
4. The proposition affirming, "that it would be a misuse of the authority of the Church, when she transfers that authority beyond the limits of doctrine and of morals, and extends it to exterior matters, and demands by force that which depends on persuasion and love"; and then also, "that it pertains to it much less, to demand by force exterior obedience to its decrees"; in so far as by those undefined words, "extends to exterior matters," the proposition censures as an abuse of the authority of the Church the use of its power received from God, which the apostles themselves used in establishing and sanctioning exterior discipline—heretical.
5. In that part in which the proposition insinuates that the Church "does not have authority to demand obedience to its decrees otherwise than by means which depend on persuasion; in so far as it intends that the Church has not conferred on it by God the power, not only of directing by counsel and persuasion, but also of ordering by laws, and of constraining and forcing the inconstant and stubborn by exterior judgment and salutary punishments" leading toward a system condemned elsewhere as heretical.
Rights Attributed to Bishops Beyond What is Lawful
6. The doctrine of the synod by which it professes that "it is convinced that a bishop has received from Christ all necessary rights for the good government of his diocese," just as if for the good government of each diocese higher ordinances dealing either with faith and morals, or with general discipline, are not necessary, the right of which belongs to the supreme Pontiffs and the General Councils for the universal Church,—schismatic, at least erroneous.
7. Likewise, in this, that it encourages a bishop "to pursue zealously a more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline," and this "against all contrary customs, exemptions, reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, for the greater glory of God and for the greater edification of the faithful"; in that it supposes that a bishop has the right by his own judgment and will to decree and decide contrary to customs, exemptions, reservations, whether they prevail in the universal Church or even in each province, without the consent or the intervention of a higher hierarchic power, by which these customs, etc., have been introduced or approved and have the force of law,—leading to schism and subversion of hierarchic rule, erroneous.
8. Likewise, in that it says it is convinced that "the rights of a bishop received from Jesus Christ for the government of the Church cannot be altered nor hindered, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any reason whatsoever, a bishop can always and should return to his original rights, as often as the greater good of his church demands it"; in the fact that it intimates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered and coerced by no higher power, whenever a bishop shall judge that it does not further the greater good of his church,—leading to schism, and to subversion of hierarchic government, erroneous.
The Right Incorrectly Attributed to Priests of Inferior Rank in Decrees of Faith and Discipline
9. The doctrine which states, that "the reformation of abuses in regard to ecclesiastical discipline ought equally to depend upon and be established by the bishop and the parish priests in diocesan synods, and that without the freedom of decision, obedience would not be due to the suggestions and orders of the bishops," 1-false, rash, harmful to episcopal authority, subversive of hierarchic government, favoring the heresy of Aerius, which was renewed by Calvin
10. Likewise, the doctrine by which parish priests and other priests gathered in a synod are declared judges of faith together with the bishop, and at the same time it is intimated that they are qualified for judgment in matters of faith by their own right and have indeed received it by ordination,—false, rash, subversive of hierarchic order, detracting from the strength of dogmatic definitions or judgments of the Church, at least erroneous.
11. The opinion enunciating that by the long-standing practice of our ancestors, handed down even from apostolic times, preserved through the better ages of the Church, it has been accepted that "decrees, or definitions, or opinions even of the greater sees should not be accepted, unless they had been recognized and approved by the diocesan synod,"—false, rash, derogatory, in proportion to its generality, to the obedience due to the apostolic constitutions, and also to the opinions emanating from the legitimate, superior, hierarchic power, fostering schism and heresy.
Calumnies Against Some Decisions in the Matter of Faith Which Have Come Down from Several Centuries
12. The assertions of the synod, accepted as a whole concerning decisions in the matter of faith which have come down from several centuries, which it represents as decrees originating from one particular church or from a few pastors, unsupported by sufficient authority, formulated for the corruption of the purity of faith and for causing disturbance, introduced by violence, from which wounds, still too recent, have been inflicted,—false, deceitful, rash, scandalous, injurious to the Roman Pontiffs and the Church, derogatory to the obedience due to the Apostolic Constitutions, schismatic, dangerous, at least erroneous.
The So-called Peace of Clement IX
13. The proposition reported among the acts of the synod, which intimates that Clement IX restored peace to the Church by the approval of the distinction of right and deed in the subscription to the formulary written by Alexander VII (see n. 1ogg),—false, rash, injurious to Clement IX.
Working in the catacombs of our spiritual Egypt, many wonderful priests have held fast to Catholic doctrine, rejecting the Gallicanism that has come to the surface again as an illegitimate response to the heresies and novelties of Modernism, trying to protect their flocks in this time of apostasy and betrayal just as Saint Joseph sought to protect the Holy Family while they were in exile in the actual land of Egypt for nearly seven years.
