Novenas
Novena to St Joseph for a Job: 9 Days for Employment
The novena to St Joseph for a job, day by day: the St Joseph prayer for employment, the prayer for work of St Pius X, and how to pray nine days for steady work.
The novena to St Joseph for a job is nine days of prayer to the carpenter of Nazareth, asking him to obtain for us honest work, a steady place, and the bread a household needs. We bring this need to him because he knew it from the inside: he "passed his life in labour, and won by the toil of the artisan the needful support of his family," as Leo XIII wrote in Quamquam pluries, and he never let the Holy Family go without. Below is the whole novena, day by day, with the Church's own prayers to St Joseph and the way to pray it.
The novena to St Joseph for a job: the daily prayers
Each of the nine days has the same frame. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, read the day's Scripture and short meditation below, name the work you are seeking, and then say these prayers in order. If you are new to the practice, our page on what a novena is explains why nine days.
1. The prayer of Leo XIII to St Joseph. This is the great supplication that Pope Leo XIII attached to his encyclical Quamquam pluries (15 August 1889), ordering it said after the Rosary through October. It is the heart of this novena:
To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we have recourse in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that charity wherewith thou wast united to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and by the paternal love wherewith thou didst embrace the Child Jesus, we beseech thee and we humbly pray that thou wouldst look graciously upon the inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by His Blood, and assist us in our needs by thy power and strength.
O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen offspring of Jesus Christ; keep far from us, most loving Father, all blight of error and corruption; mercifully assist us from heaven, most mighty defender, in this our conflict with the powers of darkness; and, as once thou didst rescue the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now defend God's holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holily, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.
2. The intention. Name the need plainly: the job you are applying for, the work you have lost, or the employment of someone you love. Then say the Memorare to St Joseph, a devotional adaptation of the prayer-books:
Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored thy help and sought thy intercession was left unassisted. Full of confidence in thy power, I fly unto thee and beg thy protection. Despise not, O Guardian of the Redeemer, my humble supplication, but in thy bounty hear and answer me. (Here name the work you ask for.) Amen.
3. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be, once each, in honour of the Holy Family he fed by his work.
4. The versicle and the collect of St Joseph. The versicle is that of his Litany; the prayer is the collect of his feast on 19 March in the Missal of 1962, and it might have been written for the unemployed, for it asks that his intercession win what our own powers cannot:
V. He made him the lord of his household.
R. And prince over all his possessions.Let us pray. May we be helped, O Lord, by the merits of the Spouse of Thy most holy Mother, that what our own powers cannot obtain may be given us by his intercession: Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Close with this short invocation, said three times: St Joseph, patron of workers, pray for us.
The nine days
Each day brings St Joseph one need of those looking for work. The Scripture is in the Douay-Rheims; the meditation is for reading, not for reciting.
Day 1: Go to Joseph
"And he said to them: Go to Joseph: and do all that he shall say to you." (Genesis 41:55)
When famine fell on Egypt, Pharao sent the hungry to the patriarch Joseph, who had stored up the grain. Leo XIII recalls that the Fathers saw in that Joseph "the type of St. Joseph," set over the household of God to feed it. We begin by doing as the hungry did: we go to Joseph.
Day 2: Ask, seek, knock
"Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)
Our Lord's three verbs are the whole labour of the job-seeker: the application, the search, the door. Ask St Joseph for perseverance in all three, and for a cheerful face when a door stays shut. Pray especially for all who have just been laid off.
Day 3: No man hath hired us
"Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go you also into my vineyard." (Matthew 20:6-7)
The men in the market-place were not idle by choice; no one had hired them, and the householder came for them at the eleventh hour. Pray today for those out of work for a long time, for older workers passed over, and for anyone who has begun to think no one will ever take them on.
Day 4: Our daily bread
"Give us this day our daily bread." (Luke 11:3)
St Joseph earned the daily bread of the Holy Family with his hands. Bring him the household that depends on you: the rent, the bills, the children's needs, the debts that keep you awake. We ask for bread, not riches, and we ask it of the man who never let the Son of God go hungry.
