Iste quem laeti colimus fideles

Worshipped throughout the Church to earth’s far ends
With prayer and solemn rite,
Joseph this day triumphantly ascends
Into the realms of light.

Oh, blest beyond the lot of mortal men;
O’er whose last dying sigh,
Christ and the Virgin watch’d with looks serene,
Soothing his agony.

Loos’d from his fleshly chain, gently he fleets
As in calm sleep away;
And diadem’d with light, enters the seats
Of everlasting day.

There thron’d in pow’r, let us his loving aid
With fervent prayers implore;
So may he gain us pardon in our need,
And peace for evermore.

Glory and praise to Thee, blest Trinity!
Who hast to Joseph given
A crown of gold, which he eternally
Wears in the courts of Heav’n.