The Feast of the Chaste / Pure Heart of St. Joseph is celebrated today, the first Wednesday after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been around for centuries though the feast is liturgically venerated in the Catholic Church.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary were also alike before their own approval. Private devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an offshoot of the Holy Wounds’ devotion, began as early as the 11th century but was not granted a liturgical feast day until 1670, for select seminaries. Over time, the Church allowed for more places to celebrate this private feast day of the Sacred Heart. It was not until 1856 that Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart as obligatory for the whole Church.
During the 11th century, tThe Immaculate Heart of Mary was venerated. It was not until 1855 that the Congregation of Rites approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church. After centuries of private devotion, the Immaculate Heart of Mary finally received its official feast day in 1944, granted by Pope Pius XII.
The devotion to the Heart of St. Joseph follows the same path as those Hearts which were entrusted to his care. Taking from the example of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, it is acceptable to also practice a private devotion to the Heart of St. Joseph.
Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh (Genesis 2:24). Therefore, now they are not two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder (St. Matthew 19:6). Since these hearts became as one, it is right that we should honour them both, neither excluding one or the other, as they both loved, nurtured, upheld, and suffered for, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in unison.
In 1846, Fr. Michele Rocco, an Oblate of the Virgin Mary, established the Pious Union of the Most Pure Heart of St. Joseph in Italy.
Aside from St. Joseph’s liturgical feast days, Wednesday is the traditional day of the week on which we are to honour St. Joseph in some way (Benedict XV, Bonum Sane 1920). Because of this, it would be pious for us to celebrate (privately) a feast day of the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph on the Wednesday after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.