O great and glorious patriarch St Joachim, how I rejoice to think that thou wast chosen from among all the Saints to co-operate in the divine mysteries, and enrich the world by bestowing on it the great Mother of God, most holy Mary! By this singular privilege thou hast become so powerful with the Mother and the Son as to obtain whatever graces may be necessary for us. With great confidence, then, I have recourse to thy most powerful protection, and I commend to thee all the wants of my family, both spiritual and temporal, as well as my own; and especially I appeal to thee for the particular grace which I desire and expect from thy paternal intercession. And since thou wast a perfect model of the interior life, obtain for me interior recollection and a distaste for the fleeting goods of this earth, with a lively and persevering love of Jesus and Mary. Obtain for me, too, devotion and sincere obedience to Holy Church, and to the Supreme Pontiff who governs her, so that I may live and die in Faith, Hope, and perfect Charity, invoking the most holy names of Jesus and Mary, and may save my soul. Amen. Pater, Ave, Gloria, thrice.