Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father

by Donald H. Calloway

Drawing on the wealth of the Church's living tradition, Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, calls on all of us to turn to St. Joseph, entrust ourselves, our Church, and our world to our spiritual father's loving care, and then watch for wonders when the Universal Patron of the Church opens the floodgates of Heaven to pour out graces into our lives today. Definitely a book for our time, Consecration to St. Joseph is dedicated to meeting the challenges of the present moment and restoring order to our Church and our world, all through the potent paternal intercession and care of St. Joseph. This book has everything you need to take your love and devotion to St. Joseph to a whole different a thorough program of consecration to St. Joseph; information on the 10 wonders of St. Joseph; and prayers and devotions to St. Joseph. Accessible, motivating, this book will kick off a great movement of consecration to our spiritual father and change the world.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Faith, Spirituality, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, a convert to Catholicism, is a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.

Before his conversion to Catholicism, he was a high school dropout who had been kicked out of a foreign country, institutionalized twice, and thrown in jail multiple times. After his radical conversion he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, M.Div. and S.T.B. degrees from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, and an S.T.L. in Mariology from the International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, Ohio.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sister and I did this together. I have long had a passionate devotion to St. Joseph as I credit him with finding my two amazing son-in-laws. Both my daughters were in undesirable relationships with young men when my sister went to St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, Canada and brought a special petition to St. André Bessette to pray to St. Joseph to find his choice of good husbands for my daughters. Within a year both of them had broken off with the men they had been dating and not too long after they met and/or began dating their current WONDERFUL husbands! I also did a novena to St. Joseph while my sister was in Canada.

This consecration is marvelous and you will learn SO much about this amazing saint, father of Jesus, spouse to the Blessed Virgin Mary and man of many virtues! While I was off Goodreads for Lent, I was really able to focus on this 33 day Consecration and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Mine concluded on March 19th, the Feast of St. Joseph, but the effects linger on, helping me through this long Lent of the CoVid-19. If you are looking for a Strong Man for this Time of worry and fear, I can think of no better person than St. Joseph. He is the epitome of the Strong, Silent Type. He never said a word in all of Sacred Scripture, but his actions spoke volumes and saints, Sacred Tradition, Papal Writings, Marian Apparitions and History itself continue to reveal this giant of a man, who wants to help us today. Do NOT be afraid! St. Joseph IS the Terror of Demons!

I would give this book 10 stars if I could, but since I cannot, I will just read it again and again and recommend it every chance I get!

[Michael Vidrine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very well researched, but terribly written book. It is a book that needed to be written; it is, truly, worthwhile; and I absolutely would recommend it, even though one does have to power through just awful writing. The book, nevertheless, is a good synthesis of the writings about St. Joseph by the Fathers, the scholastics, and mystics, and Fr. Calloway tells some very compelling stories of miracles concerning St. Joseph. I do feel that I have grown closer to St. Joseph in the pages of this book.

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Father Calloway’s Champions of the Rosary, and when I first heard he was working on a book about Saint Joseph I was terribly excited. In fact, I could not wait and ended up reading a few other books about Saint Joseph while I awaited the publication of this volume. But like champions this is likely the most complete book on Saint Joseph to date. And you could also see this book as three volumes in a single book. Each of the three sections could stand as a book alone, and they are:

Part I 33 Day preparation
Part II The Wonders of our Spiritual father
Part III prayers to St. Joseph

The book also has a chart so you can figure out easily when to begin so that you can complete the consecration on specific feast days. Father Calloway states in the introduction:

“Most likely, the majority of people who acquire Consecration to St. Joseph are going to go straight into the 33-day preparation. However, there might be some people who get the book but are not quite ready for consecration to St. Joseph. Some people might feel that they want to get to know St. Joseph better before committing to a month-long preparation for consecration to a saint they don’t know much about. Those folks can skip Part I (the 33-day preparation) and simply read Part II as its own book. You should know, though, that if you choose to read Part II without doing the 33-day preparation, you will need to re-read the assigned sections from Part II if you decide to do the 33-day preparation. (The designated daily reading from Part II follows a different order when you do it with the 33-day preparation in Part I.)”

