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Saints/Martyrs/Heroes/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Lent, St. Joseph
Saint Joseph (Hebrew יוֹסֵף, "Yosef"; Greek: Ἰωσήφ) is an important figure in Christian belief as the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ (in distinction to God, his "heavenly father").
The earliest Christian records, the epistles of Paul, make no reference to Jesus's father, and nor does Mark, the first of the Gospels. [1] The first appearance of Joseph is therefore in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, both of which have a genealogy that traces Joseph's lineage back to King David. The two lists give differing genealogies: Matthew says that Joseph's father was called Jacob,[Mt. 1:16]but Luke says he was the son of Heli. However this contradiction can be resolved when read in the light that Matthew's genealogy lists his natural geneology through Mary; while Luke's lists his legal genealogy, according to Jewish religious law, through Joseph. [Lk. 3:23]Matthew and Luke are also the only Gospels to include the Infancy Narratives, the stories of Jesus' birth and infancy. In Luke, Joseph lives in Nazareth, travels to Bethlehem in compliance with the requirements of a Roman census. Subsequently, Jesus was born there. In Matthew, Joseph was in Bethlehem, the city of David, where Jesus is born, and then moves to Nazareth with his family after the death of Herod. Matthew is the only Gospel to include the narrative of the Massacre of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt: following the Nativity, Joseph stays in Bethlehem for an unspecified period (perhaps two years) until forced by the evil King Herod to take refuge in Egypt; on the death of Herod he brings his family back to Israel, and settles in Nazareth. After this point there is no further mention of Joseph by name, although the story of Jesus in the Temple, in Jesus's 12th year, includes a reference to "both his parents". Christian tradition represents Mary as a widow during the adult ministry of her son.[Jn. 19:26-27] The gospels describe Joseph as a "tekton" (τέκτων); traditionally the word has been taken to mean "carpenter", [2] though the Greek term evokes an artisan with wood in general, or an artisan in iron or stone. [3] Very little other information on Joseph is given in the Gospels, in which he never speaks.
Joseph is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran faiths. In Catholic and other traditions, Joseph is the patron saint of workers and has several feast days. He was also declared to be the patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions. With the growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centers for studying it have been formed. [4] [5]
Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni (c. 1635)
Died Nazareth (traditional)
Feast March 19 - Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (Western Christianity), May 1 - St. Joseph the Worker (Western Christianity),
The Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord (Eastern Christianity)
Attributes Carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, staff with lily blossoms.
Patronage The Universal Church, unborn children, fathers, immigrants, workers, against doubt and hesitation, and of a happy death, Vietnam. Many others; see [2].
1. Paul and the canonical Gospels
Holy Family with the Holy Spirit by Murillo, 1675-1682.
1. 1. Joseph in the New Testament
The oldest of all the witnesses to Jesus are some of the epistles of Paul, from roughly 51-58 AD. These mention Jesus' mother (without naming her), but never refer to his father. Joseph first appears in the Genealogy of Jesus, which appears only in the Matthew and Luke. Luke names Joseph's own father as Eli, but Matthew names him as Jacob, in keeping with that gospel's depiction of Jesus as a second Moses. [1] This theme is developed further in the infancy narratives, which, like the genealogies, have the function of establishing Jesus as the promised Messiah, the descendant of David, born in Bethlehem. Like the 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 came from Nazareth. In Matthew, Joseph, already living in Bethlehem, obeys the direction of an angel to marry Mary and then to flee to Egypt to escape the massacre of the children of Bethlehem planned by Herod the Great, the tyrant who rules Judea. [6] Once Herod has died, the angel tells him to return to the land of Israel, but to Galilee instead of to Bethlehem, and so Joseph takes his wife and the child to Nazareth and settles there. [7] 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. [1] In 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. Luke's account makes no mention of angels and dreams, the Massacre of the Innocents, or of a visit to Egypt.
The last time Joseph appears in person in any Gospel is the story of the Passover visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is 12 years old, found only in Luke. Like the infancy narratives the story is didactic, emphasising Jesus' awareness of his coming mission: here Jesus speaks to his parents (both of them) of "my father," meaning God, but they fail to understand. [8]
None of the Gospels mentions Joseph as present at any event during Jesus' adult ministry. The synoptic Gospels, however, share a scene in which the people of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, doubt Jesus' status as a prophet because they know his family. In Mark, the first Gospel to be written (about 70 AD), they call Jesus "Mary's son" instead of naming his father - tantamount to calling him illegitimate. [1] [9] A Joseph (Joses) is named in Mark, but as one of Jesus' brothers. [10] In the next Gospel, Matthew, the townspeople call Jesus "the carpenter's son," again without naming his father, and again he has a brother named Joseph; [11] only in Luke does he become "the son of Joseph," and Luke makes no mention of any brothers. [12] In Luke the tone is positive, whereas in Mark and Matthew it is disparaging. [13] This incident does not appear at all in John, but in a parallel story the disbelieving Jews refer to "Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know". [14]
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 John's care had her husband been alive. [15]
1. 2. Gospel harmony
A sample Gospel harmony of the episodes of the life of Saint Joseph in the canonical Gospels, in summary form of harmonies for the four gospels. [16] [17] [18] See the gallery below for artistic depictions of some of these events.
