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gracepoole
Guest
Why does burying the statue upside down bother you so intensely? The tradition of burying St. Joseph medals traces back to St. Teresa of Avila hundreds of years ago. It’s not some new age notion.
Bury a Statue of St. Joseph for the Intention of Selling a House?
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dshix
Guest
It is disrespectful to bury the statue upside down.
If you can tell me the origin of this practice and how it is legitimate, I’ll agree.
In addition, look at this prayer which is supposedly the prayer you are supposed to do with the upside down Joseph:
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gracepoole
Guest
We did not pray that prayer when burying our St. Joseph statue. Can you explain why burying it upside down is disrespectful? You seem to be claiming that upside down is ipso facto irreverent. It certainly wasn’t when Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he wasn’t worthy to be crucified as Christ was.
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dshix
Guest
Thanks for the analogy.
When Peter asked to be crucified upside down, that was an even greater suffering and humiliation, as he intended. Knowing Christ had been crucified upside up, he chose to **further **humiliate himself by going upside down, therefore *increasing *the disrespect shown to his person.
Burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down has no foundation in tradition, history, private revelation, or Church teaching. As I said before, if you can produce a reason to trust this ‘devotion’ as legitimate, I will not further object to it.
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gracepoole
Guest
I “trust this devotion” because my ancestors have been doing it for hundreds of years in various ways and have found their prayers answered. You may object all you like. But describing it as universally disrespectful seems misguided and reactionary.
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njlisa
Guest
I was raised Protestant, so I am not familiar with a lot of folk religious customs. When I first heard of this practice, I found it very unusual. It seems more sensible to pray to St. Joseph for help in selling your home rather than burying a statue of him.
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gracepoole
Guest
You are supposed to pray to him for intercession when burying his statue. The two actions are not supposed to be mutually exclusive.
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njlisa
Guest
Forgive my misstatement.
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maryjk
Guest
It isn’t a misstatement.
In fact, most people don’t pray after they bury the statue. They are suppose to, but since the statue isn’t right there in front of them, they “forget.”
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Dorothy
Guest
That is exactly what a priest told me. Such customs are not promoted by the Church at all, just the prayer is.
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otjm
Guest
Believing that burying the statue of St. Joseph will help sell a house is one step removed from believing that a ouija board can help in the matter - on in any other matter.
And it is not a long step.
And it is not a long step.
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thistle
Guest
I totally agree and the several priests I have spoken to about this all say it is superstition.
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gracepoole
Guest
Do these priests also believe that St. Teresa of Avila and her nuns engaged in superstitious practices?
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thistle
Guest
I didn’t ask them because she is not the topic of the thread!!
By the way I’m sure you are aware that some who are now saints have done and said things which contradict Church teachings. You cannot simply assume because a saint did this or that it is correct.
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PJM
Guest
I learn something new about Catholicism every day.
TIM this is a supersticious MYTH; NOT an authorized Teaching of the CC:thumbsup:
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QuestingKnight
Guest
I find the legalisms used in this thread irritating. They’re along the lines of “It’s harmless. It’s not St. Joseph. It’s just a statue. But I hope that by dishonouring this symbol of him, which I believe represents him, and will affect him, I’ll achieve a real, mundane end; the selling of my house.”
It’s one think to insert medals in cracks of a house. It’s another to have a statue of yourself buried upside down in the dirt with the intention to abuse the symbol of that person, to abuse them symbolically, until you get what you want.
That’s Voodoo. Some people in Haiti think they can do Voodoo and be Catholics, too.
It’s one think to insert medals in cracks of a house. It’s another to have a statue of yourself buried upside down in the dirt with the intention to abuse the symbol of that person, to abuse them symbolically, until you get what you want.
That’s Voodoo. Some people in Haiti think they can do Voodoo and be Catholics, too.
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gracepoole
Guest
I find the hyperbole in this thread irritating. Ouija boards? Voodoo? Nothing could be further from my experience with burying a St. Joseph statue, which involved a novena and fervent prayer. It seems like folks here *prefer *a reactionary generalization instead of the truth of the ways in which many see and practice this devotion.
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otjm
Guest
I have no problem with a statue in the home. I have no problem with a novena. I have no problem with a fervent prayer - or for that matter, a whloe bunch of them.
What I have a problem with is magic thinking. I have asked a number of people who have come up with this cockamamie bit why they didn’t just put St. Joseph on the mantel or the dinning table. To a person , the answer was “It wouldn’t work”.
What wouldn’t work? The novena?
Nope
The prayer?
Nope. The statue - it had to be buried (some say head up, most say head down).
I was Realtor for seven years, so it is not like I didn’t hear this fairly often.
That flat out is magic thinking. It is thinking that there is some sort of control brought to the situation; and the control is by the physical burying of the statue.
You think I am speaking hyperbole? I am not kidding when I say that it is one short step from using a ouija board.
After all, it is just a board. right?
The Lovin Spoonful might have sung about “Do you believe in magic”, but even they were not talking about something like this.
If the statue has to be buried in the yard instead of left in the home where all can see (and maybe even offer up a prayer requesting assistance), then you need to ask why that is so.
And that has nothing to do with any saint, Theresa or otherwise. It has to do with what is beneath all of this - the belief that doing a certain act will cause a certain result.
We don’t bind God; and we don’t bind the saints by our actions. believing we do is believing in magic, and the Church has said enough about that issue that there should be no question as to its wrongness.
And that is not hyperbole.
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Dorothy
Guest
otjm,
You are correct. That is how the priest explained it at a retreat I was at several years ago. His forte was spiritual warfare. He said we do not have to feel compelled to “do” something such as burying a statue upside down, in order for our prayers to be heard.
He stated that is what the witch doctors do, they give someone something to do in order for their request to be answered. (he named similar names from other cultures that meant the same thing.
You are correct. That is how the priest explained it at a retreat I was at several years ago. His forte was spiritual warfare. He said we do not have to feel compelled to “do” something such as burying a statue upside down, in order for our prayers to be heard.
He stated that is what the witch doctors do, they give someone something to do in order for their request to be answered. (he named similar names from other cultures that meant the same thing.
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gracepoole
Guest
St. Teresa of Avila asked her nuns to bury St. Joseph medals for help when purchasing land – that’s why she was referenced. If only she had known that she was engaging in voodoo!
I can’t and don’t wish to speak for those who view this devotion as “magic.” But I think it’s a bit careless to assume that all who engage in it are thinking this way. I do find it interesting, however, that you’ve written that burying the statue indicates “belief that doing a certain act will cause a certain result.” You’ve just described the act of saying a novena, for example.
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