Day 5: Be not solicitous
"Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)
Want of work breeds fear, and fear clouds judgement. St Joseph rose in the night and led his family into Egypt with no post waiting for him there, trusting the God who had sent him. Ask him today for peace of soul, and give him the anxieties you cannot carry.
Day 6: The Lord was with him
"And the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man in all things... and made all that he did to prosper in his hand." (Genesis 39:2-3)
The patriarch Joseph came into Egypt a slave and found favour in his master's house, because God was with him. Ask our St Joseph for the same blessing on your applications and interviews: clear speech, honest answers, the skill the work requires, and favour in the eyes of those who will decide.
Day 7: The labourer is worthy of his hire
"...for the labourer is worthy of his hire." (Luke 10:7)
Our Lord Himself named the just wage. Pray for employers, that they may hire and pay with justice, and for yourself, that you may give an honest day's work and never win a place by a lie.
Day 8: Work with your own hands
"...and work with your own hands, as we commanded you: and that you walk honestly towards them that are without; and that you want nothing of any man's." (1 Thessalonians 4:11)
The people of Nazareth called Our Lord simply "the carpenter" (Mark 6:3), because He had learnt that trade from Joseph. God laid on Adam the law "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Genesis 3:19), and the Holy Family kept it. Ask for a ready heart: to take the honest work God sends, even if it is humbler than our plans, and to do it well.
Day 9: Seek first the kingdom
"Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
On this last day, ask not only for a job but for the right one: work that leaves Sundays free for God, does not endanger the soul, and does not devour the family it is meant to feed. Then give your need entirely into St Joseph's hands and accept beforehand the answer God chooses.
St Joseph prayer for employment and for work
For a shorter prayer to St Joseph for a job, these are the ones we would give.
Prayer to St Joseph before work (St Pius X)
Catholic prayer-books carry this prayer for working people under the name of Pope St Pius X. Say it before an interview, and once a job is found, each morning before work:
Glorious St Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labour, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honour to employ and to develop by labour the gifts I have received from God; to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty; to work above all with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O patriarch St Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity. Amen.
Prayer to St Joseph for success in work
The collect of the feast of St Joseph the Worker (1 May), in the Missal of 1962, is the Church's own prayer for good success in our labours. It asks not for wealth but that our work be the work God commands:
O God, Creator of all things, who didst lay down for mankind the law of labour, graciously grant that by the example and patronage of St Joseph we may do the works Thou dost command and attain the rewards Thou dost promise. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
St Joseph prayer for work and money
There is no traditional prayer to St Joseph for money as such; what we ask of the poor carpenter is the daily bread of the Our Father, the wage that feeds a family. Put the need that way in the Memorare above: that I may earn what my family needs. Scripture promises the just worker: "For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee" (Psalm 127:2).
St Joseph novena for employment pdf
The full text of the novena is on this page and prints as it stands: the daily prayers, the nine days, and the prayers for work. Better still, carry it with you. Join early access here. sets the day's text in front of you each morning, reminds you when it is time to pray, works offline, and gives the prayers in Latin and English. Its novenas section keeps count of the nine days for you.
How to pray the St Joseph novena for employment
Any nine consecutive days will do, but three times are especially fitting:
- 10 to 18 March, ending on the eve of his great feast, St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 19 March. Leo XIII praised the custom of consecrating the whole month of March to him "by daily exercises of piety."
- 22 to 30 April, before the feast of St Joseph the Worker on 1 May, the natural novena for workers. Its own devotions are in the novena to St Joseph the Worker.
- Any Wednesday, the day of the week the faithful have long given to St Joseph, may be the first of the nine.
Pray at a fixed hour, joined where you can to Holy Mass (today's Gospel gives the day's readings, the 1962 liturgical calendar his feasts). Keep looking for work with all your strength: the novena goes with the application, it does not replace it. "Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it" (Psalm 126:1).
Who is St Joseph, patron of workers?