Number Event Matthew Mark Luke John
1 Joseph lived in Nazareth Luke 2:4
2 Genealogy of Joseph Matthew 1:1-17 Luke 3:23
3 Joseph Betrothed to Mary Matthew 1:18
4 Angel visits Joseph (1st dream) Matthew 1:20-21
5 Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem Luke 2:8-15
6 Birth of Jesus Matthew 1:25 Luke 2:6-7
7 Temple presentation Luke 2:22-24
8 Angel tells Joseph to flee (2nd dream) Matthew 2:13
9 Flight into Egypt Matthew 2:14-15
10 Angel tells Joseph to return to Nazareth (3rd dream) Matthew 2:19-20
11 Joseph and family settle in Nazareth Matthew 2:21-23 Luke 2:39
12 Finding Jesus in the Temple Luke 2:41-51
13 Holy Family John 6:41-42
1. 3. Professional life
St. Joseph the Carpenter, by Georges de La Tour, 1640s.
Jesus is identified in the Gospel of Matthew 13:55 as the son of a τέκτων (tekton) and the Gospel of Mark 6:3 states that Jesus was a tekton himself. Tekton has been traditionally translated into English as "carpenter", but is a rather general word (from the same root that gives us "technical" and "technology") that could cover makers of objects in various materials, even builders. [19] But the specific association with woodworking is a constant in Early Christian tradition; Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165) wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs, and there are similar early references. [20]
John Dominic Crossan puts tekton into a historical context more resembling an itinerant worker than an established artisan, emphasizing his marginality in a population in which a peasant who owns land could become quite prosperous. 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. [21] Geza 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. [22]
At the time of Joseph, Nazareth was an obscure village in Galilee, about 65 km from the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is barely mentioned in surviving non-Christian texts and documents. [1] [23] [24] [25] [26] 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. [27] It was, however, only about 6 kilometres from the city of Tzippori (ancient "Sepphoris"), which was destroyed by the Romans in 4BC, and thereafter was expensively rebuilt. Analysis of the landscape and other evidence suggest that in Joseph's lifetime Nazareth was "oriented towards" the nearby city, [28] which had an overwhelmingly Jewish population although with many signs of Hellenization, [29] 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. [30] Other scholars see Joseph and Jesus as the general village craftsmen, working in wood, stone and metal on a wide variety of jobs. [31]
1. 4. Modern appraisal
The name of Joseph is found almost exclusively in the genealogies and the infancy narratives, [32] [33] and both are regarded with scepticism by some modern scholars, [34] who claim that the genealogies are artificial, [34] (Matthew divides Joseph's ancestors into three sets of fourteen, the number symbolising the name of David and Jesus' Messiahship, [35] while Luke counts 77 ancestors back to Adam, symbolising the forgiveness of sins), and the infancy narratives as legendary (holding that it is impossible that both birth narratives are accurate and improbable that either one is, [36] and the group of scholars making up the Jesus Seminar viewed them as late additions to the Jesus tradition with little historical value). [33] Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the ever-Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph's first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and merely betrothed, but never married, to Mary, [37] and that references to Jesus' "brothers" are to children of Joseph and Salome. The position of the Catholic Church, derived from the writings of Saint Jerome, is that Joseph was the husband of Mary, but that references to Jesus' "brothers" should be understood to mean "cousins". In both cases, the church doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity means that Joseph and Mary never had sexual relations. The Protestant churches, following the tenet of Virgin Birth but not that of Perpetual Virginity, hold no strong views on the subject. [38]
2. Later apocryphal writings
Christ in the House of his Parents, by John Everett Millais
The canonical gospels created a problem: they stated clearly that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, and that Joseph was not his father; yet Joseph's paternity was essential to establish Jesus' Davidic descent, and he and Mary were so much husband and wife that only divorce could dissolve their union (Matthew 1:19). [39] The theological situation was complicated by the gospel references to Jesus' "brothers and sisters" (repeated in Paul, where James is called the "brother of Christ"), and by the fact that he was described unambiguously by John and Mark as "Joseph's son" and "the carpenter's son." [39] From the 2nd century to the 5th writers tried to explain how Jesus could be simultaneously the "son of God" though Mary as the "son of Joseph". [39]
The first to offer a solution was the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, written about 150 AD, was . The original gospels never refer to Joseph's age, but James presents him as an old man chosen by lot (i.e., by God) to watch over the Virgin. Jesus' brothers are presented as Joseph's children by an earlier marriage, and his years and righteousness explain why he has not yet had sex with his wife: "I received her by lot as my wife, and she is not yet my wife, but she has conceived by the Holy Spirit." [40]
The Protoevangelium was extremely popular, but it leaves open the possibility that Joseph might have had relations with Mary after the birth of Jesus ("she is not yet my wife..."). A few centuries later the developing doctrine that Mary was a virgin not only at the time of the conception and birth of Christ, but throughout her life, meant that this possibility had to be excluded. The apocryphal 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 (the Protoevangelium had not given Joseph a specific age), 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 Protoevengelium) until she is ready to be married at age 14½. Joseph's death at the age of 111, attended by angels and asserting the perpetual virginity of Mary, takes up approximately half the story. [41]
3. Sainthood
General articles St. Joseph • Holy Family • Saint Joseph's Day
Prayers & Devotions Prayer • Novena • Chaplet • Scapular • Cord
OrganizationsSisters of St. Joseph • Josephite Fathers • Oblates of St. Joseph
Papal Documents Redemptoris Custos • Quamquam Pluries
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 Mgr François de Laval.
Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph the patron of the Universal Church in 1870, the unofficial patron against doubt and hesitation, as well as the patron saint of fighting communism, and of a happy death[citation needed]. Having died in the "arms of Jesus and Mary" according to Catholic tradition, he is considered the model of the pious believer who receives grace at the moment of death, and prays especially for families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.
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. [42] [43] [44] Saint 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. [45] [46]
In the 15th century major steps were taken by Saint Bernardine of Siena, Pierre d'Ailly and Jean Gerson. [42] Gerson wrote Consideration sur Saint Joseph and preached sermons on Saint Joseph at the Council of Constance. [47] 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. [48]
Josephology, the study of the theology of Saint Joseph, is one of the most recent theological disciplines. [49] In 1989, on the occasion of the centenary of Quamquam Pluries Pope John Paul II issued Redemptoris Custos, i.e. 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. [50] [51] [52] [53]
3. 1. Feast days
Holy Family by Raphael, 1506.
March 19, Saint Joseph's Day, has been the principal feast day of Saint Joseph in Western Christianity, [54] [55] since the tenth century, and is celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, many Lutherans and other denominations. [56] In Eastern Orthodoxy, the feast day of Saint Joseph is celebrated on the First Sunday after the Nativity of Christ.
In 1870 Pope Pius IX declared Joseph patron of the universal Church and instituted another feast, with an octave, to be held in his honour on Wednesday in the second week after Easter. This was abolished by Pope Pius XII, when in 1955 he established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker", to be celebrated on 1 May. This date counteracts May Day, a union, workers and socialists holiday and reflects Joseph's status as what many Catholics and other Christians consider the "patron of workers" and "model of workers." Catholic and other Christians teachings and stories about or relating to Joseph and the Holy Family frequently stress his patience, persistence, and hard work as admirable qualities which believers should adopt.
Pope John XXIII added the name of Joseph to the Canon of the Mass. The 19 March feast is a Solemnity and is transferred to another date if impeded (for instance, if it falls on a Sunday within Lent). The 1 May celebration is an optional Memorial, and so is omitted if impeded. (For example, St. Joseph the Worker was celebrated on 2 May in 2008 because 1 May was Ascension Thursday.)
3. 2. Places, churches and Institutions
Saint Joseph's Oratory, Montreal.
Many cities, towns, and locations are named after Saint Joseph. According to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Spanish form, San Jose, is the most common place name in the world. Probably the most-recognized San Joses are San José, Costa Rica, and San Jose, California, United States, given their name by Spanish colonists. Joseph is the patron saint of the New World; of the countries China, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Peru, Vietnam; of the regions Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Sicily; and of several main cities and dioceses.
Many churches, monasteries and other institutions are dedicated to Saint Joseph. 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. Elsewhere in the world churches named after the saint may be known as those of San Giuseppe, e.g. San Giuseppe dei Teatini, San José, e.g. Metropolitan Cathedral of San José or São José, e.g. in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The Sisters of St. Joseph were founded as an order in 1650 and have about 14,000 members worldwide. In 1871, the Josephite Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church were created under the patronage of Joseph, intending to work with the poor. The first Josephites in America re-devoted their part of the Order to ministry within the newly-emancipated African American community. The Oblates of St. Joseph were founded in 1878 by St. Joseph Marello. In 1999 their Shrine of Saint Joseph the Guardian of the Redeemer was named after the Apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos. [57]
3. 3. Prayers and devotions
Altar of St. Joseph, Billafingen, Germany.
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.
In the Catholic tradition, just as there are prayers for the Seven Joys of Mary and Seven Sorrows of Mary, so there are also prayers for the seven joys and seven sorrows of Saint Joseph; these include prayers for daily protection, vocation, happy marriage, happy death, and hopeless cases; [58] specific prayers, novenas and devotions include the Prayer to Saint Joseph and the Novena to Saint Joseph. [59] St. Francis de Sales included Saint Joseph along with Virgin Mary as saints to be invoked during prayers in his Introduction to the Devout Life, [60] Saint Teresa of Avila attributed her recovery of health to Saint Joseph and recommended him as an advocate, [61] and Saint Therese of Lisieux stated that for a period of time, every day she prayed to "Saint Joseph, Father and Protector of Virgins..." and felt safe and protected from danger as a result, [62] and Pius X composed a prayer to Saint Joseph which begins: [63]
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...
