Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
We think we know Saint Joseph. Or do we?
Today (the first day of spring!) is one of Joseph’s two feast days. In 1955 Pope Pius XII added Joseph the Worker on May 1– International Workers Day.
He has no recorded words in Scripture. Thus, “Joseph the Silent.”
He never appears in Mark and is mentioned only once in John. Our earliest New Testament writer, Paul,
never mentions him at all. In fact, it isn’t until the 80s of the first century that Joseph is referred to (by Matthew), probably more than 60 years after his death.
For Luke (85 or later), after the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple, Joseph disappears entirely from the scene.
The Gospels refer to him as a “tekton” — one who works with his hands. He may have been more of a stonemason than a carpenter. Outside of implements for farming (such as yokes) there was little use for carpenters in first century Galilee. And wood was scarce.
As stonemasons, Joseph and the adolescent Jesus would have readily found work in the rebuilding of metropolis Sepphoris, just 3 miles away. (Sepphoris was leveled by Rome after a rebellion there and was rebuilt at the time of Jesus’s boyhood and adolescence.)
Medieval and Renaissance art depicts Joseph as an old man but in all probability he was a teenager like Mary when Jesus was born. Think high school upperclassman.
He is the perfection of Joseph the Dreamer of the Book of Genesis. The Fathers of the Church gave him the singular honor as “Savior of the Savior.” His earliest title was “Nutritor Domini,” “Guardian of the Lord.” He is patron of a happy death as well as of the Universal Church.
Pope John XXIII placed his name in the Eucharistic Prayers in 1962.
There are seven parishes in our Archdiocese named in his honor, one here in Dayton. He is a patron saint of our own pastor at IC.
He has many titles. A school in Youngstown, Ohio is lovingly named “Saint Joseph the Provider.” He is also known as “Terror of Demons” and is addressed as such in exorcisms.
It is wise for us to do what Christians have done in times of great need: “Go to Joseph” (Genesis 41:55), for in truth Joseph has the ear of the savior he saved, for whom he was parent, protector, and provider.
-Timothy J. Cronin