So even if you do not see yourself doing the 33 Day consecration at this point, picking up the book for this middle section is more than worth it. I can also state that the book is worth the price for just the third section, a wonderful collection of prayers to Saint Joseph. And after that Prayer book section we have two appendices. The first is instructions and guidance for doing the 33 day consecration. The second is information on churches and shrines dedicated to Saint Joseph around the world. The list if some of the more well known for it would take another volume maybe several volumes to list all the shrines, churches, and places dedicated to Saint Joseph around the world.

As I have aged, and try to grow to be a better husband and better father I find that I have turned to Saint Joseph often. Father Calloway states:

“First, we need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph to help us protect marriage and the family. Marriage and the family have always been under attack, but in modern times, the threats have reached extraordinary heights.”

And further on he declares:

“Now is the time to consecrate yourself to St. Joseph! God is telling his Church that, in order to defend marriage and the family, elevate morals, recover lost ground, and win souls for Jesus Christ, we need to bring St. Joseph onto the battlefield. He is the Terror of Demons!”

When explaining the why Father Calloway says:

“What exactly is consecration to St. Joseph? In other words, what does it mean for a person to be consecrated to St. Joseph? Well, it basically means that you acknowledge that he is your spiritual father, and you want to be like him. To show it, you entrust yourself entirely to his paternal care so that he can lovingly help you acquire his virtues and become holy. Total consecration to St. Joseph means you make a formal act of filial entrustment to your spiritual father so that he can take care of your spiritual well-being and lead you to God.”

We are also told:

“Mary is your spiritual mother, and St. Joseph is your spiritual father. The spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph is extremely important for your spiritual growth. Total consecration to Mary is not diminished by total consecration to St. Joseph. Mary wants you to consecrate yourself to St. Joseph! Everything you have given to Jesus and Mary can also be given to St. Joseph. Be at peace. The Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph are one.”

The books is an excellent read and much needed today. It is a book all Catholics would benefit from read. I have read through it once and have plans to start it again to complete the consecration on the Feast of Saint Joseph. At the end of the book are several pieces of art that were commissioned by Father Calloway specifically for this volume. There are some absolutely beautiful works of art. When I started reading this volume I immediately bought the eBook so I could give the physical copy I had to the deacon at my church. I encourage you to get this book for yourself, and to get it for the priests and deacons in your life. And if you have not read his Champions of the Rosary pick it up at the same time.

It is an exceptional volume. I highly recommend it.

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2020 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Noah Calcagno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already had a devotion to St. Joseph, but this deepened and enriched it in ways that exceeded my expectations. He truly is the most amazing saint in the Church, and worthy of high veneration. He also never fails those who implore his intercession. This book is a testament of his greatness in the narrative of redemption and in Church History.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

[Kevin W]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I’m grateful for Father Calloway’s zeal in promoting greater devotion to St. Joseph and I was edified by much of what I read. This is a great resource to have on hand especially with its supplemental material which includes various prayers to St. Joseph approved by the Church. I appreciated the variety of sources and Saints he pulled from.
I didn’t always care for his style. A lot of times he seemed to have a “Take my word for it” attitude. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was- maybe part of it had to do with how he seemed to treat private revelation and poetic reflections as if they were dogmatically defined. That and emphasizing the warrior dimension of Joseph over and above the other facets of his character.
A helpful read, but I’d be cautious about all the hype going on in the Church right now over it.

[Melissa Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy Feast of the Holy Family & happy Consecration Day to me!

We have such a good spiritual father. St. Joseph, Mirror of Patience, pray for us.

[Elizabeth Faustina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has seriously changed my life, I don't even know where to begin! The consecration is awesome, you read the whole thing throughout 33 days. There's so much insight on the life of St. Joseph and meditation material, not to mention many beautiful prayers and learning about what different saints thought of him and how the Church has taught about him. If you want to become closer to God, pick up this book and do it through St. Joseph!!