There is a belief that planting a statue of St. Joseph on a house will help sell the house. [64] This belief is held by some theists as well as atheists, but traditional Christian teachings view it as superstition and not a devotion. [65]
4. In art
Nativity by Martin Schongauer (1475-80)
Up to about the 17th century Joseph tends to be depicted as a man advanced in years, with grey hair, often balding, occasionally frail and with arthritic fingers and a sharp nose, a comparatively marginal figure alongside Mary and Jesus if not entirely in the background, passive other than when leading them on their flight to Egypt. Joseph is shown mostly with a beard, not only in keeping with Jewish custom, but also because - although the Gospel accounts do not give his age - later literature tends to present him as an old man at the time of his wedding to Mary. This depiction arose to allay concerns about both the celibacy of the newly wedded couple, [66] the mention of brothers and sisters of Jesus in the canonical Gospels, [67] and Joseph's other children spoken of in apocryphal literature - concerns discussed very frankly by Jean Gerson for example, who nonetheless favoured showing him as a younger man. [68] In recent centuries - in step with a growing interest in Joseph's role in Gospel exegesis - he himself has become a focal figure in representations of the Holy Family. He is now often portrayed as a younger or even youthful man (perhaps especially in Protestant depictions), 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. [69]
Saint Joseph sleeping, Nativity by Gentile da Fabriano
Full cycles of his life are rare in the Middle Ages, though the scenes from the Life of the Virgin or Life of Christ where he is present are far more often seen. The Mérode Altarpiece of about 1425, where he has a panel to himself, working as a carpenter, is an early example of what remained relatively rare depictions of him pursuing his métier. Some statues of Joseph depict his staff as topped with flowers, recalling the non-canonical Protoevangelion's account of how Mary's spouse was chosen by collecting walking sticks of widowers in Israel, and Joseph's alone bursting into flower, thus identifying him as divinely chosen. Several Eastern Orthodox Nativity icons show Joseph tempted by the Devil (depicted as an old man with furled wings) to break off his betrothal, and how he resists that temptation. There are some paintings with him wearing a Jewish hat. Joseph is normally associated with the colours black, or, as in more modern depictions, green; this is similar to his wife's association with blue. Accordingly, Sacrenoire is the analogue to the old French curse Sacrebleu. [70]
5. Gallery of life in art
Joseph and Joachim, Dürer, 1504
At work in the Mérode Altarpiece, 1420s
Joseph's dream, Rembrandt, c. 1645
Marriage to the Virgin, Perugino, c. 1448
Nativity of Jesus, Marten de Vos 1577
Temple presentation, di Fredi, 1388
Dream of Flight, Daniele Crespi, c. 1625
Flight to Egypt, Giotto, 14th c
Finding in the Temple, Book of Hours, 15th
Holy Family, Claudio Coello, c. 1650
Death of Joseph, St. Martin's at Florac
Coronation of Joseph, Valdés Leal, c, 1670
6. In music
•Nicolas Chadeville (1696 - 176?): Joseph est bien Marié, a choral composition (1755)
7. See also
•Joseph, the name
•Solemnity of Saint Joseph
•History of Joseph the Carpenter
•Prayer to Saint Joseph
•Genealogy of Jesus
•The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
8. Notes
1.^ Spong, John Shelby. Jesus for the non-religious. HarperCollins. 2007. ISBN 0-06-076207-1
2.[1]
3.Google booksJoseph, Mary, Jesus, Lucien Deiss, Liturgical Press, 1996, ISBN 0814622550, 9780814622551
4.P. de Letter, "The Theology of Saint Joseph", The Clergy Monthly, March 1955, Online at JSTOR
5.For the use of the term, see: A Thomistic Josephology by James J Davis 1967, University of Montreal, ASIN B0007K3PL4
6.Matthew 1:18-2:18
7.Matthew 2:19-23; Luke 2:39
8.Luke 2:41-51
9.Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Matthew," p. 129-270
10.Mark 6:1-6
11.Matthew 13:53-58
12.Luke 4:16-30
13.Vermes, Geza "The authentic gospel of Jesus" (London, Penguin Books, 2004) Chapter 1: Narratives and commands, p. 1-37.
14.John 6:41-51
15.Catholic encyclopedia on Saint Joseph
16.Gospels in harmony
17.Life of Jesus
18.Steven L. Cox, Kendell H Easley, 2007 Harmony of the Gospels ISBN 0805494448
19.Dickson, 47
20.Fiensy, 68-69
21.Fiensy, 75-77
22.http://www.jstor.org/pss/1453874?cookieSet=1
23.Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-073817-4
24.Crossan, John Dominic. The essential Jesus. Edison: Castle Books. 1998. “Contexts,” p 1-24.
25.Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition)
26.Sanders terms it a "minor village." Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. p. 104
27.Laughlin, 192-194. See also Reed's Chapter 3, pp. 131-134.
28.Reed, 114-117, quotation p. 115
29.Reed, Chapter 4 in general, pp. 125-131 on the Jewish nature of Sepphoris, and pp. 131-134
30.Fiensy, 74-77
31.For example, Dickson, 47
32.Vermes, Geza. The authentic gospel of Jesus. London, Penguin Books. 2004. Epilogue. p. 398-417.
33.^ Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Birth & Infancy Stories" p. 497-526.
34.^ Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. Quest of the historical Jesus. p. 1-16
35.John Nolland (2005), The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text, Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, pp. 65-87, ISBN 9780802823892.
36.Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. Chapter 7, Two contexts. p 78-97.
37.Holy Apostles Convent (1989). The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. Buena Vista: Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete. pp. 64. ISBN 0-944359-03-5.