One of these priests is Father Martin Stepanich, O.F.M., who refused to offer the Canon of Holy Mass in the vernacular in the 1960s and has been offering nothing other than the fullness of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition since that time. Father Stepanich, who was born in 1915, is a native of Kansas. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 18, 1941, will turn ninety-two years old this year, holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) and is still churning out articles, which he used to write decades ago for The Wanderer and then for The Remnant, to try to teach the true Catholic doctrine that those who defect from the Faith cannot hold any ecclesiastical offices in the Catholic Church.
Priests such as Father Martin Stepanich should be held in high esteem by all Catholics. They have labored hard during this time of spiritual exile in our spiritual Egypt to preserve the true Faith and to teach true Catholic doctrine without any concession to conciliarism or to the legitimacy of the conciliar authorities. Although there are some who have used pure and utter emotion, allying themselves unwittingly with Protestantism, to deny the Catholic doctrinal principles that disqualify heretics from the holding of ecclesiastical office, especially by saying that "God would not permit" the See of Peter to be vacant for over forty years that "God would not permit" most Catholics to be deceived by false bishops and false priests, Father Stepanich simply points out the sophistry of this emotionalism, pointing out that doctrine is what it is and that our wanting to make it something that it is not is an exercise in rank positivism (asserting that something is true because it has been asserted as being true). Consider his marvelous refutation of the objection raised against sedevacantism on the grounds that the [First] Vatican Council taught that Saint Peter would have perpetual successors:
Dear Correspondent:
You quote the passage from Vatican Council I, Session IV, which states clearly that St. Peter, the first pope, has “perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church…”
You, understandably, wonder how it could be that there are still “perpetual successors” of St. Peter if the men who have claimed to be popes in our times have been in reality public heretics, who therefore could not, as heretics, be the true successors of St. Peter.
The important thing here to understand just what kind of “perpetual succession” in the papacy Our Lord established.
Did Our Lord intend that there should be a pope on the Chair of Peter every single moment of the Church’s existence and every single moment of the papacy existence?
You will immediately realize that, no, Our Lord very obviously did not establish that kind of “perpetual succession” of popes. You know that, all through the centuries of the Church’s existence, popes have been dying and that there then followed an interval, after the death of each pope, when there was no “perpetual successor,” no pope, occupying the Chair of Peter. That Chair became vacant for a while whenever a pope died. This has happened more than 260 times since the death of the first pope.
But you also know that the death of a pope did not mean the end of the “perpetual succession” of popes after Peter.
You understand now that “no pope” does not mean “no papacy.” A vacant Chair of Peter after the death of a pope does not mean a permanent vacancy of that Chair. A temporary vacancy of the Chair of Peter does not mean the end of the “perpetual successors in the primacy over the universal Church.”
Even though Our Lord, had He so willed it, could have seen to it that, the moment one pope died, another man would automatically succeed him as pope, He nevertheless did not do it that way.
Our Lord did it the way we have always known it to be, that is, He allowed for an interval, or interruption, of undesignated duration, to follow upon the death of each pope.
That interruption of succession of popes has, most of the time, lasted several weeks, or a month or so, but there have been times when the interruption lasted longer than that, considerably longer.
Our Lord did not specify just how long that interruption was allowed to last before a new pope was to be elected. And He did not declare that, if the delay in electing a new pope lasted too long, the “perpetual succession” was then terminated, so that it would then have to be said that “the papacy is no more.”
Nor did the Church ever specify the length or duration of the vacancy of the Chair of Peter to be allowed after the death of a pope.
So it is clear that the present vacancy of the Chair of Peter, brought on by public heresy, despite the fact that it has lasted some 40 years or so, does not mean that the “perpetual succession” of popes after St. Peter has come to an end.
What we must realize here is that the papacy, and with it the “perpetual succession” of popes is a Divine institution, not a human institution. Therefore, man cannot put an end to the papacy, no matter how long God may allow heresy to prevail at the papal headquarters in Rome.
Only God could, if He so willed, terminate the papacy. But He willed not do so, because He has made His will known to His Church that there will be “perpetual successors” in the papal primacy that was first entrusted to St. Peter.
We naturally feel distressed that the vacancy of the Chair of Peter has lasted so long, and we are unable to see the end of that vacancy in sight. But we do realize that the restoration of the Catholic Faith, and with it the return of a true Catholic Pope to the Papal Chair, will come when God wills it and in the way He wills it.
If it seems to us, as of now, that there are no qualified, genuinely Catholic electors, who could elect a new and truly Catholic Pope. God can, for example, bring about the conversion of enough Cardinals to the traditional Catholic Faith, who would then proceed to elect a new Catholic Pope.
God can intervene in whatever way it may please Him, in order to restore everything as He originally willed it to be in His Holy Church.
