Hey Deacon!

This past week some parishioners made a pledge to turn away from their old habits and strive to be more like St. Joseph. They consecrated themselves to Jesus through St. Joseph on his feast day, March 19.

 St. Joseph is a man of few words. In fact, he is a silent figure of the New Testament. The Gospel does not record one spoken word from St. Joseph, but his role in salvation history is very important. 

St. Joseph was “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4). Because of this ancestry, St. Joseph is the linkage between the old covenant made with Abraham and Moses and the new, perfect, and everlasting covenant which will be made through the blood of Jesus. He brings to a close the notion of the Patriarch’s promised land and King David’s established kingdom and prepares the way for Jesus, the Messiah. 

Tradition holds that St. Joseph died before Jesus began His public ministry. This belief is based on two points: First, he never appeared during Jesus’ public ministry while Mary did, like at the wedding feast at Cana. And second, from the cross Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to St. John the apostle, indicating she was a widow with no other children to care for her. Tradition holds that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary and for this reason, St. Joseph is the patron saint of a holy death.

 Great saints have held strong devotion to St. Joseph. St. Bernardine of Siena (d. 1444) preached, “He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of His greatest treasures, namely, His divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity.” 

St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) in her Life wrote, “I took St. Joseph as my advocate and protector, and recommended myself very earnestly to him. He came to my help in the most visible manner. This loving father of my soul, this beloved protector…” 

Popes through the ages of the Church have also recognized the importance of St. Joseph: 

Pope Pius IX declared him the Patron of the Catholic Church (1870). Pope Leo XIII in Quamquam Pluries (1889) wrote, “Joseph was the guardian, the administrator and the legitimate and natural defender of the divine household of which he was the head…which he wrapped in his holy protection, he now covers with his heavenly patronage and defends the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Pope St. John Paul II in Redemptoris Custos (1989) exhorted the faithful to look to St. Joseph in our troubled age: “This patronage must be invoked, and it is always necessary for the Church, not only to defend it against dangers ceaselessly cropping up, but also and above all to support it in those fearful efforts at evangelizing the world.” 

Lastly, St. Joseph has been honored in our liturgy. Since the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313, a Mass has been offered in his honor, beginning in the Eastern Church. Many years later, Pope St. John XXIII on November 13, 1962, ordered St. Joseph’s name be inserted into the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I), a proper recognition for the Guardian of the Universal Church.

 St. Joseph’s feast day, March 19, is a solemnity and traditionally a holy day of obligation throughout most of the universal Church (Canon #1246). And In 1955, Pope Pius XII established the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1 to present St. Joseph as the exemplar of all working men and women and the dignity of human labor in contrast to the “May Day” celebrations of communist countries. 

May each of us honor and cherish the example of St. Joseph, trusting in his prayers to help us on the path of salvation.



Author Bio:
 Deacon Dan Vaughn