St Joseph is the spouse of the Blessed Virgin and foster-father of Our Lord, a son of David and a craftsman of Nazareth. Butler's Lives of the Saints notes that "it was Joseph's trade that Jesus learnt," and that he was poor, offering only a pair of turtle-doves at the Temple.
Devotion to him grew slowly; Butler traces it through St Bernardine of Siena and St Teresa of Avila, whose zeal "produced a profound impression upon the Church at large." Gregory XV made his feast a holyday of obligation in 1621. Pius IX declared him Patron of the universal Church in 1870, and Leo XIII, in Quamquam pluries, taught that "as to workmen, artisans, and persons of lesser degree, their recourse to Joseph is a special right," since his life shows that "the work of the labourer is not only not dishonouring, but can, if virtue be joined to it, be singularly ennobled." Pius XII gave that patronage its own feast in 1955, St Joseph the Worker, kept on 1 May, and it stands in the calendar of 1962.
That is why the unemployed go to him. For the whole story of his life, see our page on St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church; for his other great intentions, a happy death and causes thought impossible, the St Joseph novena; and for the Christian meaning of labour itself, what God says about work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best prayer to St Joseph for a job?
The surest is the prayer of Leo XIII, To thee, O blessed Joseph, because the Church herself gave it to the faithful and enriched it with indulgences. Said with the Memorare to St Joseph and your intention named, it is the heart of the novena above. For the working day, once a job is found, add the prayer for workers attributed to St Pius X. Our page of prayers to St Joseph gathers his other traditional prayers, among them the Litany.
Can I pray the novena to St Joseph for someone else's employment?
Yes. A novena may be offered for anyone, and praying for a husband, a child or a friend out of work is a charity St Joseph surely loves. Name the person in the intention each day.
What if I find a job before the nine days are over?
Finish the novena in thanksgiving. The remaining days can be offered for the work you have received, for your new employer and colleagues, and for those still searching. Gratitude completes a petition; the novena of gratitude is a good continuation.
Does the St Joseph statue really work?
A statue of St Joseph is an aid to prayer, good to keep at home. The custom of burying it, usually to sell a house, has no place in the Church's tradition: a statue has no power of its own, and treating it as if it compelled a result is superstition, which the Catechism of St Pius X describes as "the ascribing to any action or any thing whatever a supernatural virtue which it does not possess." What obtains graces is prayer made with faith, and the intercession of the saint himself. The same counsel is given in our St Joseph novena to sell a house.
Is the novena to St Joseph for a job the same as the St Joseph the Worker novena?
They are close cousins: the St Joseph the Worker novena leads to the feast of 1 May and honours labour in general; the novena for a job is a petition, at any time of year, for a definite need of employment.
How long does it take for the St Joseph novena for employment to work?
No novena has a deadline, and none binds God to a date or a result. Some find work within the nine days, some months later, some receive a different grace. Persevere: Our Lord praised the friend who kept knocking at night (Luke 11:8). If the answer is slow, pray the novena again.
The Iter Fidei app carries the novena to St Joseph for a job, his Litany and his prayers, with a daily reminder for each of the nine days, in Latin and English. Join early access here.
Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Challoner): Genesis 3:19, 39:2-3 and 41:55; Psalms 126:1 and 127:2; Matthew 6:26, 6:33, 7:7 and 20:6-7; Mark 6:3; Luke 10:7, 11:3 and 11:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:11. Leo XIII, encyclical Quamquam pluries (15 August 1889), with the prayer To thee, O blessed Joseph. Pius IX, decree Quemadmodum Deus (8 December 1870), proclaiming St Joseph Patron of the universal Church. Missale Romanum 1962: collects of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary (19 March) and of St Joseph the Worker (1 May). Litany of St Joseph, approved by St Pius X (1909). Prayer to St Joseph for working people, attributed to St Pius X, as carried in Catholic prayer-books. Butler's Lives of the Saints, St Joseph (19 March). Catechism of St Pius X, on the invocation of the Saints and on superstition (First Commandment).