Nothing is impossible with God. (An Objection to Sedevacantism: 'Perpetual Successors' to Peter)
It is a shame, yes, a crying shame, that some members of the Catholic laity who have received Father Stepanich's learned articles have just ignored them as they have ignored him. Taking nothing away from the courage of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, it is nevertheless true that the founder of the Priestly Fraternity of the Society of Saint Pius X was not infallible. He was wrong on certain points of doctrine and liturgy. Other bishops and priests saw things clearly and consistently. It is sad that a veritable cult of personality, one quite similar to that by which conciliar Catholics pay homage to everything said and done by the late Karol Wojtyla, has been permitted to develop around the late Archbishop Lefebvre, who was truly a man of sanctity and heroism, that blinds the bishops and priests and many, although not all, of the laity of the Society of Saint Pius X from examining dispassionately arguments advanced by scholarly priests such as Father Stepanich, who acted against the conciliarists before Archbishop Lefebvre did and who have never wavered or vacillated in their considered theological judgments concerning the fact that heretics cannot hold ecclesiastical office and that their actions, including the attempted promulgation of an invalid abomination, the Novus Ordo Missae, bind no one as they do not represent the authority of the Catholic Church. The standard of Catholicism is not loyalty to Archbishop Lefebvre (or any one prelate or priest). (As a matter of complete fairness and balance, it should be pointed out that many "conservative" Catholics cite the late Father John A. Hardon, S.J's support for the conciliar popes as "proof" that nothing is really wrong with the conciliar ethos; Father Hardon was a holy priest. This is without question. He was not, however, infallible any more than was Archbishop Lefebvre. Indeed, his support for the "Second" Vatican Council was quite wrong. Many holy priests and lay Catholics were wrong during the Great Schism. Many have been and continue to be wrong today.). The standard of Catholicism is loyalty and adherence to the articles contained in the Deposit of Faith, of which there are few more solid, steadfast and unwavering defenders as Father Martin Stepanich, O.F.M.
The "God would never permit" argument is a veritable double-edged sword. To say that "God would never permit" a vacancy in the See of Peter for over forty years is to invite conciliarists to argue that "God would never permit" a reigning pontiff from promulgating a "missal" that was in any way defective in the expression of the Catholic Faith or displeasing to God. To say that "God would never permit" a vacancy in the See of Peter is to invite conciliarists to say that "God would never permit" large numbers of Catholics to separate themselves from their local bishops and for men who consider themselves ordained to the priesthood to defy orders of suspension or expulsion or exclaustration to act on their own without the approval of any ecclesiastical authority.
The "God would never permit" argument could be used to say that "God would never permit" the Holy Family to have lived in exile in Egypt for a period seven years. The "God would never permit" argument could be used to say that "God would never permit" Holy Job to have suffered the way he did. None of us is God. The "God would never permit" argument could be used to say that "God would never permit" one hundred percent of the human race to be deceived by the tempter in the Garden of Eden. The "God would never permit" argument could be used to say that "God would never permit" all but eight members of the human race to become so debased that He was going to wipe them out by means of the Great Flood. To assert that "God would never permit" a vacancy in the See of Peter to last for a long time is to let emotion trump dogmatic truth: As Father Stepanich noted in a different letter to a different correspondent cited in the article above to which a link has been provided:
Notice carefully that Vatican I says nothing more than that St. Peter shall have “perpetual successors” in the primacy, which obviously means that the “perpetual succession” of popes will last until the end of time.
Vatican I says nothing about how long Peter’s Chair may be vacant before the “perpetual succession” of popes would supposedly come to a final end. Yet the “doubting Thomases” imagine they see in the Vatican I declaration something which just isn’t there. They presume to think that “perpetual successors in the primacy” means that there can never be an extra long vacancy of Peter’s Chair, but only those short vacancies that we have always known to occur after the deaths of popes. But that isn’t the teaching of Vatican I. It is the mistaken “teaching” of “doubting Thomases.”
Curiously enough, the “doubting Thomases” never suggest just how long a vacancy of Peter’s Chair would be needed to put a supposedly final end to the “perpetual succession” of popes. Their imagination has gotten them into an impossible situation. They “just can’t believe” that the vacancy of Peter’s Chair could last for 25 or 40 years or more, while, at the same time, they “just can’t believe” that a public heretic could possibly be a true Catholic Pope. At one and the same time, they do have a Pope, yet they do not have a Pope. They have a heretic “Pope,” but they do not have a true Catholic Pope.
Not being able to convince the “doubting Thomases” that they are all wrong and badly confused, you have hoped that some unknown “Church teaching” could be found in some book that would make the “doubting Thomases” see the light.
