St. Joseph, Patron of the Church (DT 01)

The figure on these stickers was extracted from a black and white 1889 litho. The litho's publication coincided with the promulgation of a “Prayer to St. Joseph” authored by Pope Leo XIII. It was included in his encyclical known from its opening words in Latin as “Quamquam Pluries”, that is, “Although Many Times…” about devotion to that saint. + The litho from which this figure was extracted was compositionally much more complex. (See the cards and posters in this COLLECTION.) Suffice it to say, here St. Joseph is portrayed in his role as protector of The Church stamping out Satan. As per usual, St. Joseph holds a spray of lilies symbolising purity in his right hand and an L-shaped carpenter’s rule indicative of his profession in his left. In addition to these traditional attributes, however, several others appear--most notably: a small dragon, a crown, a scroll, and a globe inscribed with the names of the populated continents—Asia, Australia, (North and South) America, Africa, and Europe. The dragon, of course, stands in for Satan. The scroll reads: “Non serviam”, that is, “I will not serve”, a phrase that sums up Satan’s rejection of God. (In some press runs, the word ‘Liberalism’ appears too below Satan’s words.) The towering figure of St. Joseph, much larger and grander than the dragon, tramples out Satan’s power over the world by crushing the dragon beneath his feet and toppling the crown from the dragon’s head thus ending Satan’s dominion over humankind. + Principal Feast of St. Joseph: March 19; Feast of St. Joseph the Worker: May 1 + Image Credit (DT 01): Figure extracted from an antique lithograph of Sancte Joseph, Patronus Ecclesiae [Saint Joseph, Patron of the Church], originally published by Desclée, Lefebvre et Cie, Tournai, Belgium, 1889, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.