Official feasts used to be an important part of the human community. People would gather together to remember something sacred, express their faith and hope for the future, and / or just be together formally, recognizing each other as being part of a shared community. Few things express a desire for shared companionship and social intimacy more than dining together. Sadly, the gathering together for feasting is increasingly a relic of the past – at least here in the West.
It need not be so! Today we will remember the ancient feasts.
The Feast Day of St. Joseph
This Feast Day honors St. Joseph, the first century earthly father of Jesus Christ. One of the more important Christian saints, Joseph is honored throughout the entire month of March and is the patron saint of fathers, workers, carpenters, married people, persons living in exile, the sick and dying, for a happy death.
St. Joseph is not mentioned much in the Gospels. However, there are a lot of ancient Church traditions and extra-textual writing about his life – a lot of which we’ll look at below. Josephology is a significant recent trend in theological study as well.
Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism and Lutheranism. In Catholic traditions, Joseph is regarded as the patron saint of workers and is associated with various feast days. The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Pope Pius IX declared him to be both the patron and the protector of the Catholic Church, in addition to his patronages of the sick and of a holy death, due to the belief that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Joseph has become patron of various dioceses and places. Being a patron saint of virgins, he is venerated as “most chaste”. A specific veneration is attributed to the pure and most Chaste Heart of Joseph.
Several venerated images of Saint Joseph have been granted a decree of canonical coronation by a pontiff. Religious iconography often depicts him with lilies or spikenard. With the present-day growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centers for studying it have been formed.
The Pauline epistles are the oldest extant Christian writings. These mention Jesus’ mother (without naming her), but do not refer to his father. The Gospel of Mark, believed to be the first gospel to be written and with a date about two decades after Paul, also does not mention Jesus’ father.
The first appearance of Joseph is in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, often dated from around 80–90 AD. Each contains a genealogy of Jesus showing ancestry from King David, but through different sons; Matthew follows the major royal line from Solomon, while Luke traces another line back to Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. Consequently, all the names between David and Joseph are different.
Like the two differing genealogies, the infancy narratives appear only in Matthew and Luke and take different approaches to reconciling the requirement that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem with the tradition that Jesus in fact came from Nazareth. In Matthew, Joseph obeys the direction of an angel to marry Mary. Following the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Joseph is told by an angel in a dream to take the family to Egypt to escape the massacre of the children of Bethlehem planned by Herod, the ruler of the Roman province of Judea. Once Herod has died, an angel tells Joseph to return but to avoid Herod’s son, and he takes his wife and the child to Nazareth in Galilee and settles there. Thus in Matthew, the infant Jesus, like Moses, is in peril from a cruel king, like Moses he has a (fore)father named Joseph who goes down to Egypt, like the Old Testament Joseph this Joseph has a father named Jacob, and both Josephs receive important dreams foretelling their future.
In the Gospel of Luke, Joseph already lives in Nazareth, and Jesus is born in Bethlehem because Joseph and Mary have to travel there to be counted in a census. Subsequently, Jesus was born there. Luke’s account makes no mention of him being visited by angels (Mary and various others instead receive similar visitations), the Massacre of the Innocents, or of the flight into Egypt.
The last time Joseph appears in person in any of the canonical Gospels is in the narrative of the Passovervisit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is 12 years old, which is found only in Luke. No mention is made of him thereafter. The story emphasizes Jesus’ awareness of his coming mission: here Jesus speaks to both Mary and Joseph of “my father,” meaning God, but they fail to understand.
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. If he had been present at the Crucifixion, he would under Jewish custom have been expected to take charge of Jesus’ body, but this role is instead performed by Joseph of Arimathea. Nor would Jesus have entrusted his mother to the care of John the Apostle if her husband had been alive.
While none of the Gospels mentions Joseph as present at any event during Jesus’ adult ministry, the synoptic Gospels share a scene in which the people of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, doubt Jesus’ status as a prophet because they know his family. In Mark 6:3, they call Jesus “Mary’s son” instead of naming his father. In Matthew, the townspeople call Jesus “the carpenter’s son,” again without naming his father. In Luke 3:23 NIV: “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,”; or alternatively punctuated: “(ὡς ἐνομ. τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ) τοῦ Ἡλί, ‘the son (as supposed of Joseph, but in reality) of Heli'”. In Luke the tone of the contemporary people is positive, whereas in Mark and Matthew it is disparaging. This incident does not appear in John, but in a parallel story, the disbelieving neighbors refer to “Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know”.