38.See, e.g., David Brown. "Commentary on Matthew 13:56". Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb.xi.i.xv.html#xi.i.xv-p102.3. Retrieved 2009-01-07. "An exceedingly difficult question here arises—What were these 'brethren' and 'sisters' to Jesus? Were they, First, His full brothers and sisters? or, Secondly, Were they His step-brothers and step-sisters, children of Joseph by a former marriage? or, Thirdly, Were they cousins, according to a common way of speaking among the Jews respecting persons of collateral descent? On this subject an immense deal has been written, nor are opinions yet by any means agreed. For the second opinion there is no ground but a vague tradition, arising probably from the wish for some such explanation. The first opinion undoubtedly suits the text best in all the places where the parties are certainly referred to (Mt 12:46; and its parallels, Mr 3:31; Lu 8:19; our present passage, and its parallels, Mr 6:3; Joh 2:12; 7:3, 5, 10; Ac 1:14). But, in addition to other objections, many of the best interpreters, thinking it in the last degree improbable that our Lord, when hanging on the cross, would have committed His mother to John if He had had full brothers of His own then alive, prefer the third opinion; although, on the other hand, it is not to be doubted that our Lord might have good reasons for entrusting the guardianship of His doubly widowed mother to the beloved disciple in preference even to full brothers of His own. Thus dubiously we prefer to leave this vexed question, encompassed as it is with difficulties."
39.^ Everett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, "Encyclopedia of early Christianity, Volume 1", article Joseph, p.629
40.Luigi Gambero, "Mary and the fathers of the church: the Blessed Virgin Mary in patristic thought" pp.35-41
41."The History of Joseph the Carpenter". Comparative Religion. http://www.comparative-religion.com/christianity/apocrypha/new-testament-apocrypha/6/4.php. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
42.^ The liturgy and time by Irénée Henri Dalmais, Aimé Georges Martimort, Pierre Jounel 1985 ISBN 0814613667 page 143
43.Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3 by Phyllis G. Jestice 2004 ISBN 1576073556 page 446
44.Bernard of Clairvaux and the shape of monastic thought by M. B. Pranger 1997 ISBN 9004100555 page 244
45.The childhood of Christ by Thomas Aquinas, Roland Potter, 2006 ISBN 0521029600 pages 110-120
46.Aquinas on doctrine by Thomas Gerard Weinandy, John Yocum 2004 ISBN 0567084116 page 248
47.Medieval mothering by John Carmi Parsons, Bonnie Wheeler 1999 ISBN 0815336659 page 107
48.Vatican website: Quamquam Pluries
49.Sunday Catholic Magazine October 4, 2009
50.Foundations of the Christian way of life by Jacob Prasad 2001 ISBN 8876531467 page 404
51.Vatican website: Redemptoris Custos
52.Cradle of redeeming love: the theology of the Christmas mystery by John Saward 2002 ISBN 0898708869 page 230
53.Divine likeness: toward a Trinitarian anthropology of the family by Marc Ouellet ISBN 0802828337 page 102
54.Roman Missal
55.Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 89
56.19 March is observed as the Feast of Saint Joseph, Guardian of Jesus, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Some Protestant traditions also celebrate this festival.
57.Mention Your Request Here: The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel, 2000 ISBN 0879733411 page 154
58.Devotions to St. Joseph by Susanna Magdalene Flavius, 2008 ISBN 1435709489 pages 5-15
59.Favorite Prayers to St. Joseph Tan Books, ISBN 9780895554468
60.Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales ISBN 076610074X Kessinger Press 1942 page 297
61.The interior castle by Saint Teresa of Avila, Paulist Press 1979, ISBN 0809122545 page 2
62.The Story of a Soul by Saint Therese De Lisieux Bibliolife 2008 0554261588 page 94
63.Ann Ball, 2003 Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices ISBN 087973910X page 449
64.Applebome, Peter (2009-09-16). "St. Joseph, Superagent in Real Estate". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/nyregion/17towns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Joseph%20statue%20bury%20real%20estate&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
65.Saint Joseph: His Life and His Role in the Church Today by Louise Bourassa Perrotta 2000 ISBN 0879735732 page 130
66.cf. Mt 1:25a
67.cf. Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21; Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3; cf. section above
68.Shapiro:6-7
69.Finding St. Joseph by Sandra Miesel gives a useful account of the changing views of Joseph in art and generally in Catholicism
70."St. Joseph: A Casual Analysis of His Traditional Garb"
9. References
•verett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, "Encyclopedia of early Christianity, Volume 1", article Joseph, p.629
•Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus : A Revolutionary Biography. Harpercollins: 1994. ISBN 0-06-061661-X.
•Dickson, John. Jesus: A Short Life, Lion Hudson plc, 2008, ISBN 0825478022, 9780825478024, Google Books
•Fiensy, David A.; Jesus the Galilean: soundings in a first century life, Gorgias Press LLC, 2007, ISBN 1593333137, 9781593333133, Google books
10. Further reading
•Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos) by Pope John Paul II, St. Paul Books and Media (January 1, 1989) ASIN: B002AQ5E08
Scriptural Readings:
Psalm 32
1Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
7You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
8I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
10Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Genesis 4:1-16
4Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” 2Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
13Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.
16Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Hebrews 4:14-5:1014Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
5Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; 3and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
10having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Heroes/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: Lent, St. Joseph
Saint Joseph (Hebrew יוֹסֵף, "Yosef"; Greek: Ἰωσήφ) is an important figure in Christian belief as the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ (in distinction to God, his "heavenly father").
