Saint Joseph

The Gospels don’t record a single word Joseph said. Even so, the Church honors him above every other saint except Mary. Matthew and Luke tell us he was a carpenter from the line of David. While he was engaged to Mary, he found out she was pregnant, and under the custom of the time he could have quietly called off the marriage. Then an angel came to him in a dream, told him the child was from the Holy Spirit and that he was to name him Jesus. Joseph didn’t hesitate: he took Mary as his wife.

Flight into Egypt

When King Herod heard that a "King of the Jews" had been born, he ordered all the baby boys in Bethlehem to be killed. Joseph was warned in another dream and fled with his family to Egypt by night. Because of that short, dangerous journey, the Church sees Joseph as the patron of migrants, of refugees, and of fathers who protect their families at any cost. After Herod died, the family went back to Nazareth, and Joseph taught Jesus his own trade.

A Quiet Faithfulness

The last time Joseph appears in the Gospels is when the twelve-year-old Jesus goes missing for three days and is found in the Temple in Jerusalem. After that he is never mentioned again. Tradition says he died before Jesus began his public ministry, with Mary and Jesus at his side, which is why he is the patron of a happy death. In 1870 Pope Pius IX declared him "Protector of the Universal Church," and in 2021 Pope Francis dedicated a whole year to him, calling him "a father in the shadows": someone who never sought attention but could not have been done without. He is the patron of workers, fathers and families, and his feast day is March 19.