Saint Joseph

Life and historical context

The biblical record concerning Saint Joseph is concentrated in the infancy narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, with brief appearances elsewhere in the Synoptics and in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. He is identified as a descendant of King David (Mt 1:1-16, Lk 3:23-38) and a tekton, a Greek term that the Latin Church traditionally renders as faber and the English-speaking Church as carpenter, though the Greek encompasses a wider range of skilled manual craftsmanship including stonemasonry and small construction (Mt 13:55, Mk 6:3).¹

Matthew records that Joseph was betrothed to Mary, and that on discovering her pregnancy before they had come together "he was minded to put her away privately, being a just man" (Mt 1:19). The angel of the Lord then appeared to him in a dream and revealed that the child Mary carried was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph took Mary as his wife and named the child Jesus, in obedience to the angelic instruction (Mt 1:20-25). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Joseph's "yes" to the angel mirrors Mary's "fiat" at the Annunciation, and that together they form the Holy Family in which the Eternal Word lived his earthly life.²

The Lukan infancy narrative records Joseph traveling with Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the Roman census ordered by Caesar Augustus and the governor Quirinius, and there witnessing the birth of Jesus in conditions of poverty (Lk 2:1-7). After the visitation of the shepherds and the rite of the Presentation in the Temple, Matthew records the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt to escape Herod's massacre of the male infants of Bethlehem (Mt 2:13-18) and their later return to settle in Nazareth (Mt 2:19-23). The Gospels record one further public appearance of Joseph during the childhood of Jesus, when the boy was found in the Temple at the age of twelve (Lk 2:41-52).

Joseph is not mentioned in any account of Jesus's public ministry. The constant tradition of the Church, treated already in the patristic period and developed in medieval theology, holds that Joseph died before that ministry began, and that he died in the presence of Mary and Jesus. From this tradition arises his patronage of a happy death, a devotion of long standing in Catholic spirituality.³

Theological and spiritual significance

The theological reflection on Joseph deepened progressively through the Latin tradition. The early patristic writers treated him with reserve, focusing on his role as guardian of the virginal conception. Saint Bernardine of Siena in the fifteenth century, Saint Teresa of Avila in the sixteenth, and Saint Francis de Sales in the seventeenth each contributed to a more developed theology of Saint Joseph, treating him as an exemplar of contemplative obedience and as the human father of the divine child.⁴

The modern theological treatment of Joseph rests on a sequence of papal documents. In 1870 Pope Pius IX, in the apostolic letter Quemadmodum Deus, declared Saint Joseph Patron of the Universal Church. The declaration was made on 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and explicitly grounded the patronage in Joseph's role as the divinely appointed protector of the Holy Family: as he guarded Jesus and Mary in life, so he is asked to guard the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ. Pope Leo XIII expanded the theological treatment in his encyclical Quamquam Pluries (1889), composing for the universal Church the prayer "To you, O blessed Joseph, do we have recourse in our tribulation."⁵

The twentieth century brought a further development. In 1955 Pope Pius XII established the liturgical feast of Saint Joseph the Worker on 1 May, in deliberate response to the Communist annual observance of International Workers' Day, and to provide the Catholic faithful with a Christian framework for the dignity of labor. In 1962 Pope John XXIII inserted Joseph's name into the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) of the Mass, the first addition to that text in many centuries, and the form has been retained in the post-Vatican II Missal. In 1989 Pope John Paul II, in the apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos, treated Joseph as the human father in whose obedience the redemptive economy was guarded and transmitted.⁶

In 2020, on the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis issued the apostolic letter Patris Corde and proclaimed a Year of Saint Joseph for the Church. Patris Corde names seven facets of Joseph's fatherhood: a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a creatively courageous father, a working father, and a father in the shadows. The seven-fold structure has become a recent organizing frame for Joseph devotion in parishes and households.⁷

Devotion and liturgical observance

Saint Joseph is honored in the universal Roman Calendar with two feasts. The principal feast, Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, falls on 19 March and carries the rank of a solemnity. When 19 March falls within Holy Week, the feast is transferred to the Saturday before Holy Week or to a date after Easter, in keeping with the principle that the major liturgical seasons take precedence. The second feast, Saint Joseph the Worker, falls on 1 May and carries the rank of an optional memorial, leaving 1 May open for local observances or for the saints whose feast falls on that date.⁸

The fasting and prayer cycle leading to the 19 March feast is an ancient observance, particularly in Italy and across the Latin world. The Italian tradition of the Saint Joseph's Table (La Tavola di San Giuseppe) on 19 March, originally from Sicily, involves the preparation of a public banquet of meatless dishes (the day falls in Lent) which is then offered to the poor of the parish. Maple-syrup-glazed pastries known as zeppole di San Giuseppe are a traditional element of the day in Italian-American Catholic communities.

In Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Saint Joseph holds special prominence as the patron of fathers and of the dignity of labor, and the National Sanctuary of Saint Joseph in Mexico City is among the largest centers of Joseph devotion in the world. The Oratory of Saint Joseph on Mount Royal in Montreal, founded by the lay brother now known as Saint André Bessette and consecrated in 1955, is the largest church in Canada and a major pilgrimage destination for Joseph devotion in North America.

The traditional iconography of Joseph shows him as a mature man with a beard, dressed in working garments, often holding a lily (the symbol of his chastity and of his selection by the high priest in the apocryphal infancy traditions), carrying a carpenter's square or saw, and frequently carrying or standing beside the infant Jesus. He is often depicted with Mary and the Christ Child as the Holy Family. His liturgical color on the 19 March feast is white.

Prayers and novenas associated with Saint Joseph

The principal devotion to Saint Joseph in current Catholic practice is the Saint Joseph Novena, a nine-day prayer recited for protection of family, employment, and a holy death. The novena is most commonly prayed in the nine days leading up to 19 March, but it is also widely prayed for specific intentions involving family, work, and house-related petitions throughout the year.

A traditional thirty-day prayer cycle to Saint Joseph, the Thirty Days' Prayer to Saint Joseph, is recited daily for one month for grave intentions. Catholics also commonly pair Joseph devotions with the Litany of Saint Joseph, the Memorare addressed to Mary (his wife), and the Our Father and Hail Mary.

A practice of unbroken popular Catholic devotion, especially in real-estate transactions, is the burial of a small statue of Saint Joseph upside-down in the yard of a house being sold, accompanied by daily prayer for a swift sale. The custom is folkloric rather than liturgical and has no official Church promotion, but it remains widespread enough that Catholic stores sell Saint Joseph "home seller kits" packaging the statue with prayer instructions. The Catholic Church neither requires nor forbids the practice and treats it as a matter of permissible popular piety.

For broader theological context, see Communion of Saints for the doctrinal grounding of intercessory prayer through the canonized, and the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary where Joseph appears in the meditations on the Annunciation, Nativity, Presentation, and Finding of Jesus in the Temple.

Sources

Footnotes

1. New Testament references to Joseph: Mt 1:1-25, 2:13-23, 13:55; Lk 1:27, 2:1-52, 3:23, 4:22; Jn 1:45, 6:42; Acts 1:14 (where Mary is "the mother of Jesus" with the apostles, Joseph having died). The Greek term tekton and its Latin and English renderings are treated in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), "Joseph, Saint." ↩

2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 437, 488, 532, and 534, on Joseph's place in the economy of the Incarnation. Paragraph 437 treats Joseph as the legal Davidic father of Jesus through whom the messianic genealogy is traced. Available at vatican.va. ↩

3. Butler's Lives of the Saints, March 19 entry on Saint Joseph (1894 edition, public domain). The tradition of Joseph's death in the presence of Jesus and Mary is patristic in origin and is treated more fully in the writings of Saint Francis de Sales. ↩

4. Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), "Joseph, Saint," available at newadvent.org. The progressive deepening of Catholic theology on Joseph through the medieval and counter-reformation periods is discussed in the same article. ↩

5. Pope Pius IX, Quemadmodum Deus (apostolic letter, 8 December 1870), declaring Saint Joseph Patron of the Universal Church. Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries (encyclical, 15 August 1889), expanding the theology of the patronage. Both documents are available in the Vatican archive at vatican.va. ↩

6. Pope Pius XII, Le Voci (allocution, 1 May 1955), establishing the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Pope John XXIII, Novis Hisce Temporibus (1962), inserting Joseph's name into the Roman Canon. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos (apostolic exhortation, 15 August 1989). All available at vatican.va. ↩

7. Pope Francis, Patris Corde (apostolic letter, 8 December 2020), declaring a Year of Saint Joseph from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021. Available at vatican.va. ↩

8. General Roman Calendar, current edition, on the rank and date of the two feasts of Saint Joseph. The transfer rule for 19 March falling within Holy Week is set out in the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar. ↩