The earliest Christian records, the epistles of Paul, make no reference to Jesus's father, and nor does Mark, the first of the Gospels. [1] The first appearance of Joseph is therefore in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, both of which have a genealogy that traces Joseph's lineage back to King David. The two lists give differing genealogies: Matthew says that Joseph's father was called Jacob,[Mt. 1:16]but Luke says he was the son of Heli. However this contradiction can be resolved when read in the light that Matthew's genealogy lists his natural geneology through Mary; while Luke's lists his legal genealogy, according to Jewish religious law, through Joseph. [Lk. 3:23]Matthew and Luke are also the only Gospels to include the Infancy Narratives, the stories of Jesus' birth and infancy. In Luke, Joseph lives in Nazareth, travels to Bethlehem in compliance with the requirements of a Roman census. Subsequently, Jesus was born there. In Matthew, Joseph was in Bethlehem, the city of David, where Jesus is born, and then moves to Nazareth with his family after the death of Herod. Matthew is the only Gospel to include the narrative of the Massacre of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt: following the Nativity, Joseph stays in Bethlehem for an unspecified period (perhaps two years) until forced by the evil King Herod to take refuge in Egypt; on the death of Herod he brings his family back to Israel, and settles in Nazareth. After this point there is no further mention of Joseph by name, although the story of Jesus in the Temple, in Jesus's 12th year, includes a reference to "both his parents". Christian tradition represents Mary as a widow during the adult ministry of her son.[Jn. 19:26-27] The gospels describe Joseph as a "tekton" (τέκτων); traditionally the word has been taken to mean "carpenter", [2] though the Greek term evokes an artisan with wood in general, or an artisan in iron or stone. [3] Very little other information on Joseph is given in the Gospels, in which he never speaks.
Joseph is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran faiths. In Catholic and other traditions, Joseph is the patron saint of workers and has several feast days. He was also declared to be the patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions. With the growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centers for studying it have been formed. [4] [5]
Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni (c. 1635)
Died Nazareth (traditional)
Feast March 19 - Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (Western Christianity), May 1 - St. Joseph the Worker (Western Christianity),
The Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord (Eastern Christianity)
Attributes Carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, staff with lily blossoms.
Patronage The Universal Church, unborn children, fathers, immigrants, workers, against doubt and hesitation, and of a happy death, Vietnam. Many others; see [2].
1. Paul and the canonical Gospels
Holy Family with the Holy Spirit by Murillo, 1675-1682.
1. 1. Joseph in the New Testament
The oldest of all the witnesses to Jesus are some of the epistles of Paul, from roughly 51-58 AD. These mention Jesus' mother (without naming her), but never refer to his father. Joseph first appears in the Genealogy of Jesus, which appears only in the Matthew and Luke. Luke names Joseph's own father as Eli, but Matthew names him as Jacob, in keeping with that gospel's depiction of Jesus as a second Moses. [1] This theme is developed further in the infancy narratives, which, like the genealogies, have the function of establishing Jesus as the promised Messiah, the descendant of David, born in Bethlehem. Like the 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 came from Nazareth. In Matthew, Joseph, already living in Bethlehem, obeys the direction of an angel to marry Mary and then to flee to Egypt to escape the massacre of the children of Bethlehem planned by Herod the Great, the tyrant who rules Judea. [6] Once Herod has died, the angel tells him to return to the land of Israel, but to Galilee instead of to Bethlehem, and so Joseph takes his wife and the child to Nazareth and settles there. [7] 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. [1] In 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. Luke's account makes no mention of angels and dreams, the Massacre of the Innocents, or of a visit to Egypt.
The last time Joseph appears in person in any Gospel is the story of the Passover visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is 12 years old, found only in Luke. Like the infancy narratives the story is didactic, emphasising Jesus' awareness of his coming mission: here Jesus speaks to his parents (both of them) of "my father," meaning God, but they fail to understand. [8]
None of the Gospels mentions Joseph as present at any event during Jesus' adult ministry. The synoptic Gospels, however, share a scene in which the people of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, doubt Jesus' status as a prophet because they know his family. In Mark, the first Gospel to be written (about 70 AD), they call Jesus "Mary's son" instead of naming his father - tantamount to calling him illegitimate. [1] [9] A Joseph (Joses) is named in Mark, but as one of Jesus' brothers. [10] In the next Gospel, Matthew, the townspeople call Jesus "the carpenter's son," again without naming his father, and again he has a brother named Joseph; [11] only in Luke does he become "the son of Joseph," and Luke makes no mention of any brothers. [12] In Luke the tone is positive, whereas in Mark and Matthew it is disparaging. [13] This incident does not appear at all in John, but in a parallel story the disbelieving Jews refer to "Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know". [14]
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 John's care had her husband been alive. [15]
1. 2. Gospel harmony
A sample Gospel harmony of the episodes of the life of Saint Joseph in the canonical Gospels, in summary form of harmonies for the four gospels. [16] [17] [18] See the gallery below for artistic depictions of some of these events.
Number Event Matthew Mark Luke John
1 Joseph lived in Nazareth Luke 2:4
2 Genealogy of Joseph Matthew 1:1-17 Luke 3:23
3 Joseph Betrothed to Mary Matthew 1:18
4 Angel visits Joseph (1st dream) Matthew 1:20-21
5 Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem Luke 2:8-15
6 Birth of Jesus Matthew 1:25 Luke 2:6-7
7 Temple presentation Luke 2:22-24
8 Angel tells Joseph to flee (2nd dream) Matthew 2:13
9 Flight into Egypt Matthew 2:14-15
10 Angel tells Joseph to return to Nazareth (3rd dream) Matthew 2:19-20
11 Joseph and family settle in Nazareth Matthew 2:21-23 Luke 2:39
12 Finding Jesus in the Temple Luke 2:41-51
13 Holy Family John 6:41-42
1. 3. Professional life
St. Joseph the Carpenter, by Georges de La Tour, 1640s.
