Product Description
The Cord of Saint Joseph is a white devotional cord, knotted seven times, worn to seek purity, chastity, and obedience through the intercession of Saint Joseph. Included with the cord is a card of the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows of Saint Joseph, a prayer to Saint Joseph for purity (text below) plus instructions to have the cord blessed (see below for instructions).
White cotton cord with seven knots symbolizing the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows of Saint Joseph. The cord is traditionally worn around the waist to promote purity, chastity, and obedience but can also be draped around the shoulders. The cord should be blessed by a priest using a special formula approved by Pope Pius IX.
Since blessed objects are not to be sold, this Cord of Saint Joseph is unblessed. If you would like your cord blessed, we can do that once the cord is purchased. If you wish, please use the comments section to request that we have the cord blessed. Alternatively, you can ask your priest to bless the cord. Formula for blessing follows.
Devotional Practices
Daily devotion involves:
- Reciting seven Glory Be prayers in honor of the Seven Joys and Sorrows of St. Joseph.
- Praying a specific prayer for purity:
“O Guardian of Virgins and holy Father St. Joseph, into whose faithful keeping were entrusted Christ Jesus, Innocence Itself, and Mary, Virgin of virgins, I pray and beseech thee by these dear pledges, Jesus and Mary, that, being preserved from all uncleanness, I may with spotless mind, pure heart and chaste body, ever serve Jesus and Mary most chastely all the days of my life. Amen.” - Meditating on St. Joseph’s Seven Joys and Sorrows, with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be after each Joy and Sorrow
Spiritual Benefits
The Cord of Saint Joseph is believed to grant several graces, including:
- Purity of heart and chastity
- Humility and obedience
- Protection from sin
- Health of mind and body
- Assistance in attaining a happy and holy death.
Wearing the Cord of Saint Joseph is a tangible reminder to live a virtuous life, seek St. Joseph's intercession, and embrace purity, chastity, and obedience in daily life.
Formula for Blessing the Cord of St. Joseph (Pope Pius IX)
The official blessing formula for the Cord of St. Joseph, approved by Pope Pius IX on September 19, 1859, is traditionally recited by a priest vested in surplice and white stole.
Priest (vested in surplice and white stole):
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
All: who made Heaven and earth.
Priest:
The Lord be with you.
All: And with your spirit.
Priest:
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, who inculcated the counsel and love of virginity, and gave the precept of chastity, we appeal to your kindness, asking that you bless + and hallow + this cincture as a token of purity. Let all who gird themselves with it as a safeguard of chastity be enabled, by the prayers of St. Joseph, spouse of your Holy Mother, to practice that continence, which is so pleasing to you, and to live in obedience to your commandments. May they also obtain pardon of their sins, health in mind and body, and finally attain everlasting life. We ask this of you who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
All: Amen.
Priest:
Let us pray.
Almighty everlasting God, grant, we pray, that those who revere the inviolate virginity of the most-pure Virgin Mary and of Joseph, her spouse, may by their prayers be pure in mind and body, through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Priest:
Let us pray.
Almighty everlasting God, who committed the boy Jesus and the most-pure Mary, ever a Virgin, to the care of the chaste man Joseph, we humbly entreat you that those who are girded with this cincture in honor of St. Joseph and under his patronage may, by your help and his prayers, persevere in holy chastity for all time; through Christ Our Lord.
All: Amen.
Priest:
Let us pray.
God, the lover and restorer of innocence, we pray that your faithful who are to wear this cincture may, by the prayers of St. Joseph, spouse of your Holy Mother, have their loins girded and hold burning lamps in their hands, and thus be likened to men who wait for their Lord when he shall return for a wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him, and be found worthy of being taken into everlasting joys; through you who live and reign forever and ever.
All: Amen.
Priest:
Sprinkle me with hyssop, Lord, and I shall be clean of sin. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
After this, the priest puts incense into the censer and sprinkles the cincture with holy water, then incenses it.
Priest:
Save your servants.
All: Who trust in you, my God.
Priest:
Lord, send them aid from your holy place.
All: And watch over them from Sion.
Priest:
Lord, heed my prayer.
This formula is the authentic Pius IX blessing and is used in both solemn and private blessings of the Cord of St. Joseph