[Khayla Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of supplemental readings BUT when you’re in a place in life to just sit, receive, & rest in it, there’s no doubt you’ll fall in love with St. Joseph. Didn’t realize how much grace I’d receive spending the majority of Lent growing in awe & love of St. Joseph! What a powerful Saint we have protecting & loving us. St. Joseph, pray for us!

[Friar Stebin John Capuchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consecration to Blessed Virgin Mary is a devotion well known to all of us. Many do it to show their personal love to Blessed Virgin. In this book Fr. Donald H. Calloway shares with us about the devotion, Consecration to St. Joseph. As we are in the year of St Joseph it's good to know about this devotion and consecrate ourselves to St Joseph to lead a saintly life. This book will elaboratively describes about the way we need walk to consecrate ourselves to St Joseph.

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the titles of the Litany of St. Joseph, we learn all about St. Joseph, his life and what many saints in history have written about him. Very uplifting and a joy to read.

[Claire Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repetitive but you could call it ~emphasis~
St Joseph is amazing and I don't think I'll ever be the same now that I know all that he offers

[Gracie Muraski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually consecrating to Joe?? 11/10 stars. The content of this book was a bit historical/information heavy for me, could’ve been more reflective. But love this man and happy to be his spiritual child!!

[Julie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As St. Joseph's Solemnity approached (March 19) I suddenly began reading everything I could get my hands on about him. This was partly inspired by a The Burrowshire Podcast episode but also I've always really liked St. Joseph anyway. Then I decided I'd do the consecration to Jesus through Joseph using this book.

I thought I'd begin on March 30 so I could end on May 1, the memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. I ordered the book on March 17 only to be told that I'd get it by April 11. (I'd forgotten this is the year of St. Joseph so, of course, the book is popular.) Ok, I'd keep the Kindle sample and use the first few days from that and then catch up when I got the book.

Then yesterday I got an email saying that the book was coming early, tomorrow (March 24) in fact). That never happens to me! I told my daughter Rose who said, "What St. Joseph wants, St. Joseph gets!"

I really laughed. It never occurred to me that St. Joseph had anything to do with this. Right, step 1 — attitude adjustment! Thank you St. Joseph. I'm looking forward to our month together!

Update - now it is much later and I only have one day to go on the consecration readings. I have mostly enjoyed it and had some moments of true inspiration. On the other hand, the author leans more heavily than I'd like on Anne Catherine Emmerich's writings about her mystical visions of Joseph. I've never been one of her fans (and the Church leaves it up to my own discretion for that). Anyway, the daily reflections were generally plenty for my own purposes. I occasionally found the supplemental writing to be helpful. I do like the prayers section at the back though.

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a wonderful book, not only containing great prayers in which to honor St. Joseph, but fascinating insights to an often overlooked saint. I have a new devotion and love for this most humble but greatest of men.

[Aline FitzGerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet my new best friend, St. Joe

[Samantha Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

St. Joseph!! What a guy! PERIODDD

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great source of information on St. Joseph, often overlooked due to his silence in the Gospels. While this consecration was more educational than devotional in my opinion (though there are some lovely prayers included), I'm glad to have completed it. It helped me to think of this great saint in a different way and contemplate his unique role and sanctity in ways I'd never have considered otherwise.

The organization of the book is a little odd with all of its page-flipping and variation in the length of daily reading, but it got the job done.

My favorite part may be the original artwork included. I find myself flipping to it and studying the images again and again.

Reading this and familiarizing myself with the Litany to St. Joseph during the year dedicated to him a was a real gift.

[Ann Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our family read through this book together and did a consecration to St Joseph on Feb 2. We absolutely loved and treasured our reading together time each evening and my son ended up leading us in singing the litany each day as well. So special. I loved learning more about St Joseph and all his various titles. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to dig in deeper with this Saint. My only critique of the book is the format - the first part is arranged as a 33 day consecration. But then you have to skip around all over the book for extra reading portions and it was a bit confusing and disjointed. I just wish the extra readings had been paired with the daily and written all together. Overall very good spiritual reading.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read this cover to cover because, frankly, St. Joseph deserves better. It's one of the worst written books I've ever read. Fr. Calloway writes like a first year university student, attempting to reach the word count.