Jesus is identified in the Gospel of Matthew 13:55 as the son of a τέκτων (tekton) and the Gospel of Mark 6:3 states that Jesus was a tekton himself. Tekton has been traditionally translated into English as "carpenter", but is a rather general word (from the same root that gives us "technical" and "technology") that could cover makers of objects in various materials, even builders. [19] But the specific association with woodworking is a constant in Early Christian tradition; Justin Martyr (d. ca. 165) wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs, and there are similar early references. [20]
John Dominic Crossan puts tekton into a historical context more resembling an itinerant worker than an established artisan, emphasizing his marginality in a population in which a peasant who owns land could become quite prosperous. 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. [21] Geza 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. [22]
At the time of Joseph, Nazareth was an obscure village in Galilee, about 65 km from the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is barely mentioned in surviving non-Christian texts and documents. [1] [23] [24] [25] [26] 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. [27] It was, however, only about 6 kilometres from the city of Tzippori (ancient "Sepphoris"), which was destroyed by the Romans in 4BC, and thereafter was expensively rebuilt. Analysis of the landscape and other evidence suggest that in Joseph's lifetime Nazareth was "oriented towards" the nearby city, [28] which had an overwhelmingly Jewish population although with many signs of Hellenization, [29] 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. [30] Other scholars see Joseph and Jesus as the general village craftsmen, working in wood, stone and metal on a wide variety of jobs. [31]
1. 4. Modern appraisal
The name of Joseph is found almost exclusively in the genealogies and the infancy narratives, [32] [33] and both are regarded with scepticism by some modern scholars, [34] who claim that the genealogies are artificial, [34] (Matthew divides Joseph's ancestors into three sets of fourteen, the number symbolising the name of David and Jesus' Messiahship, [35] while Luke counts 77 ancestors back to Adam, symbolising the forgiveness of sins), and the infancy narratives as legendary (holding that it is impossible that both birth narratives are accurate and improbable that either one is, [36] and the group of scholars making up the Jesus Seminar viewed them as late additions to the Jesus tradition with little historical value). [33] Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the ever-Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph's first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and merely betrothed, but never married, to Mary, [37] and that references to Jesus' "brothers" are to children of Joseph and Salome. The position of the Catholic Church, derived from the writings of Saint Jerome, is that Joseph was the husband of Mary, but that references to Jesus' "brothers" should be understood to mean "cousins". In both cases, the church doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity means that Joseph and Mary never had sexual relations. The Protestant churches, following the tenet of Virgin Birth but not that of Perpetual Virginity, hold no strong views on the subject. [38]
2. Later apocryphal writings
Christ in the House of his Parents, by John Everett Millais
The canonical gospels created a problem: they stated clearly that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, and that Joseph was not his father; yet Joseph's paternity was essential to establish Jesus' Davidic descent, and he and Mary were so much husband and wife that only divorce could dissolve their union (Matthew 1:19). [39] The theological situation was complicated by the gospel references to Jesus' "brothers and sisters" (repeated in Paul, where James is called the "brother of Christ"), and by the fact that he was described unambiguously by John and Mark as "Joseph's son" and "the carpenter's son." [39] From the 2nd century to the 5th writers tried to explain how Jesus could be simultaneously the "son of God" though Mary as the "son of Joseph". [39]
The first to offer a solution was the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, written about 150 AD, was . The original gospels never refer to Joseph's age, but James presents him as an old man chosen by lot (i.e., by God) to watch over the Virgin. Jesus' brothers are presented as Joseph's children by an earlier marriage, and his years and righteousness explain why he has not yet had sex with his wife: "I received her by lot as my wife, and she is not yet my wife, but she has conceived by the Holy Spirit." [40]
The Protoevangelium was extremely popular, but it leaves open the possibility that Joseph might have had relations with Mary after the birth of Jesus ("she is not yet my wife..."). A few centuries later the developing doctrine that Mary was a virgin not only at the time of the conception and birth of Christ, but throughout her life, meant that this possibility had to be excluded. The apocryphal 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 (the Protoevangelium had not given Joseph a specific age), 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 Protoevengelium) until she is ready to be married at age 14½. Joseph's death at the age of 111, attended by angels and asserting the perpetual virginity of Mary, takes up approximately half the story. [41]
3. Sainthood
General articles St. Joseph • Holy Family • Saint Joseph's Day
Prayers & Devotions Prayer • Novena • Chaplet • Scapular • Cord
OrganizationsSisters of St. Joseph • Josephite Fathers • Oblates of St. Joseph
Papal Documents Redemptoris Custos • Quamquam Pluries
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 Mgr François de Laval.
Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph the patron of the Universal Church in 1870, the unofficial patron against doubt and hesitation, as well as the patron saint of fighting communism, and of a happy death[citation needed]. Having died in the "arms of Jesus and Mary" according to Catholic tradition, he is considered the model of the pious believer who receives grace at the moment of death, and prays especially for families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.