Lineage
Joseph appears in Luke as the father of Jesus and in a “variant reading in Matthew”. Matthew and Luke both contain a genealogy of Jesus showing his ancestry from David, but through different sons; Matthew follows the major royal line from Solomon, while Luke traces another line back to Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. Consequently, all the names between David and Joseph are different. According to Matthew 1:16 “Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary”, while according to Luke 3:23, Joseph is said to be “the son of Heli“.
The variances between the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke are explained in a number of ways. One possibility is that Matthew’s genealogy traces Jesus’ legal descent, according to Jewish law, through Joseph; while Luke’s genealogy traces his actual physical descent through Mary. Another possibility proposed by Julius Africanus is that both Joseph and his father were the sons of Levirate marriages. A third explanation proposed by Augustine of Hippo is that Joseph was adopted, and his two genealogies trace Joseph’s lineage through his biological and adopted families.
In the Gospels, Joseph’s occupation is mentioned only once. The Gospel of Matthew asks about Jesus:
Is not this the carpenter’s son (ho tou tektōnos huios)?
Joseph’s description as a “tekton” (τέκτων) has been traditionally translated into English as “carpenter”, but is a rather general word (from the same root that gives us “technical”, “technology”) that could cover makers of objects in various materials. The Greek term evokes an artisan with wood in general, or an artisan in iron or stone. But the specific association with woodworking is a constant in Early Christian tradition; Justin Martyr (died c. 165) wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs, and there are similar early references.
Other scholars have argued that tekton could equally mean a highly skilled craftsman in wood or the more prestigious metal, perhaps running a workshop with several employees, and noted sources recording the shortage of skilled artisans at the time. Géza Vermes has stated that the terms ‘carpenter’ and ‘son of a carpenter’ are used in the Jewish Talmud to signify a very learned man, and he suggests that a description of Joseph as ‘naggar’ (a carpenter) could indicate that he was considered wise and highly literate in the Torah. At the time of Joseph, Nazareth was an obscure village in Galilee, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from the Holy City of Jerusalem, and is barely mentioned in surviving non-Christian texts and documents. Archaeology over most of the site is made impossible by subsequent building, but from what has been excavated and tombs in the area around the village, it is estimated that the population was at most about 400. It was, however, only about 6 kilometers from the city of Sepphoris, which was destroyed and depopulated by the Romans in 4 BC, and thereafter was expensively rebuilt. Analysis of the landscape and other evidence suggest that in Joseph’s lifetime Nazareth was “oriented toward” the nearby city, which had an overwhelmingly Jewish population although with many signs of Hellenization, and historians have speculated that Joseph and later Jesus too might have traveled daily to work on the rebuilding. Specifically the large theatre in the city has been suggested, although this has aroused much controversy over dating and other issues. Other scholars see Joseph and Jesus as the general village craftsmen, working in wood, stone, and metal on a wide variety of jobs.
Modern appraisal
Death of Saint Joseph, following the apocryphal account. Jacques Stella, 1650s
The name “Joseph” is found almost exclusively in the genealogies and the infancy narratives.
The canonical gospels created a problem: they stated clearly that Mary conceives Jesus virginally, and Joseph is not his father; however, Jesus was described unambiguously by John and Matthew as “Joseph’s son” and “the carpenter’s son”, and Joseph’s paternity was essential to establish Jesus’ Davidic descent. The theological situation was complicated by the gospel references to “brothers and sisters” of Jesus, who may have been: (1) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph; (2) sons of Mary, the wife of Clopas and sister of Mary the mother of Jesus; or (3) sons of Joseph by a former marriage.
Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph’s first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and betrothed to Mary, and that references to Jesus’ “brothers” were children of Joseph from a previous marriage. A popular position held by many Catholics, derived from the writings of Jerome, is that Joseph was the husband of Mary, but that references to Jesus’ “brothers” should be understood to mean cousins. Such usage is prevalent throughout history, and occurs elsewhere in the Bible. Abraham‘s nephew Lot (Genesis 11:26-28) was referred to as his brother (Genesis 14:14), as was Jacob‘s uncle Laban (Genesis 29:15). Jesus himself frequently used the word “brother” as a generic term for one’s fellow man. This custom has continued into modern times, with close friends, colleagues, and fellow churchgoers often called “brothers and sisters.” Generally, most Protestants read “brothers and sisters” of Jesus as referring specifically to children born of Mary. The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary means among other things that Joseph and Mary never had sexual relations.
