Q: I have often heard people speak of the seven sorrows and joys of St Joseph, but I don’t know anything about them. Can you tell me anything about this devotion?
A: The devotion of the seven sorrows and joys of St Joseph is traditional in the Church. It may have its origin in the following story which is often recounted in relating the history of the devotion. It seems that two Franciscan fathers were once aboard a ship sailing along the coast of Flanders when a great storm arose, sinking the ship with its three hundred passengers. The two Franciscans seized hold of a plank and clung to it for three days, tossed on the waves and fearing for their lives. All this time they begged St Joseph to save them.
A young man of good appearance then appeared to them and encouraged them to trust in him, as he led them safely into a harbour. When they asked his name, he told them he was St Joseph, and advised them to recite the Our Father and Hail Mary seven times each day, in memory of his seven sorrows and seven joys. Then he disappeared. Whether or not the story is authentic, the devotion of the seven sorrows and joys has deep roots. It consists in reciting seven prayers, each referring to one of the sorrows and joys, followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father. The wording of these prayers varies from one version to another, but they all mention the same sorrows and joys.
The first is St Joseph’s immense sorrow on discovering that Our Lady is carrying a child which he knows is not his, and his decision to separate from her whom he loves so much (cf Mt 1:18-19). The corresponding joy comes when an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20). Overjoyed, St Joseph takes Mary as his wife.
The second sorrow comes when St Joseph considers that Jesus is to be born in the poverty of a stable and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals (cf Lk 2:7). His sorrow turns to joy when he sees the Son of God born in the flesh and the wise men come to worship him, offering him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (cf Mt 2:11). St Joseph’s third sorrow comes eight days after Jesus’ birth when he sees the blood flowing during the circumcision.
This is followed by his great joy when the child is given the name Jesus, “the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (cf Lk 2:21). The fourth sorrow and joy come during the presentation of Jesus in the temple, forty days after his birth. The sorrow is the prophecy of Simeon that a sword would pierce Mary’s heart, and the joy is Simeon’s saying that the child would bring about the rising of many in Israel (cf Lk 2:35). The fifth sorrow, a great one indeed, is the message to Joseph from an angel in a dream to take Our Lady and Jesus and flee into Egypt because Herod wants to kill the child (cf Mt 2:13).
Joseph responds to this message by rising while it is still night and beginning immediately the journey into Egypt. The joy comes with the arrival of the Son of God in Egypt, signifying the superseding or overthrowing of the idols which had been worshipped there. The sixth is after some time in Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him that those who sought Jesus’ life are dead and that he can return to Israel.
“But when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee” (Mt 12:22). This fear is the sixth sorrow and the corresponding joy is the arrival of the Holy Family safely in Nazareth, fulfilling the prophecy, “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Is 11:1; Mt 2:23). The seventh sorrow is the loss of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, and the joy is finding him again after three days (cf Lk 2:41-51).