It should not be believed that devotion to Saint Joseph dates from today. This glorious Patriarch has been honored for a long time, especially in religious communities.
We read in the life of Sister Marie-Marguerite de Valbelle de Saint-Symphorien, Visitandine from Marseille, that Saint Joseph was by choice her special protector.
She liked to call him her Father and to insinuate the most filial tenderness towards him. His piety received a reward worthy of envy; this great Saint showed himself several times to his protege and communicated superabundantly supernatural lights and intimate secrets for the interior and hidden life, either for her or for the souls entrusted to her care. When she spoke of him, you immediately saw her eyes fill with sweet tears.
By her care, in the year 1695, a small oratory was erected for her in the Monastery, she herself composed a touching prayer in her honor. Her devotion to this beloved Saint had inspired her religious family to have the idea of having a Sister receive Communion every first Wednesday of the month; this same Sister was to fast and take discipline, in order to obtain for all the charitable assistance of the holy Patriarch in the last moments of life and the favor of dying in his arms.
The most consoling graces were the fruits of this practice. The sick received the last sacraments so timely that they often seemed to be waiting only for this help to take their flight to their homeland.
Sister Marie-Marguerite was a mystic.
The Queen of Virgins took pleasure in showering Sister Marie-Marguerite with favors. One day of the Immaculate Conception, this Sister, then gravely ill, dozed off for a moment. During this rest, Mary showed herself to her, in beauty, a ravishing majesty and all celestial. Immediately rushing to her feet, the patient kissed her tenderly: “O my good Mother! she cried, take me with you. “-“ It is not yet time, my daughter, replied the Queen of Heaven, casting a loving glance on her, it is not yet time; but “I will come back here and take you with me.”
It was indeed in the same room that this worthy Sister died, and we have the sweet hope that the Immaculate Virgin, fulfilling her promise, came to seek her to lead her to heaven. The vision faded, our dear patient began to shed ineffable tears, then she spoke with such enthusiasm of the greatness of the Queen of Heaven that it was necessary, albeit with regret, to beg her to remain silent, the holy transports of her soul being able to increase her fever. The rosary and some devout prayers, filial homage offered to her good Mother in heaven, were a tribute that nothing prevented her from paying; the night’s rest afforded her time to pay off this debt, if necessary, if the day’s occupations had not left her time to do so.