The term kiddushin, which refers to the first part of a two-part marriage, is frequently translated as “betrothal”. Couples who fulfill the requirements of the kiddushin are married, until death or divorce.
Death
The New Testament has no mention of Joseph’s death, but he is never mentioned after the story of finding Jesus in the temple when Jesus was 12.
This is in contrast with some eastern traditions that made Joseph out to be 90 years old, a tradition intended to protect Mary’s perpetual virginity. In the original Greek the words used to describe Joseph describe him as middle-aged. This fits with Joseph’s duties and aligns with the saints who said he was 33 when he married Mary.
Mauro Gagliardi presents a hypothesis that Joseph was assumed into Heaven with body and soul because he belongs to the few saints who left no bodily relics.
The Gospel of James (also known as the Protoevangelium of James), written about 150 AD, presents Joseph as an old man chosen by God to watch over the Virgin. Jesus’ brothers are presented as Joseph’s children by an earlier marriage.
The History of Joseph the Carpenter, written in the 5th century and framed as a biography of Joseph dictated by Jesus, describes how Joseph, aged 90, a widower with four sons and two daughters, is given charge of the twelve-year-old Mary, who then lives in his household raising his youngest son James the Less (the supposed author of the Protoevangelium) until she is ready to be married at age 14½. Joseph’s death aged 111, attended by angels and asserting the perpetual virginity of Mary, takes up approximately half the story.
Church Fathers
According to the bishop of Salamis, Epiphanius, in his work The Panarion (AD 374–375) Joseph became the father of James and his three brothers (Joses, Simeon, Judah) and two sisters (a Salome and a Mary or a Salome and an Anna) with James being the eldest sibling. James and his siblings were not children of Mary but were Joseph’s children from a previous marriage. After Joseph’s first wife died, many years later when he was eighty, “he took Mary (mother of Jesus)”.
Eusebius of Caesarea relates in his Church History (Book III, ch. 11) that “Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph and an uncle of Jesus.” Epiphanius adds that Joseph and Cleopas were brothers, sons of “Jacob, surnamed Panther.”
Origen quotes the Greek philosopher and opponent of early ChristianityCelsus (from his work On the True Doctrine, c. 178 AD) as controversially asserting that Joseph left Mary upon learning of her pregnancy: “…when she was pregnant she was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of adultery, and that she bore a child to a certain soldier named Pantera.” Origen, however, argues that Celsus’s claim was a fabricated story.
Veneration
The Nativity of Christ by Martin Schongauer (1475–1480)Holy Family with the Holy Trinity by Murillo, 1675–1682
The earliest records of a formal devotional following for Saint Joseph date to the year 800 and references to him as Nutritor Domini (educator/guardian of the Lord) began to appear in the 9th century, and continued growing to the 14th century. Thomas Aquinas discussed the necessity of the presence of Saint Joseph in the plan of the Incarnation for if Mary had not been married, the Jews would have stoned her and that in his youth Jesus needed the care and protection of a human father.
In the 15th century, major steps were taken by Bernardine of Siena, Pierre d’Ailly, and Jean Gerson. Gerson wrote Consideration sur Saint Joseph and preached sermons on Saint Joseph at the Council of Constance. In 1889 Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Quamquam pluries in which he urged Catholics to pray to Saint Joseph, as the patron of the church in view of the challenges facing the church. 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”
Josephology, the theological study of Saint Joseph, is one of the most recent theological disciplines. In 1989, on the occasion of the centenary of Quamquam pluries Pope John Paul II issued Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer), which presented Saint Joseph’s role in the plan of redemption, as part of the “redemption documents” issued by John Paul II such as Redemptoris Mater to which it refers.
Together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, 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. The formal veneration of the Holy Family began in the 17th century by François de Laval.
