Saint Joseph had the happiness of dying in the arms of Jesus and Mary, and he cannot fail to come with them, visibly or invisibly, to receive his devotees.
In a parish in Lyon, France, there lived a pious elderly man who was deeply devoted to Saint Joseph and who, for fifty years, never ceased asking him for the grace of a happy death. To this end, he offered fervent prayers morning and evening, fasted, and gave alms every Wednesday. For him, the feast of Saint Joseph (March 19) was the most beautiful day of the year.
On March 15, 1859, at the age of eighty-six, he fell ill. He immediately asked for the holy sacraments and received them with a faith that moved everyone present. On March 19, he had a Holy Mass celebrated and asked that the prayers for the dying be recited for him. The priest was finishing the consecration when the sick man, raising his eyes to heaven and crossing his arms, distinctly uttered the most holy names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and gently breathed his last.
His soul flew to heaven at precisely the moment when the priest, during the Memento, was about to ask God to receive the souls of the faithful into the place of refreshment, light, and eternal peace.
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