Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of St. Joseph

Devotions

A meditation pairing seven hardships in St. Joseph’s life with seven joys, first published in 1536 by a Capuchin Franciscan friar and indulgenced by Pius VII in 1819.

The Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of St. Joseph is a traditional meditation that pairs seven difficult moments from Joseph’s life, as told in Matthew and Luke’s infancy narratives, with seven corresponding joys — his doubt about Mary’s pregnancy answered by the angel’s reassurance, the poverty of Bethlehem answered by the Savior’s birth, and so on through the flight into Egypt and the finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple. The devotion traces to a 1536 publication by Giovanni da Fano, an Italian Capuchin Franciscan, and Pope Pius VII indulgenced it in 1819. No single wording of the seven pairs has been formally promulgated, and reputable devotional sources present them with some variation in emphasis.

Quick Facts

Category: St. Joseph — Devotions to St. Joseph
Origin: A meditation first published in 1536 by Giovanni da Fano, an Italian Capuchin Franciscan, under the title Seven Our Fathers of St. Joseph, later indulgenced by Pope Pius VII in 1819
Feast: No feast of its own; commonly prayed on Wednesdays or used as the basis for the Seven Sundays devotion before March 19
Church status: An established Catholic devotion with a genuine papal indulgence history, though its exact wording varies between devotional sources
Private revelation: Not dependent on private revelation; a popular legend about shipwrecked friars explains the devotion’s Franciscan associations but is pious tradition, not a Church-evaluated apparition

What Is This Devotion?

The devotion takes seven episodes from Joseph’s life as told in the Gospels and, for each one, first dwells on the difficulty or sorrow Joseph faced, then on the joy or resolution God provided immediately alongside it. The pairing is the point: rather than presenting Joseph’s life as sorrow followed eventually by joy, the meditation holds both together in every episode, teaching that Joseph’s trust in God did not wait for hardship to pass before it found reason for joy.

Origin and History

The documented origin of the devotion is a 1536 publication by Giovanni da Fano, an Italian friar of the Capuchin reform of the Franciscan order, titled the Seven Our Fathers of St. Joseph. A separate and more colorful account, recorded in later devotional literature, holds that two Franciscan friars were shipwrecked and rescued by St. Joseph’s intervention, and that he instructed them to pray seven Our Fathers and Hail Marys in memory of his seven sorrows and seven joys; this story is best treated as pious legend explaining the devotion’s strong Franciscan associations rather than as verified history.

Pope Pius VII granted an indulgence to the devotion on December 9, 1819, and it continued to develop from there: Pope Gregory XVI extended further indulgences to a related Seven Sundays form in 1836, and Pope Pius XI added further indulgences in the 1930s. These are documented historical grants rather than a guarantee of their exact current standing, since the Church’s indulgence norms were substantially reorganized after the Second Vatican Council.

Catholic Theology

Meditating on a saint’s own sorrows humanizes sanctity rather than placing it out of reach. Joseph doubted, feared, fled his home as a refugee with his family, and lost track of his own son for three anxious days — and the Church holds him up as a model precisely alongside these experiences, not despite them. The devotion teaches that holiness is fidelity carried through real hardship, not the absence of hardship altogether.

How to Practice It

Meditate on one sorrow-joy pair at a time rather than treating the full list as a single exercise to rush through.
Pray it as a stand-alone meditation on any Wednesday, or use it as the foundation for a longer devotion such as the Seven Sundays before March 19.
Accompany each pair with an Our Father and a Hail Mary, in keeping with the devotion’s traditional form.
Treat differences in wording between devotional sources as variations on a shared theme rather than as an error in any one text, since no single official wording has been promulgated.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

The devotion has no fixed date of its own. It commonly appears woven into the Seven Sundays devotion kept in the weeks before March 19 and into ongoing Wednesday devotion to St. Joseph, both distinct practices covered elsewhere on this site.

Church Status

This is an established Catholic devotion with real papal support across three centuries, beginning with its 1536 publication and continuing through indulgences granted by Pius VII, Gregory XVI, and Pius XI. Unlike the Litany of St. Joseph, no single official wording of the seven pairs has ever been formally promulgated by the Holy See, which is why reputable devotional sources present the pairs with some variation in emphasis and order while drawing on the same underlying tradition.

Common Misconceptions

“There is one official, Church-approved wording for the seven sorrows and joys.”

There is not. Unlike the Litany of St. Joseph, which received a single approved text in 1909, no universal wording for the seven pairs has been formally promulgated. Different reputable devotional sources present the pairs with differing emphasis — some naming the Magi’s adoration as the second joy, for instance, where others name the birth of the Savior itself — while drawing on the same 1536 Franciscan-rooted tradition and its later indulgences.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who first published this devotion?

Giovanni da Fano, an Italian Capuchin Franciscan, published a devotion called the Seven Our Fathers of St. Joseph in 1536. It was indulgenced by Pope Pius VII nearly three centuries later, in 1819.

Is the story of the shipwrecked friars historically documented?

No. It appears in later devotional literature as a pious legend explaining the devotion’s strong Franciscan associations, not as a verified historical event. It should be read as tradition rather than documented history.

How does this differ from the Seven Sorrows of Mary?

They are separate devotions honoring different people. The Seven Sorrows of Mary is a distinct Marian devotion, long promoted especially by the Servite order, and is covered on its own pages on this site. This devotion honors St. Joseph specifically and traces to a different, Franciscan-rooted origin, though the two share a similar seven-part structure.