Spiritual graces were expected from St Joseph by many Visitandines in our history.
Marie-Augustine Bouvard, who died in Paris in 1659, had “confessed to a trusted person that she had received very special graces from him, for the release of some internal sentences”
. Mother de Chaugy, for her part, assured that she had received help from Joseph when she entered religion.
It is healing that is expected from the help of Saint Joseph. At the first monastery in Paris, a nun dedicated a novena to him during her stay in the infirmary.
The Summary of the Life and Virtues of a Sister Who Died in Rome in 1719 reports that she left it to Saint Joseph to obtain the healing of her gravely ill brother; she had then heard: “Ouy, ouy, I will cure him, but I want a Chapel made for me similar to that of Saint Francis de Sales”
Sister Cruisance, whose devotion to Saint Joseph was known to those around her, prayed to him for the sick who were recommended to her.
But the Abrégé de vie et de virtus by Louise-Henriette de Sourdeilles also points to another interpretation: a young resident at the Ursulines of Tulle, the nun had been freed from wounds on her legs by applying the ointment which had impregnated the garment. of Joan of the Angels – the famous superior of the Ursulines of Loudun – when Saint Joseph himself appeared to her to heal her. Following this episode, Ursulines and Jesuits praised the virtue of this ointment to promote the development of the cult of Saint Joseph.
Saint Joseph is patron of the dying. Several sisters invoked him to obtain a happy death, also addressing the Virgin, Saint Charles, Saint Francis de Sales or their guardian angel.But sometimes Joseph is the only one whose assistance is sought, as shown by the example of Marie-Claude Rigaud, who died in 1652 in Bourbon-Lancy, who honored him every Wednesday for this purpose
Source:
La Visitation,saint FrançoisdeSales et la dévotion à saint Joseph
Bernard Dompnier