Jesuit On The Litany Of Saint Joseph

Pius IX and Leo XIII, the former having in 1870 solemnly proclaimed St. Joseph the Protector of the Catholic Church, and the latter having made his feast of 19 March one of the solemn feasts of the year, in 1883, and extended to the whole Church the feast of the Holy Family in 1896. Lastly, in order that the faithful may studiously imitate the great virtues of the Foster-father and Guardian of the Family of Nazareth and implore his powerful assistance in these troublous times, the Pope has, after mature examination by the Sacred Congregation, approved this Litany of St.Joseph, and granted that it be inserted in the official liturgical books, and that it be recited and chanted throughout the whole Church; moreover, His Holiness has enriched it with an indulgence of three hundred days to be gained once a day and also applicable to the souls in Purgatory. The decree is duly signed by our own former Delegate Apostolic, Cardinal Martinelli, now the Prefect of the Congregation of Rites. The Catholic Church has been very sparing in the approval of litanies for universal and public use. The only litanies heretofore approved were four in number: the Litany of All the Saints, with the modified and abridged forms for the dying and the Forty Hours' Devotion; the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus; the Litany of the Sacred Heart, approved for the whole Church in 1899; and the Loreto Litany of the Blessed Virgin. Besides, we may observe a notable difference in this Litany of St. Joseph, which is not taken from any previously in use, as is the case with the Litany of the Sacred Heart, but was made up by Rome, and in its Latin text has never more than two or three words to each invocation.

Link (here) to the fascinating piece by the Jesuit Father Aloysius Brucker, S.J. his essay is entitled, Litany of St. Joseph