But you don’t need any additional “Church teaching” besides what you have already quoted from Vatican I. You can plainly see that Vatican I did not say anything about how long a vacancy of Peter’s Chair may be. You also know that Our Lord never said that the vacancy of the Papal Chair may last only so long and no longer.
Most important of all, never forget that men cannot put an end to the “perpetual succession” of popes, no matter how long public heretics may occupy Peter’s Chair. The Catholic Papacy comes from God, not from man. To put an end to the “perpetual succession” of popes, you would first have to put an end to God Himself.
There are "priests" in and out of the conciliar structures who claim to "recognize" the legitimacy of the "pontificate" of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI while they steadfastly refuse to offer the Novus Ordo Missae and to submit to the doctrinal heresies of the "Second" Vatican Council and the "teachings" of the conciliar "popes." These priests, who range in age from their thirties to their seventies, would do well to consider the wisdom not only of the dreaded "nine," who have been right all along, as I had to face last year when realizing how wrong I had been for so long, but of the learned Bishop Mark Pivarunas and the scholarly disciple of Saint Dominic, Bishop Robert McKenna, and of the good, gentle son of Saint Francis, Father Martin Stepanich, who happens to hold something called a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. These "priests" who "recognize and resist" Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI need to have the humility to at least listen to true bishops and priests who know more than they do and who are more willing to help them offer true sacraments to Catholics. Our Lady, who was protected by Saint Joseph during their exile together with their Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Egypt, and Saint Joseph himself will help these "priests" to come to accept the truth that they are not who they think they are and that they need the patronage of true bishops to serve the faithful in a time of exile in a spiritual Egypt along the model of the fidelity of Good Saint Joseph himself.
One of the ways we can help these good shepherds help us get home to Heaven as we cleave their pastoral guidance in the catacombs is to send them Mass stipends. Father Martin Stepanich offers the Mass of the ages every morning at 7:45 a.m. in his home in Illinois. Please consider requesting Holy Mass to be offered at his hands for your intentions and for those of your relatives and friends, both living and deceased. Mass stipends can be sent to Father Martin Stepanich, O.F.M., c/o Saint Gertrude the Great Church, 4900 Rialto Road, West Chester, Ohio 45069.
We need the patronage of Saint Joseph to lead us out of the exile in the spiritual Egypt in which we find ourselves at present. Good Saint Joseph is indeed the Patron of the Universal Church. May we pray each day the following prayer after we make our Morning Offering and renew our Total Consecration to His Most Chaste Spouse's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart:
O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O thou Saint Joseph, do assist me by thy powerful intercession, and obtain for me from thy divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers. O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee, and Jesus asleep in thy arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near thy heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. Saint Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen!
Lead us out of exile, Good Saint Joseph. Help us to offer us this time in our spiritual Egypt as the consecrated slaves of the Sorrowful and Immaculate of Mary, thy Most Chaste Spouse. Help us to support those bishops and priests who, like unto your own father heart, are caring for us now as the Herods of conciliarism seek to destroy the Catholic Faith and to take as many souls as possible into Hell. Help us, Good Saint Joseph, to find our way of our earth exile into Heaven, where we can worship Father, Son and Holy Ghost together with you and Our Lady and all of the angels and saints. Help us, Good Saint Joseph, to find our way to an unending Easter Sunday of glory in Paradise by lifting high the Cross your Divine foster-Son at every moment of our lives, storming Heaven by our faithful recitation of your Most Chaste Spouse's Most Holy Rosary. Good Saint Joseph, help us in our hour of exile. Good Saint Joseph, we love you. Help us to love you as your Divine foster-Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and your Most Chaste Spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary, did.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you! Save souls. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us now and in death's agony. Amen.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Mark the Evangelist, pray for us.
Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, pray for us.
Saint Jude, pray for us.
Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.
Saint Francis Solano, pray for us.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us.
Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.
Pope Saint Anicetus, pray for us.
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, pray for us.
Saint Justin the Martyr, pray for us.
Saint Scholastica, pray for us.
Saint Benedict, pray for us.
Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us.
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.
Saint Augustine, pray for us.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.
Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.
Saint Peter Damian, pray for us.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, pray for us.
Saint Monica, pray for us.
Saint Agatha, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, pray for us.
Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Athanasius, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.
Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.
Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.
Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel Lalemont, pray for us.
Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.
Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.
Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.
Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.
Saint Dominic, pray for us.
Saint Hyacinth, pray for us.
Saint Basil, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, pray for us.
Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.
Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.
Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.
Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.
Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.
Saint Genevieve, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us
Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.
Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us.
Saint Louis de Montfort, pray for us.
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.
Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.
Father Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.
Francisco Marto, pray for us.
Jacinta Marto, pray for us.
Juan Diego, pray for us.
The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888
O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
Response: As we have hoped in Thee.
Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.
Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Verse: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls.
Response: Amen.
