St. Joseph, Hammer of Communists: The Anti-Communist Origins of the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

The first of May is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It's also May Day. 

Did you know that these two have much more than a day in common? 

One was established as a Communist holiday. The other was established to help stop the spread of Communism. 

I was so inspired by Father Calloway's Consecration to St. Joseph that I asked Fr. Calloway if we could write a Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families, as well. 

And here it is: 

 

Ite ad Joseph! 

Please, especially you fathers, lead your families in prayer and consecrate them to St. Joseph! Enjoy :) 

St. Joseph, Hammer of Communists

In 1937, Pope Pius XI recognized the serious threat communism posed to the common good. In response, Pope Pius called upon St. Joseph to protect the Church from the many evils and errors of communism. Pope Pius wrote the following:

We place the vast campaign of the Church against world communism under the standard of St. Joseph, her might protector.[1]   

Pope Pius wrote this in an encyclical titled Divini Redemptoris. The English title for which is On Atheistic Communism.  

Pope Pius explains why communism is such a problem in this one line. 

Why Is Communism Such a Threat to the Common Good?

Why was/is communism such a threat? Pope Pius provides the answer in the title. Communism is inherently atheistic. 

Not just that, it's anti-Church. Communism requires complete or "total" control over government and society, i.e. totalitarianism. The results in a government opposed to the freedom of religion.   

Why is communism inherently atheistic? I have written a whole book on this subject - now also an audiobook!

Here's the short answer:

Communism is inherently atheistic, because Marxism is inherently materialistic. Materialism tells us just the material world exists. That's it. 

Marxism includes historical materialism, the reinterpretation of all history in terms of economic power. Not truth.   

Nearly every pope for the last hundred years has warned us about S.C.A.M. -- Socialism, Communism, and Marxism -- and written extensively about it. Here is a selection of writings from Pope St. John Paul II on S.C.A.M.  

Did "May Day" Come from the Communists?

May Day did not begin as a communist holiday. May Day was neither a religious nor a political holiday in the 1800s. 

Communists decided to take over the holiday in the mid-1900s. Communists wanted to "re-christen" May Day as "Communist Worker's Day." 

The Communists wanted a day to celebrate the communist idea of work. The Church decided to declare a feast celebrating the great dignity of the worker. The Church did this by celebrating the most dignified of all workers: St. Joseph. 

Pope St. John Paul II knew all too well the horrors of Communism. He served in communist forced labor camps while a seminarian in Poland. 

In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, John Paul II stated: “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

So, on May 1, 1955, the next Pope Pius -- Pius XII -- dedicated May 1 to St. Joseph the Worker.

Pope Pius XII & The Feast St. Joseph the Worker

On May 1, 1955, Venerable Pope Pius XII declared May 1 to be the liturgical feast of St. Joseph the Worker. He wrote the following:

We are happy to announce to you our determination to institute -- as in fact we do institute -- the liturgical feast of St. Joseph the Worker, assigning it as the first day of May. Are you pleased with this our gift, beloved workers? We are certain that you are, because the humblest workman of Nazareth not only personifies before God and the Church the dignity of the man who works with his hands, but is always the provident guardian of you and your families.[2]

St. Joseph is rightly invoked to defend families against the evils of communism here. Soviet Communism besieged and attacked the family, not just the Church and the dignity of the worker. The Soviets even assigned each family members a different day off to both attack the Sabbath and family time. 

Here is the proof of this Soviet policy. For eleven years, the Soviets had no weekends, no Sabbath: 

St. Joseph, Hammer of Communism & Terror of Demons

Whether he is confronting Socialism, Communism, Marxism (S.C.A.M.), or any other kind of political or economic ideology, St. Joseph is the protector of human dignity. He is the Hammer of Communism and the Terror of Demons!

Here is the Opening Prayer for the Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker:

God our Father, creator and ruler of the universe, in every age you call man to develop and use his gifts for the good of others. With St. Joseph as our example and guide, help us to do the work you have asked and come to the rewards you have promised.

Consider Consecrating Yourself and Your Family to Jesus Through St. Joseph  

Want to protect yourself and your family from the evils of Socialism, Communism, and Marxism (S.C.A.M.)? Consider consecrating yourself and your family to Jesus through St. Joseph. 

I was so inspired by Father Calloway's Consecration to St. Joseph that I was inspired to write a Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families, as well! 

I'm excited to announce that Father Calloway and I will be publishing together the Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families. It will hopefully be released sometime during this year of St. Joseph. 

 

      

St. Joseph the Worker, Hammer of Communists - Footnotes

[1] Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris (On Atheistic Communism), March 19, 1937.

[2] Venerable Pope Pius XII, Allocution to the Christian Association of Italian Workers, May 1, 1955.

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