Ever‐blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and indulgent father, and compassionate friend of all in sorrow, through that bitter grief with which thy heart was saturated, when thou didst behold the sufferings of the Infant Saviour, and in thy prophetic view didst contemplate His most ignominious Passion and death, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities, counsel me in my doubts, and console me in all my anxieties. Thou art the good father and protector of orphans, the advocate of the defenceless, the patron of those who are in need and desolation. Do not, then, disregard the petition of thy poor child; my sins have drawn down upon me the just displeasure of my God, and hence I am surrounded with sorrows. To thee, O amiable guardian of the poor neglected family of Nazareth, do I fly for shelter and protection. Listen, then, I entreat of thee, with a father’s solicitude, to the earnest prayer of thy poor supplicant, and obtain for me the objects of my petition. I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which induced Him to assume our nature and be born into this world of sorrow. I ask it by the grief which filled thy heart when, ignorant of the mystery wrought in thy immaculate spouse, thou didst fear thou shouldst be separated from her. I ask it by that weariness, solicitude, and suffering which thou didst endure when thou soughtest in vain at the inns of Bethlehem a shelter for the sacred Virgin and a birthplace for the Infant God, and when, being everywhere refused, thou wert obliged to consent that the Queen of heaven should give birth to the world’s Redeemer in a wretched stable. I ask it by that most sad and painful duty imposed on thee when, the divine Child being eight days old, thou wert obliged to inflict a deep wound on His tender body, and thus be the first to make flow that sacred blood which was to wash away the sins of the world. I ask it by the sweetness and power of that sacred name, Jesus, which thou didst confer on the adorable Infant. I ask it by that mortal anguish inflicted on thee by the prophecy of holy Simeon, which declared the Child Jesus and His holy Mother the future victims of their love and our sins. I ask it through that sorrow and anguish which filled thy soul when the angel declared to thee that the life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies, from whose impious designs thou wert obliged to fly with Him and His blessed Mother into Egypt. I ask it by all the pains, fatigues, and toils of that long and perilous pilgrimage. I ask it by all the sorrows thou didst endure when in Egypt thou wert not able, even by the sweat of thy brow, to procure poor food and clothing for thy most poor family. I ask it by all the grief thou didst feel each time the divine Child asked for a morsel of bread, and thou hadst it not to give Him. I ask it by all thy solicitude to preserve the sacred Child and the immaculate Mary during thy second journey, when