25 Facts About Saint Joseph

In Catholic traditions, Joseph is regarded as the patron saint of workers and is associated with various feast days.

Several venerated images of Saint Joseph have been granted a decree of canonical coronation by a pontiff.

Saint Joseph is not mentioned as being present at the Wedding at Cana at the beginning of Jesus' mission, nor at the Passion at the end.

Saint Joseph appears in Luke as the father of Jesus and in a "variant reading in Matthew".

Saint Joseph's description as a "tekton" has been traditionally translated into English as "carpenter", but is a rather general word that could cover makers of objects in various materials.

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At the time of Saint Joseph, Nazareth was an obscure village in Galilee, about 65 kilometres from the Holy City of Jerusalem, and is barely mentioned in surviving non-Christian texts and documents.

Name "Saint Joseph" is found almost exclusively in the genealogies and the infancy narratives.

Gerson wrote Consideration sur Saint Joseph and preached sermons on Saint Joseph at the Council of Constance.

Likewise, Leo stated that Saint Joseph "set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing".

Together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, Saint Joseph is one of the three members of the Holy Family; since he only appears in the birth narratives of the Gospels, Jesus is depicted as a child when with him.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, the feast day of Saint Joseph is celebrated on the First Sunday after the Nativity of Christ.

In Sicily, where Saint Joseph is regarded by many as their patron saint, and in many Italian-American communities, thanks are given to Saint Joseph for preventing a famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages.

Foods are traditionally served containing bread crumbs to represent sawdust since Saint Joseph was a carpenter.

Saint Joseph is well known as the patron saint of fathers, both families and virgins, workers, especially carpenters, expecting mothers and unborn children.

Saint Joseph is invoked against hesitation and for the grace of a holy death.

Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Sisters of St Saint Joseph were founded as an order in 1650 and have about 14,013 members worldwide.

Verily, Saint Joseph the betrothed, saw clearly in his old age that the foresayings of the Prophets hadbeen fulfilled openly; for he was given an odd earnest, receiving inspiration from the angels, who cried, Glory to God; for he hath bestowed peace on earth.

Saint Joseph is frequently invoked for employment, daily protection, vocation, happy marriage, and a happy death.

In mosaics in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore Saint Joseph is portrayed young, bearded and dressed as a Roman of status.

Saint Joseph is shown mostly with a beard, not only in keeping with Jewish custom, but because – although the Gospel accounts do not give his age – later legends tend to present him as an old man at the time of his wedding to Mary.

Saint Joseph is often portrayed as a younger or even youthful man, whether going about his work as a carpenter, or participating actively in the daily life of Mary and Jesus as an equal and openly affectionate member.

Saint Joseph is virginal – it is Joseph's task to stand aside and let us desire her, religiously.

Some statues of Saint Joseph depict his staff as topped with flowers, recalling the non-canonical Gospel of James's account of how Mary's spouse was chosen by collecting the walking sticks of widowers in Palestine, and Saint Joseph's alone bursting into flower, thus identifying him as divinely chosen.

Several Eastern Orthodox Nativity icons show Saint Joseph tempted by the Devil to break off his betrothal, and how he resists that temptation.

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