St Bernards High School - Bernardian Yearbook (Fitchburg, MA)

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Headmaster at St. Bernard’s High School i) =) G Zz e) Q - ) 4 ry Q fe) 4 Q Z za) os 3) wy a) Ee a al sth cI 2, MMi 7 eStats OU

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Pope John XXIII placed the Second Vatican Council under the patronage of St. Joseph. He also approved the petition that the name of St. Joseph be added to the Canon, even though some theologians claimed that the Mass had not been changed since the time of Gregory the Great. When the matter was discussed favorably by the Council, Pope John acted immediately and decreed that effective December 8, 1962, the name of St. Joseph was to be invoked in the sacred Canon of the Mass, right after the name of his wife Marty. The Gospels tell us very little about St. Joseph and that little in very few words. Nothing has been said of his birth, his early life, nor his death. No words of his are recorded, But it would be a great mistake to measure the greatness of St. Joseph and the role he was to play in the designs of God by the few allusions made to him in the New Testament. of th Before the birth of Jesus when the angel appeared to Joseph, he addressed him by his title of nobility: “Joseph, Son of David.” St. Matthew and St. Luke give us Joseph’s genealogy show- ing that he was indeed the legal descendant of David's royal line. The forty generations enumer- ated cover two thousand years of history. Joseph, the final name on the list, is the key closing the Old Testament and opening the New. He is the last of the patriarchs of the Old and the first of the saints of the New. Joseph was the descendant of nineteen kings; yet, although he was a prince by birth, his status was that of a lowly carpenter in a small town. Instead of dwelling on the rich lands once owned by his tribe, he lived in Nazareth, among farmers and shepherds, a place of such small repute that the proverb ran: ‘“‘Can any good come out of Nazareth?” At Nazareth Joseph lived, without complaining, by the labor of his hands. He was content with his lot since it was God’s will and was far happier in his poverty than Augustus on the most powerful throne in the world. The thought of Rome, conqueror of Jerusalem, did not disturb the peace of his soul. When the readings from scripture recalled the splendor of the surroundings in which his ancestors had lived, there was in his heart no envy nor longing for what had once been. Joseph was not ashamed of his leather apron. He found no fault with Providence that had stripped his family of its worldly goods. He never paraded his rightful titles before others nor tried to appear important. He was satisfied to be where God had placed him and to do what God asked of him.