Te Ioseph Celebrent

This hymn was written by Fr. Juan Escollar (d. 1700), this hymn is used at Vespers for the feast of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (March 19) and then again on May 1 (St. Joseph the Worker).

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him.

We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph's genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David," a royal title used also for Jesus.

St. Joseph patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!

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[Cammag]

Te, Joseph, célebrent ágmina cǽlitum,
Te cuncti résonent christíadum chori,
Qui clarus méritis, junctus est ínclitæ
Casto fœ́dere Vírgini.

Almo cum túmidam gérmine cónjugem
Admírans, dúbio tángeris ánxius,
Afflátu súperi Fláminis Ángelus
Concéptum Púerum docet.

Tu natum Dóminum stringis, ad éxteras
Ægýpti prófugum tu séqueris plagas;
Amíssum Sólymis quæris, et ínvenis,
Miscens gáudia flétibus.

Post mortem réliquos sors pia cónsecrat,
Palmámque eméritos glória súscipit:
Tu vivens, Súperis par, frúeris Deo,
Mira sorte beátior.

Nobis, summa Trias, parce precántibus,
Da Joseph méritis sídera scándere:
Ut tandem líceat nos tibi pérpetim
Gratum prómere cánticum.
Amen.