Joseph, Mary's Spouse

Joseph, Mary's Spouse It is becoming more and more a commonly accepted doctrine in the Church that Saint Joseph, after Mary, was and still is closer to Our Lord than any other saint. The Church does not hesitate to declare the humble carpenter superior in grace and beatitude to the Patriarchs, Moses, the greatest prophet Saint John the Baptist, and also to the Apostles, Saint Peter, Saint John, Saint Paul, and with greater reason superior in holiness to the greatest martyrs and the other greatest doctors of the Church. Leo XIII, in the Encyclical Quanquam Pluries, wrote: “In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honor, but also, by virtue of their conjugal tie, he participates in her sublime dignity.” Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange(1877-1964)