Sometimes he refers to St. Joseph as "Saint Joseph" only to use "St." in the following sentence. Sometimes he repeats himself more than twice in the same paragraph. Sometimes, he feels the need to bring in politics where it has no place. And he has a tendency to portray unpopular or unknown Catholic beliefs as one hundred percent fact, without sourcing.

I could go on and on about my pedantic gripes with this book, but to do so would be disrespecting Fr. Calloway's vocation to a certain degree. Nonetheless, I do not recommend this book.

[Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Overall, a solid look into how many different saints looked at the life and St. Joseph and some of the private revelation associated with him. The author can't get out of his own way a lot of the time, however, and desperately needs an editor. Fixates very strongly on claims that (at least he admits) are not actually church teaching but simply something the faithful are allowed to believe. Weird touches of masculinity every now and again. If you can get through that, there's some gems, but you have to read in a lot of charity.

[Camille Maio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until reading this book, I gave little thought to St. Joseph. But wow - there is so much to learn!! I am very appreciative of Fr. Calloway's book - thank you for helping me grow deeper in friendship with this remarkable saint.

[Alyce Shields]

This book loses stars based on writing style and formatting, however, I do think it is well researched and it 100% strengthened and increased my devotion to St. Joseph, and for that I’m forever grateful.

[Samantha B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished my consecration to St. Joseph on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and I would highly recommend it! At the beginning, I was HIGHLY skeptical, and now I have been "converted" to St. Joseph fanhood.

I will say, there are some bits that get a bit too saccharinely religious for me, and a few bits where he obviously contradicts himself, but those bits are easily ignorable.

The readings for each day vary in length, just fyi, so don't think that the long chapters at the beginning are typical! It varies.

He does get extra, extra, extra points for providing the St. Joseph litany in Latin so that I could pray it in my favorite dead language every day. :)

[Paul Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of a Lenten Consecration group.

This book was excellent in that it made a case for deep devotion and utmost veneration of St. Joseph based on many Patristic and Latin writers; it certainly changed my mind on his perpetual virginity. It also provided a great spiritual lense for one to evaluate what true masculinity is in light of the Saint's scriptural virtues. Often, though, it felt as though the book relied heavily on private revelation and was making extraordinary claims based off of a handful of saints (eg Sts. Emmerich, etc.).

[Tom Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm generally not much for these sorts of pop devotional books. But this is truly a Year of St. Joseph. It was a wonderful daily meditation and when I made the Consecration with my parish on the Solemnity of St. Joseph it was a significant moment and experience for me. Having studied theology for some time I was not bored by Fr. Calloway's writing, and his book should be accessible for the average Catholic. Good stuff.

[Lidija · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives you a summary of centuries of devotions to, apparitions of, and mystical writings about St. Joseph. There is lots to learn here beyond the few short Scripture passages that refer to St Joseph, as well as new ways (for me) to read those passages. I read this book as a preparation for consecration to St Joseph and I think that this is the best way to read this book. I don't know what it would be like to try to read it cover to cover. The Consecration to St Joseph, using the preparation outlined in this book, is powerful. I recommend making the consecration with your family.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My parish for 20 years has been St. Joseph's but I learned so much through this consecration. There was a lot of redundancy in the writing, but I can see myself going back to re-read the section on the Wonders of St. Joseph. I loved all the quotes from so many different saints and mystics. Saint Joseph, pray for us!

