Eh. I come from Italian Catholic stock. There aren’t any Catholics much more superstitious about saints than we are. St. Joseph to sell the house, St. Anthony to find lost objects, St. Cecilia if someone’s having eye trouble, St. Blaise for throat problems…we keep the plaster factories in business.
In the cases of Sts. Anthony, Cecilia, and Blaise, you’re praying to them, not threatening them.
The idea with burying ‘St. Joseph’ upside down in the dirt is that you will make him “suffer” until he helps you sell the house:
Heh. I hadn’t realized that was the “prayer” that went with this sort of thing. It IS kind of stupid, isn’t it?
I’ve seen several prayers to go with the statue. Some are along the lines of the one Sanders quoted. Some are much more humble/pious, less threatening.
The one above gives me additional pause because it strongly points at a belief that the statue is more then a reminder of a saint.
Solfy posted:
By implying that burying a statue is causing a saint discomfort, I get the feeling that it’s viewed as much more then a reminder. If I need a reminder, why would I bury it out of sight. Wouldn’t placing a statue on my kitchen table be much better at that?
For all the references to the tradition starting with a convert, I’m starting to think that ralph124c’s idea about household gods might be much closer to the mark.
Burn juniper? Okay, but it seems more practical to drink gin, which is flavored with juniper. 
Tomatoes seem to need a lot of calcium, so maybe a concrete saint would help. 
The prayer that came with my statue was the pious variety, and at no time did I find any info regarding the process as some sort of threat or inducement of discomfort to St. Joseph. I assumed that by doing something silly (burying the statue head down) I would be more likely to remember to pray daily. I figure it’s in the same vein as those reply cards that say, “Make sure you put your ‘Yes, I’d like to save 50% off the cover price!’ sticker on your reply card before mailing it in!” Studies show that actual physical actions engage people more than just telling them to pray or subscribe now.
Can you share it? I’m especially curious how the prayer explains the need to stick St. Joseph in the dirt upside down.
Okay, here’s my story. Two years ago, my boss and her husband were eager to sell their house, in a part of town where houses usually sell even before the sign goes up in the yard. But the market was in a slump, and they had no takers at all. Only three people even came to their open houses, and none of them were even qualified buyers. My boss is Catholic, though not practicing, and I am Methodist. After months of listening to her tales of woe about not being able to sell the house, and me repeatedly urging her to at least try the St. Joseph thing, I put my foot down. I called the nearest religious bookstore to make sure they had some in stock, handed her the money and made her leave work early to pick one up.
She got up the next morning, and before she left for work at 8:30, she buried St. Joseph as per the instructions, said the prayer, and came in to work.
At a little before 11 am she got a call from the realtor saying someone had called asking to look at the house, which he had driven by that morning, and she was meeting him there in a few minutes. By 11:30 they had a bid, which they accepted. The house sold, she duly dug up St.Joe and has him in a place of honor in her kitchen of her new home, and she urges everyone she knows who is selling a home to do the same…and at least one had the same extremely rapid success.
I no longer have the prayer card that came with my kit (it got wet and stuck to a shelf). IIRC, it was very similar to this:
"O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen "
The prayer does not instruct one to bury the statue. The instructions can be found in common folklore, and are highly variable.
I wanted to wish you well and also to say “Burying St Joseph” sounds like a thinly veiled sexual euphemism.
Hmmm. It appears that just thinking about burying a statue might be working. After having just 1 showing in about 12 weeks, we’ve now got one for today and one for tomorrow.
Of course, it’s got nothing to do with our dropping the asking cost last week.
How can 2 million statue buyers be wrong?
Maybe he saw this thread and got nervous. 
Well, first you divide by 5…
I just had to finish this thread out.
On the 28th (Friday), we had a showing.
On the 29th (Saturday), they came back to view it again.
On the 31st (Monday), they saw it a third time.
On March 1st (Tuesday) they made an offer. After a couple of rounds, we came to an agreement.
On March 2st (Wednesday) we had the inspection and there is now a sold sign in front of our house.
flight, want to come bury a couple of statues in my yard, and see if they sell?
Congratulations! St. Joe comes through again! (Because I’m sure it had nothing to do with your reducing the price)
StG