Living the Liturgical Year Well – March: Go To Joseph!

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One thing I really love about the Liturgical Year is its rhythm. We know what to expect, what comes next and we can become fully immersed in it. With Lent starting so late this year, it is one of the latest dates for Ash Wednesday, the very latest possible being March 10th, it has been so nice to enjoy Ordinary Time. I am actually looking forward to March, its feasts and Lent. I have a whole other post ready for Lent, so I will just address the Liturgical Year for March here.

St Joseph

The month of March is dedicated to the patronage of Saint Joseph. He is, by far, one of our family’s favorite saints, after Our Lady, of course. A few years ago we consecrated our family to his patronage and it was an amazing experience. We read, as a family, the beautiful Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Fr. Donald Calloway. It is a 33 day retreat with a beautiful act of consecration at the end. Saint Joseph is an extraordinary saint, as Saint Bernard said: “To some of the Saints power is granted to succor us in particular necessities; but to Saint Joseph power is granted to succor us in all necessities, and to defend all those who, with devotion, have recourse to him.”
Another beautiful devotion to pick up as a family during this month of March is the Thirty-One Day of Prayer to Saint Joseph. This is a very short daily meditation on the life of Saint Joseph accompanied by a short prayer, it is simple and beautiful. 
This month, go to Joseph!

St. David of Wales

March 1st is the feast of Saint David of Wales, patron saint of Wales. We love this feast day, as one grandpa is named after this saint, and because of the daffodils associated with Saint David, as well as leeks. Daffodils have a very tender place in my heart, they embody the best of my childhood. Growing up in the Burgundy region of France, every spring we would go pick daffodils, my mother’s favorite flower. We would go into the woods and they would be carpeted with wild daffodils. It was, and still is, a magical sight, I felt like a flower fairy! So when I discovered that daffodils are a symbol of Wales, I adopted Saint David. Catholic Cuisine has wonderful recipes for leek soup and daffodil cake! We love reading about Saint David in Once Upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochoki, illustrated by Tom Matt, a compilation of saints’ stories picture book. Saint David of Wales, pray for us!

Mardi Gras

Another favorite celebration opportunity this month is Mardi Gras! Yes, there is the whole New Orleans tradition of Carnival but this tradition comes from… France! where I grew up celebrating Mardi Gras a little differently and not so extravagantly. Beignets were still involved and so were costumes, though! We could go to school in costumes that day, it was even encouraged! For a girl who loved to live in her costumes, it was a glorious day! Then my grandmother would make homemade beignets. These are a little different from the New Orleans beignets, and much bigger. She would make Bugnes for us and they were delicious. Many sweet memories are attached to Mardi Gras, making it a mandatory celebration at our house. Have a wonderful Mardi Gras, and try your hand at some Bugnes!

Sts Perpetua and Felicity

The tale of these two beautiful mothers always does me in. What an amazing devotion to God and their faith as well as to their children. To me, they embody the essence of motherhood and all its joys and sacrifices. We usually watch the movie: Catholic Heroes of the Faith: The Story of Saint Perpetua. It’s short but still poignant. I have yet to find a stand alone picture book sharing the story of these two amazing women. Most compilation picture books do include them however. Martyrdom is not an easy topic to approach with children, but a necessary one and the conversations that stem from it are usually beautiful.

St. Mathilde

Another amazing mother being celebrated on March 14th is St. Mathilde, patron saint of mothers of large families, and my patron saint. Her feast day falls on a Friday this year, so we will celebrate on the following Sunday. She was empress of Germany before being widowed and mistreated by her sons. So I am thinking that some German fare will be on the menu.

St. Patrick

Did you know that the French are descendants of the Celts as much as the Irish? They just got “Romanized” earlier, that’s why it doesn’t show as much, lol! Therefore, we feel that we are very closely related to the Irish and St. Patrick is  definitely well celebrated. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that our favorite picture book is Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola. It is what it is and Tomie dePaola is just the best there is… This is a wonderful retelling of the life and legends of Saint Patrick from driving the snakes out of Ireland and converting the Irish. The illustrations are vibrant and simple, in true Tomie style. As for celebrating we usually enjoy some delicious Guinness Beef Stew along with some Soda Bread and something green for dessert. We only have dessert on feast days for Lent, and therefore we make a special effort. And of course enjoy a nice pint of Guinness. Little known fact: Guinness is really the only beer I drink and like.

St. Joseph’s feast day

And we circle back to Saint Joseph and his feast day under the title Spouse of the Blessed Virgin. March 19th marks this beautiful solemnity. As we have a special devotion to Saint Joseph we usually try to go to Mass in the morning if at all possible, and we usually take the day off of school. We have never yet done a Saint Joseph Altar, it has been a little intimidating to me. But this year we received the book Giovanni and the Fava Beans: The Story of the Saint Joseph Altar, by Joseph p. Ruli, illustrated by Jaclyn Warren, for Christmas. Reading it has helped understand the tradition behind the Saint Joseph’s altar and makes it much more approachable. The Virtual St. Joseph Altar has plenty of inspirational ideas as well as how to find a parish hosting a St. Joseph Altar near you! So this year, we will start what I hope will become a new tradition.

The Annunciation

This is a Name Day for our family. When we named our daughter Evangeline I could not find any patron saint. But her name means bringer of good news and is a derivative from “Evangile”, the Gospels, in French. Therefore we selected the Annunciation as her feast day since that is the day that the best of news were delivered to Our Lady by Saint Gabriel. We read about the Annunciation, using either Mary, the Mother of Jesus by Mary Joslin, illustrated by Alison Wisenfeld or Mary, Mother of Jesus by Tomie dePaola. I love to display an image of the Annunciation, either a masterpiece such as the one by Fra Angelico, an old friend by now, or simply the illustration in the book we have read. We always make a special dessert to celebrate this solemnity, usually involving blueberries.

Liturgical Board

I have included an image of each of the saints and feasts mentioned above for the Liturgical Board as well as the intentions of the Holy Father and what I call St. Joseph’s Memorare. This beautiful prayer can be used as a “flying novena”  in an emergency, just like the regular Memorare. Pray it 9 times for your special intention, then once more in thanksgiving for your prayers being answered. 

So let’s go to Joseph this month and ask him for his paternal protection and care. Let’s rely on him rather than on ourselves. Let’s soak in the beauty of the budding spring and admire God’s creation springing anew. 
Love,
Mattie

PS: Liturgical Board update: my original one was really not my best and therefore it will be retired on Ash Wednesday, lol! I found this one which I love and is a tad bit bigger. I also discovered double sided tape for fabric: PeelnStick Fabric Fuse. Love it! It makes the job of putting ribbon on the edges so much faster and easier than hand sewing it. I highly recommend it.