st joe to sell your home

while there appears to be agreement among scholars/real estate agents that the statue is to be buried in the yard of the house to be sold, debate continues over the issue of if it should be in the front or back yard as well as questions concerning if the statue should be facing the house or away from the house. marketing analysis may determine the most beneficial placement.

Placement of the staute and which way it should face, depends on whether the potential seller wants the current market value of the house (front yard and facing outward); or whether he/she wishes to make a serious profit or even participates with the realtor in 'Gazumping', then it will be in the back yard facing inward.

Regarding, what good St. Joseph does in various fields, I have some doubts, if has the time to look after every house:
"Patron Saint of: against doubt, against hesitation, Americas, Austria, diocese of Baton Rouge California, Belgium, Bohemia, bursars, cabinetmakers, Canada, Carinthia, carpenters, China, Church, confectioners, craftsmen, Croatian people (in 1687 by decree of the Croatian parliment) diocese of San Jose California, dying people, emigrants, engineers, expectant mothers, families, fathers, Florence Italy, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls, Korea, laborers, archdiocese of Louisville Kentucky, diocese of Manchester New Hampshire, Mexico, diocese of Nashville Tennessee, New France, New World, Oblates of Saint Joseph, people in doubt, people who fight Communism, Peru, pioneers, pregnant women, protector of the Church, social justice, Styria Austria, travellers, Turin Italy, Tyrol Austria, unborn children Universal Church, Vatican II, Viet Nam, diocese of Wheeling-Charleston West Virginia, wheelwrights, workers, working people. " (website to order a statue of St. Joseph )

This thread would be very funny, if it weren't so sad. I think that sprucing up your house, and achieving the desired "curb appeal" will do much more to sell your house than burying statues.

IMO a home seller would get better results if he took the money that he would pay for the statue, and invested in a couple of cans of paint!

Phoenix, if you continue along those lines of rationality i am not going to allow you to read my posts!!!ppfffffffffffffffffttttttttt.

dyslexia- OK People should buy a few gross of statues and just plant them, when they first buy a house. Maybe then people will be banging on their door with offers way before they even decide to move!

Just thinking, how many cans of paint you get for 11$50...

But maybe the house doesn't need painting - maybe the seller really did a great job sprucing up the old homestead, but thought that a little bit of Heavenly intervention wouldn't do any harm.

Tommy- If planting statues makes people feel better, fine. I do think though that there are people who are making lots of money off the gullibility of others.

I have heard of this before. A good friend of mine is from Italy, this is a common practice where she comes from, and the Italian people really believe that by burying the statue their homes will sell!

I say what have you got to lose?

I wonder, in that case, are all believers, whether Catholic visitors to Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago de Compostela, Walsingham or Knock; or Jewish, Christian or Muslim visitors to Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall or holy places in the Middle East and around the world, also gullible? Are Mother Theresa, Saints Oliver Plunket and Padre Pio charlatans? Is the whole of the writings of the Hagiography so much nonsense? Is the planting of statues as an aid to selling one's home for the best price agreeable to buyer and seller any different from saying a Novena to Saint Joseph:


"Glorious Saint Joseph, foster-father and protector of Jesus. To you I raise my heart and my hands to implore your powerful intercession. Please obtain for me from the kind Heart of Jesus the help and graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. (Name a special favour here).

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel animated with confidence that your prayers on my behalf will be Graciously heard before the Throne of God. Amen".

On a table or in the backyard
That's an interesting question Tommy.

There is always a fine line between faith practice and superstitious action. (Knock on wood, toss the salt, cough twice....) It is in the heart of believer where this line is drawn. Some, my Irish mother included, would say burying a statue smacks of voodoo or Santeria, but she also filled my childhood home with statues of the Infant of Prague and the Virgin Mary. We just never buried any. I do recall there was some kind of dustup in our parish over the actual practice of burying poor Saint Joseph. Was he to be right side up (the Polish) or upside down (the Italians), the Irish priest tried to discourage both groups from taking up the shovel.
The use of objects in the Catholic Church has always been a source of controversy. Do they pray to the statues? No, the Church says, the statues are merely reminders of to whom the prayers are directed, but again it's a very fine line. And does burying a statue imply that it now has some special power that it didn't have before burial? Is that idolatry?
Even praying to the Saints is not without it's detractors. What's the point of using a middle man, so to speak, after all it's God you want to talk to, why not take the direct route and pray to God directly? Does God hear all prayers? Yes. Then why bother with getting a Saint to take Him a note? (It is a lovely prayer though, Tommy, I enjoyed seeing it again.)
At the end, it's about feeling good about yourself and your place in it. If burying a piece of plaster in the shape of a man makes you feel less anxious about selling your house, okay by me, but not for me.
Joe

Joe Nation:



Absolutely agree. I think that these sorts of practices are fine, when they make people more comfortable, unless it reaches a point where a person cannot function well without them!

Which brings me to drugs, often misspelled as medicaments.

I really don't know, what is "unhealthier": children [and their parents] praying to St. Benedikt of Nursia, St. Gregor I.(the Great), St. Laurentius, St. Mary Magdalena, St. Niclas of Myra or St. Symphorianus of Autun (all said to be helpful for pupils/students
or taking some Ritalin a day.

Walter- For me, religion has very little place in my life, except as a fascinating cultural artifact. I am a big believer though, in the mind/body connection. As such, I would expect that to believers, praying would have many beneficial somatic effects!

That's my point (here), Phoenix.
(Religion and the understanding of history is a books-filling other subject.)