Review: “Saint Joseph: Our spiritual father”

This documentary or video was produced for the Year of Saint Joseph in 2021 by the Knights of Columbus. One can view it on the Knights of Columbus's website. It is almost an hour long. It quickly covers a lot of ground concerning Saint Joseph and how he can be a model or example for men today.

There are several segments to this documentary. The first is an introduction to Saint Joseph and his part in history. Saint Joseph has many titles, some of which are: guardian of God's own Son, spiritual father, father of the Church, scourge of demons and others. Blessed Pope Pius IX declared Saint Joseph as the patron of the Universal Church. 

The video includes commentary from various theologians like Tim Gray, Mike Aquilina and Bishop James Wall of Gallup, N.M. Father Donald Calloway's book “Consecration to Saint Joseph” (2019) is recommended to those who want to consecrate themselves to Saint Joseph. (I did a review on this book some time ago.) The film features Knights who are students at the University of Notre Dame.

The next section is about Saint Andre Bessette of Canada who was a promoter of devotion to Saint Joseph and who had Saint Joseph's Oratory built near Montreal. 

Many miracles have occurred there through Saint Joseph's intercession. The Oratory is the largest church dedicated to Saint Joseph. This is followed by why Saint Joseph being of the royal house of David is important. Legally, Jesus is of the House of David because of Saint Joseph even though Saint Joseph is not his father. There is a tradition that says the Blessed Virgin Mary also is of the House of David.

The video moves onto the Ortega family to show how devotion to Saint Joseph can help husbands by reflecting on his example. This is followed by a history lesson concerning King Herod the Great and his fear of a Messiah and how this caused Saint Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. 

The age of Saint Joseph was discussed; some say he was an old man, but an old man could not have traveled on a long trip to Egypt and survive and then later to return to Israel after Herod's death. 

The next segment is about a possible miracle that Saint Joseph performed during World War II. Many Polish priests were sent to the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau. The prisoners began a novena for his help to liberate them from the Nazis. At the end of the novena the U.S. Army liberated the camp. It was discovered later that there were written orders to kill all of the prisoners. What a great miracle!

The next section shows that Saint Joseph is an example of fatherhood in how men are to love their families unconditionally. Next is the story of a young man who received a call to the priesthood and how Saint Joseph's fatherhood is an example for him. The next segment is about a man who is a consecrated layman who finds Saint Joseph as his model for his life. Saint Joseph is an example as to what a man should be.

The documentary moves on to how Venerable Pope Pius XII created the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker (May 1) in 1955 to combat the communist's view of work. The pope wanted to emphasize the value of work and human dignity with the example of Saint Joseph who was a carpenter.  

This is followed by another miracle traditionally attributed to Saint Joseph – that of the miraculous circular staircase in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, N.M. The nuns were praying a novena for help with building the staircase. At the end of the novena, a man showed up who said he could build it. No one knows where the wood for the staircase came from and how it was built defies science. I have seen it twice and it is a wonder to behold. The nuns suspected the man was Saint Joseph. 

The documentary concludes with the story about Pope Francis’s statue of a sleeping Saint Joseph on his desk. He is the first pope to have declared a year devoted to Saint Joseph. 

This documentary is highly recommended to all to learn about and be inspired by Saint Joseph the patron of the Universal Church. This is my first review of a documentary, so please excuse any mistakes I may have made. 

Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., Saint Gregory's Abbey, Shawnee, is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.