[Sara Stutmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading this book and doing the Consecration on July 22, 2021. 😊💙👍🏻 It was a beautiful read and It feeling really really good to be Consecrated to St. Joseph, pray for us! Especially since my boyfriend and I did the Consecration together, so that made doing it even more special.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a preface, I find it necessary to clarify that this review is not so much a critique of the practice of consecrating oneself to St. Joseph per se, but rather this specific method presented by Fr. Calloway. With that being said, I felt Consecration to St. Joseph to be widely underwhelming and inadequate to do justice to the greatness of St. Joseph. One of the greatest hindrances of this work was its lack of depth and thought which was placed into its authorship. Much of the book reads as though it were written all in one sitting while Fr. Calloway wrote the first thing that came to his mind and without any serious editing taking place. Poor prose, repetitive content, and surface-level statements are all areas which I felt the penmanship of Fr. Calloway to fall considerably short. Additionally, although a minor hindrance, the format of the book was unnecessarily complicated for no apparent reason. The contents of the book can be categorized twofold; commentary on the life and virtues of St. Joseph and a history of the various devotions and traditions surrounding St. Joseph. Regarding the former, I did find some of the readings to be helpful in nourishing my prayer and consecration and appreciated Fr. Calloway drawing on Sacred Scripture, writings of various Saints, and Church documents. However at least half of the readings consisted of theological scholarship and exegesis which I thought to be significantly lacking due to poor citations and an overreliance on private revelation and theological speculation, while Fr. Calloway seemed to bring in many of his biases, painting an incomplete picture of the varying perspectives on the topic at hand. Another major gripe I had with some of these readings was the overemphasis on the fruits of the consecration rather than providing a guide in completing the consecration itself. This became rather frustrating, as it felt as if Fr. Calloway was constantly trying to convince me to do the consecration when I had already been convinced to do so by virtue of simply reading the book itself. Regarding the latter readings, while some of the content Fr. Calloway presents is interesting, it ended up being mostly insubstantial to my prayer life and seemed to be present primarily to just take up space. Unfortunately, as a whole I found Consecration to St. Joseph to be a mixed bag - at times providing solid spiritual reading helping me to grow closer to St. Joseph, yet at other times brought about frustration with Fr. Calloway’s approach to writing and scholarship. While I would still recommend this book in virtue of its compilation of writings and prayers from the tradition of the Church, I would love to see a more robust and prayerful devotional to St. Joseph rather than the one Fr. Calloway has presented here.

[Caty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings. Having only heard good things about this book, my expectations were very high. To my surprise, I was disappointed! Clearly this book resonated with the majority of readers, so take this with a grain of salt. I appreciate Fr. Calloway’s love for St. Joseph and am so grateful for his work in spreading devotion to St. Joseph in the Church. The book includes several prayers of consecration to St. Joseph as well as longer writings from saints - the quotes from the writings of the saints were the highlight for me. It was eye-opening and inspiring to see how many saints wrote so beautifully about our spiritual father. Fr. Calloway clearly put a lot of effort into his research.

That being said...the writing is repetitive, to the point my husband and I frequently wondered whether the author was trying to reach a word count. The way the book is formatted is confusing; flipping between pages and sections, reading through them piecemeal and out of order, rather than including the additional reading with the reflection for the day, was frustrating. If the writing and format had been more straightforward, honestly I would have given it another star.

This book is more spiritual than theological; Fr. Calloway takes private revelation and theological speculation for granted at times. Occasionally he makes unnecessary quips about old age or odd metaphors (“Mary ‘kneaded the dough’ in her womb,” a metaphor that has haunted me for weeks now) as well as lots of talk of dragon slaying. I did appreciate Fr. Calloway making it clear that burying statues of St. Joseph is more superstition than anything, as well as his reasoning about Joseph's age.

I desperately wanted to love this book. All that being said, my relationship with St. Joseph has grown through contemplating the various virtues of St. Joseph as well as his relationship with Jesus and Mary. Praying the litany of St. Joseph daily was so edifying, a practice I intend to continue now that my consecration is over. Learning about various miracles attributed to St. Joseph (such as the Holy Staircase in New Mexico), holy men and women who had a deep relationship with him, and the history of devotion to him in the Church was incredible. This is a good synthesis of devotion to St. Joseph for anyone who wants to learn more about him. If you’re looking for another accessible book that is steeped in Scripture and the Catechism, check out “Joseph: The Man who Raised Jesus” by Fr. Gary Caster.