In 1870, Pope Pius IX declared Joseph patron of the Universal Church and instituted another feast, a solemnity to be held on the third Sunday of Eastertide. Pope Pius X, in order to restore the celebration of Sundays, moved this feast to the Wednesday in the second week after Easter, and gave it an octave. In 1955, Pope Pius XII introduced in its place the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker on 1 May in the General Roman Calendar as an ecclesiasical counterpart to the International Workers’ Day on the same day. This reflects Saint Joseph’s status as patron of workers. Pius XII established the feast both onor Saint Joseph, and to make people aware of the dignity of human work.
Pope Francis on 8 December 2020, released the apostolic letterPatris corde on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration by Pius IX, on 8 December 1870, of Saint Joseph as patron of the Universal Church; for the same reason he declared a Year of Saint Joseph, from 8 December 2020, to 8 December 2021.
What do you eat for the Feast Day of St. Joseph?
St. Joseph’s Day is associated with food-based celebration. One tradition for the feast day is called “St. Joseph’s Table.”
St. Joseph’s Day is, in Italy, also Father’s Day — which isn’t at all surprising as St. Joseph was, of course, the foster father of Jesus. This feast and festival — which always falls in the midst of Lent — is especially commemorated and celebrated in Italy in general and Sicily in particular.
The tradition of the “St. Joseph Table” of food (“la tavala di San Giuseppe”) has its origins in Sicily. Legends from the Middle Ages attributed the end of a devastating drought to a prayer-devotion that the Sicilian people made to St. Joseph. This celebration is a symbolic “thank you” and renewal of the Sicilian people’s devotion to St. Joseph. It is a shared celebration with the entire community where the riches of food are given as alms to the poor: Traditional etiquette is that no one can be turned away from this table. As it is a living tradition, it has many interpreters and many food entries have been added and deleted along the way but two constants remain: no meat and sesame-coated breads in symbolic shapes.
A St. Joseph’s Day “Table” or “Altar” is a makeshift shrine-cum-dinner-festival held in one’s home, or more recently a church hall or club hall. The host family or group creates what amounts to a kinetic work of art. This table is rife with symbolism, particularly the decorative breads. It was this part of the meal that brought my own family’s bakery in Niagara Falls to be a participant in hundreds of these celebrations. Sicilian bakers sprinkle copious amounts of sesame seeds — which resemble and symbolize teardrops — on the many different types of St. Joseph’s Day breads which our family bakery has been producing for 96 years.
The breads themselves are made from the same dough that forms our Italian bread — a recipe that came from Italy with my great-grandfather — and come in the following shapes for St. Joseph’s Day:
The Latin Cross: The ultimate symbol of our Lord’s suffering and salvation.
The Bambino: The baby Jesus to whom St. Joseph was foster father.
St. Joseph’s Staff: Legend has it that St. Joseph’s staff blossomed into a lily, a symbol both of life and death.
St. Joseph’s Purse: This symbol is a reminder to give alms to the poor during Lent.
A Sheaf of Wheat: Wheat is a reminder that, when a single, tiny grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it bears much more food at harvest time — and that the early spring harvest of greens is almost here.
St. Joseph himself: He is always represented in profile and hunched over with a cane, symbolizing that he was (according to tradition) an old man, while Mary was a much younger woman.
St. Joseph’s Beard: This is actually just the Sheaf of Wheat turned upside down, but young children delight when their fathers and grandfathers hold their beard up to their face. It is another reminder of Joseph’s wisdom and old age.
Heart: A symbol of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary that flourished throughout Italy in general and Sicily in particular in the 19th century.
The Crown of Thorns: This is in remembrance of Christ’s passion and a reminder that, despite the day’s feasting among Lent’s fasting, Lent is still a season of sorrow — but of hope, too!
The St. Joseph’s Day altar, in addition to the breads above, contains a plethora of non-meat dishes due to the fact that St. Joseph’s Day always falls during the penitential season of Lent, and meat is forbidden on the Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. The very first “greens” of springtime, dandelions and cardones (“burdock”), are sprinkled on pizza. Fish and seafood from both the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas, especially anchovies and sardines (from “Sardinia”, another Italian island), are served on Foccaccia (Italian flat-bread), and Biscotti Di Camillo (a twice-baked Italian toast-bread). Other St. Joseph’s Day staples include eggplant Caponata, excellent for dipping with Italian bread; as well as Pasta con Sarde, egg frittas, bean dishes, olives, and especially lentils.
