St. Joseph

Feast Day: March 19

Canonized: Pre-Congregation

All that we know about St. Joseph — Mary’s husband and Jesus’ foster-father — comes directly from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. He was a carpenter (or stoneworker) in Nazareth.

There is nothing in the scriptures concerning either Joseph or Mary from the time the couple found Jesus (aged 12) in the temple until Our Lord began his public ministry 18 years later. The next time we hear anything about Jesus’ parents is at the wedding of Cana. Jesus, Mary and his disciples attended the wedding. The gospels don’t mention Joseph. It would have been improper for Mary to attend without Joseph, unless she was in fact widowed at the time.

Traditional sentiment says that Joseph died in the arms of Jesus and Mary sometime between the time that Jesus was 12 and the beginning of his public ministry. Saint Joseph was a faithful, hard-working, loving husband and father who courageously did everything necessary to protect his family from the vengeful King Herod.

Devotion to St. Joseph began in the Eastern Church, while in the Western or Latin Church, devotion to the saint was spread through the Servite Order, who celebrated St. Joseph’s feast day on March 19 as early as 1324. By 1621, Pope Gregory XV spread the devotion of St. Joseph throughout the Western Church.

In 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph as the Patron Saint of the Universal Church. To counter the Soviet Union’s celebration of May Day (May 1) to celebrate the Communist revolution, Pope Pius XII established the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955, honoring him as a laborer and encouraging those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. He is also Patron of a Happy Death.

This column is produced for Legatus by the Dead Theologians Society, a Catholic apostolate for high school-age teens and college-age young adults. On the web: deadtheologianssociety.com.