St. Joseph

St. Joseph Novena with Free Download!

March 8, 2012 By Lacy

Here’s a novena for St. Joseph that’s fun and interactive to do with kids! The best part is, it’s free to download and print all the pieces you need!

I didn’t grow up praying novenas, and the word “novena” used to scare me- because I didn’t understand the concept, and it felt complicated. Let me let you in on a little secret. It’s not complicated. A novena is simply a prayer that you pray 9 days in a row. There’s really no way to mess that up.

Why do we pray novenas for 9 days? Well, when Jesus ascended into heaven, he asked the apostles to pray. After 9 days of prayer, the Holy Spirit descended upon them (this day is known as Pentecost) and so the novena was born.

In this printable novena to St. Joseph, I used a prayer that is said to be 1900 years old. I paired it with a beautiful painting of St. Joseph by Reni. Just print it out, cut around the outside lines, and fold in the sides. You can set this up in your home on your family altar, mantel, or another table. The prayer you’ll be praying for 9 days is right on the front for you. If you have a special intention, you can add it each day after saying the prayer.

What’s with the lilies? Well, that’s where the counting part comes in. Lilies are a popular symbol of St. Joseph because they stand for purity. He’s often pictured holding lilies. I have a page of printable lily templates included in the download so you get 9 lilies total- one for each day of your St. Joseph novena. After saying your prayer each day, lay one of the lilies in front of St. Joseph. When you have all 9 lilies in front of St. Joseph, your novena is complete!

The lilies say “St. Joseph, pray for us”. I love that!

How to Assemble Your Printable Lily Templates:

Cut them out along the outside lines, and roll them into a lily shape leaving a small hole at the bottom. Attach with glue or tape. Curl the edges of each petal out with your finger or a round pencil.

Take a short piece of yellow pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and curl the edges out slightly. Cut a green pipe cleaner in half, and then fold it in half again.

Hook the yellow and green pieces together, then twist the green stem pieces together all the way down to the end. Put the stem through the top of your paper lily, and pull until the green part sticks out of the bottom, and the yellow part is inside your lily.

Once you’ve assembled all 9 of your lilies, place them in a small vase. (And when I say small, I mean very small. A shot glass will actually work just fine). Keep your vase of lilies near-by so you can place one in front of St. Joseph each day of the novena.

Tada! That’s it! Takes all the guess work out of novenas. If you want to pray a novena to St. Joseph that ends on his feast day, you’ll want to begin your novena on March 11. St. Joseph’s feast day is March 19. This novena could also be used if you’re asking for St. Joseph’s help in selling your house. He’s known for that.

Download Your St. Joseph Novena Printables Here

When you’re finished with your novena, you can use these printables to adorn your St. Joseph’s altar.

We’re in the middle of a novena to St. Joseph for my husband right now. He has a complicated case of the shingles, and we’re praying for an intercession from St. Joseph because that’s Mark’s confirmation saint. I wanted a way to get my kids involved in this (and to keep count of the days and hold myself accountable) and this seemed like a good idea. I’m very intrigued with the idea of interactive novenas for kids. Expect to see more novena ideas for kids in the near future.

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Filed Under: 03 March, Crafts for Kids, Liturgical Year, My Printables, Novena, St. Joseph 17 Comments

St. Joseph Free Printable Coloring Book!

March 17, 2011 By Lacy

Holy Heroes has an entire coloring book of St. Joseph’s life available to print for free! These are really beautifully drawn coloring pages, too! There are actually 17 coloring sheets in this download, and they’re all drawn by formerly Disney animators. Remember that St. Joseph’s feast day is on March 19, but the whole month of March is actually dedicated to St. Joseph, so you can color these later this month when all the St. Patrick’s day stuff has died down, too.

Print your free St. Joseph Coloring Book here.

(Just click “Holy Heroes Coloring Page”)

I have a post with more free St. Joseph printables here.

Filed Under: 03 March, Liturgical Year, Printable, St. Joseph 3 Comments

St. Joseph Feast Day Celebration Ideas for your Home

March 15, 2011 By Lacy

St. Joseph’s feast day is coming up on March 19, and it’s actually a solemnity, which is a little higher ranking than a feast day. In other words- it’s a fun and important day! There are a lot of ways to celebrate the solemnity of St. Joseph at home. Last year, we made a St. Joseph altar for the first time, and it was a ton of fun! We’re totally making another one this year, and I’ll be linking it up at Evann’s St. Joseph Altar Blog Fest 2011! All the coolest bloggers are going to be there.

If you’re thinking that you have no idea of how to go about making a St. Joseph’s Altar at your home, then you need to check out my post on St. Joseph Altar for Beginners, because that was soooo me last year! But I put everything you need to know in one easy-to-bite-off blog post. (And no, you don’t need a super fancy St. Joseph statue to have your own altar- it’s all in my beginners post!)

If you’re looking for ideas of different foods and things to place on your St. Joseph Altar, check out last year’s post about St. Joseph Altar ideas, including one of my favorite (and very easy projects) where you carve symbolic fig newtons!

If you’re still feeling intimidated about putting together a St. Joseph altar, check out this cut and color version from the Virtual St. Joseph altar. Very easy and cute!

I also have a post with links to a bunch of different Saint Joseph printables. From paper dolls and prayer cards to coloring pages and lapbooks, there’s a lot of free stuff available!

If you’re not feeling up to anything complicated and your printer is out of ink, just serve some sloppy Joe’s and tell your kids about how awesome Saint Joseph is! God bless!

Filed Under: 03 March, Liturgical Year, St. Joseph 2 Comments

St. Joseph Altar For Beginners

March 19, 2010 By Lacy

I have a confession to make. Before this year, I didn’t even really know what a St. Joseph Altar was. And I’ve never seen one in real life, nor had my own. (Part of me starting this blog was to encourage my own self to get more into the “Catholic Stuff” So I’m typing this post for beginners like me! Here’s our completed altar:

What’s with the weird “stair shape”? Well, St. Joseph Altars are generally in 3 ‘steps’. This symbolizes the trinity and also the holy family. I made mine by stacking boxes and covering it with a white rag:

What goes on top? St. Joseph of course! We only have such nice St. Joseph statues and pictures because he’s my husband’s confirmation saint, so they were presents. You can use any picture of St. Joseph- even a holy card. And don’t tell me you don’t have a St. Joseph statue because I KNOW you have a nativity set! Lol! It’s also ok to put the entire holy family up there. If your nativity set is all packed away, check out my printable nativity and have your kids color the holy family today

Ok, what else do I put on the altar? Traditionally you put bread, fancy pastries, fish, lilies, roses, candles, wine, all kinds of fruit, fava beans, and symbols of St. Joseph (like sawdust) on your altar. To learn more, check out this post at Catholic Cuisine.

How did this start? Once there was a famine in Sicily, and the people prayed to St. Joseph for relief. Their prayers were answered, and they made an altar and brought their bountiful food to offer. Then they distributed the food to the less fortunate. So it’s also traditional to donate the food from your altar

You can read more about this history here.

What are ‘fava beans’? They were food for cattle, but everyone was considered lucky to have them to eat during times of famine. Check out the “Fava” bean craft we made!