Beautiful as the St. Joseph’s Day Table is to behold, it is a practical work of art: it is meant to feed not only friends and relatives but, traditionally, to feed the hungry strangers, those who cannot host their own Table either due to poverty or a particularly bad harvest in their family or having run out of food over the wintertime. Stunning to behold and delicious to partake in, a St. Joseph’s Day Table is a tradition which is still carried on to this day. Perhaps the fact that it is not as well known as St. Patrick’s day corned-beef-and-cabbage is that it emphasizes “food” over “drink.”
Ironically my family founded our first bakery on the same street in Niagara Falls as our parish church — named St. Joseph’s — which has married and buried, baptized and anointed generations of us. Indeed, our first bakery also served as a grocery store where many items, from tuna (tonna) to tomato paste to eggplant Caponata could be picked up in preparation for St. Joseph’s table.
As no feast is complete without dessert, no St. Joseph’s altar would be finished without the flourish of sweet items. My family proudly purveys, after nearly a century, a plethora of biscotti and cookies. Biscotti Di Prato (twice-baked almond dunking-cookies), authentic Sicilian fig-filled Bucaletti Cucudatti, Biscotti Regina (another anise cookie, covered in those same sorrowful sesame seeds); Biscotti di Vino, the venerable biscuit made with red wine (and also covered with sesame seeds), Pane di Spagne (a larger, more airy biscotti), and Biscotti Amaretti (almond macaroons) a cookie fundamental to any Sicilian dessert platter.
However, while my family hails from the Abruzzi, many of our bakers were Sicilian — as were the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Ragusa at our grade school. As first generation Sicilian-Americans, who came here to found a school, they produced a St. Joseph’s table (and still do!) that was the finest I’ve ever been invited to partake in.
Viva San Giuseppe!
After reading about the tradition above, I am going to provide a dessert recipe:
2 egg yolks, plus 1 if dough crumbles 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 2 1/2 cups/10 1/2 ounces/300 g sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, for glaze 3 1/2 cups/17 1/2 ounces/500 g all-purpose flour 1 (.5 ounce/16 g) package Lievito Pane degu Angeli (vanilla-flavored Italian leavener) Zest of 1 orange Pinch salt 2 cups raw, unpeeled almonds 2 eggs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the almonds on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wide ceramic platter to cool off. Do not leave them on the cookie sheet or they will continue to cook and burn.
Turn oven up to 350 degrees F.
In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, beat 2 eggs, 2 yolks, melted butter, and 10 1/2 ounces sugar on medium speed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, package of Lievito Pane degu Angeli, orange zest, and pinch of salt then slowly, one spoonful at the time, add the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture and work until the dough forms and starts coming away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. Cook’s Note: The dough should not be too wet. If the dough crumbles, add an extra egg yolk to bind the ingredients.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the almonds; do this final step by hand as the almonds would break if added into the mixer.
Butter 2 cookie sheets and, using your hands, separate the dough in two equal parts that you will roll into cylinders approximately 2-inches thick by 8-inches long.
In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons sugar and one egg, then with a pastry brush glaze the cookie dough evenly and place the sheets in the oven.
Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, until the top has reached a nice golden brown color.
Remove from the oven and rest on a cooling rack for about 1 hour, then using a bread knife, slice the cookies about 3/4-inch thick.
To ensure a proper crunchiness, leave the cookies to rest uncovered through the night, and then toast them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes on each side the day after. When they cool off for the second time the will be perfectly “tempered”.
Cook’s Note
This traditional cookie from Prato is supposed to be real dry and crunchy; it is in fact our regional dipping cookie, generally consumed after a meal with a glass of Vin Santo. 500 grams flour equals 3 1/2 cups flour and 300 grams equals 2 1/2 cups sugar.
What is a prayer to say for the Feast Day of St. Joseph?
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, during the feast day of Saint Joseph the following hymn is chanted:
Verily, Joseph the betrothed, saw clearly in his old age that the foresayings of the Prophets had been 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.
Pope Pius X composed a prayer to Saint Joseph which begins:
Glorious St. Joseph, pattern of all who are devoted to toil, obtain for me the grace to toil, in the spirit of penance, in order to thereby atone for my many sins …
When is the Feast Day of St. Joseph celebrated?
19 March – Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Western Christianity)
1 May – Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker (Catholic Church)
The Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord (Eastern Christianity)
Monday after sixth Sunday after feast of the Holy Cross (Armenian Apostolic Church)
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