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. [42] [43] [44] Saint 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. [45] [46]
In the 15th century major steps were taken by Saint Bernardine of Siena, Pierre d'Ailly and Jean Gerson. [42] Gerson wrote Consideration sur Saint Joseph and preached sermons on Saint Joseph at the Council of Constance. [47] 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. [48]
Josephology, the study of the theology of Saint Joseph, is one of the most recent theological disciplines. [49] In 1989, on the occasion of the centenary of Quamquam Pluries Pope John Paul II issued Redemptoris Custos, i.e. 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. [50] [51] [52] [53]
3. 1. Feast days
Holy Family by Raphael, 1506.
March 19, Saint Joseph's Day, has been the principal feast day of Saint Joseph in Western Christianity, [54] [55] since the tenth century, and is celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, many Lutherans and other denominations. [56] In Eastern Orthodoxy, the feast day of Saint Joseph is celebrated on the First Sunday after the Nativity of Christ.
In 1870 Pope Pius IX declared Joseph patron of the universal Church and instituted another feast, with an octave, to be held in his honour on Wednesday in the second week after Easter. This was abolished by Pope Pius XII, when in 1955 he established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker", to be celebrated on 1 May. This date counteracts May Day, a union, workers and socialists holiday and reflects Joseph's status as what many Catholics and other Christians consider the "patron of workers" and "model of workers." Catholic and other Christians teachings and stories about or relating to Joseph and the Holy Family frequently stress his patience, persistence, and hard work as admirable qualities which believers should adopt.
Pope John XXIII added the name of Joseph to the Canon of the Mass. The 19 March feast is a Solemnity and is transferred to another date if impeded (for instance, if it falls on a Sunday within Lent). The 1 May celebration is an optional Memorial, and so is omitted if impeded. (For example, St. Joseph the Worker was celebrated on 2 May in 2008 because 1 May was Ascension Thursday.)
3. 2. Places, churches and Institutions
Saint Joseph's Oratory, Montreal.
Many cities, towns, and locations are named after Saint Joseph. According to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Spanish form, San Jose, is the most common place name in the world. Probably the most-recognized San Joses are San José, Costa Rica, and San Jose, California, United States, given their name by Spanish colonists. Joseph is the patron saint of the New World; of the countries China, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Peru, Vietnam; of the regions Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Sicily; and of several main cities and dioceses.
Many churches, monasteries and other institutions are dedicated to Saint Joseph. 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. Elsewhere in the world churches named after the saint may be known as those of San Giuseppe, e.g. San Giuseppe dei Teatini, San José, e.g. Metropolitan Cathedral of San José or São José, e.g. in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The Sisters of St. Joseph were founded as an order in 1650 and have about 14,000 members worldwide. In 1871, the Josephite Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church were created under the patronage of Joseph, intending to work with the poor. The first Josephites in America re-devoted their part of the Order to ministry within the newly-emancipated African American community. The Oblates of St. Joseph were founded in 1878 by St. Joseph Marello. In 1999 their Shrine of Saint Joseph the Guardian of the Redeemer was named after the Apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos. [57]
3. 3. Prayers and devotions
Altar of St. Joseph, Billafingen, Germany.
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.
In the Catholic tradition, just as there are prayers for the Seven Joys of Mary and Seven Sorrows of Mary, so there are also prayers for the seven joys and seven sorrows of Saint Joseph; these include prayers for daily protection, vocation, happy marriage, happy death, and hopeless cases; [58] specific prayers, novenas and devotions include the Prayer to Saint Joseph and the Novena to Saint Joseph. [59] St. Francis de Sales included Saint Joseph along with Virgin Mary as saints to be invoked during prayers in his Introduction to the Devout Life, [60] Saint Teresa of Avila attributed her recovery of health to Saint Joseph and recommended him as an advocate, [61] and Saint Therese of Lisieux stated that for a period of time, every day she prayed to "Saint Joseph, Father and Protector of Virgins..." and felt safe and protected from danger as a result, [62] and Pius X composed a prayer to Saint Joseph which begins: [63]
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...
There is a belief that planting a statue of St. Joseph on a house will help sell the house. [64] This belief is held by some theists as well as atheists, but traditional Christian teachings view it as superstition and not a devotion. [65]
4. In art
Nativity by Martin Schongauer (1475-80)
Up to about the 17th century Joseph tends to be depicted as a man advanced in years, with grey hair, often balding, occasionally frail and with arthritic fingers and a sharp nose, a comparatively marginal figure alongside Mary and Jesus if not entirely in the background, passive other than when leading them on their flight to Egypt. Joseph is shown mostly with a beard, not only in keeping with Jewish custom, but also because - although the Gospel accounts do not give his age - later literature tends to present him as an old man at the time of his wedding to Mary. This depiction arose to allay concerns about both the celibacy of the newly wedded couple, [66] the mention of brothers and sisters of Jesus in the canonical Gospels, [67] and Joseph's other children spoken of in apocryphal literature - concerns discussed very frankly by Jean Gerson for example, who nonetheless favoured showing him as a younger man. [68] In recent centuries - in step with a growing interest in Joseph's role in Gospel exegesis - he himself has become a focal figure in representations of the Holy Family. He is now often portrayed as a younger or even youthful man (perhaps especially in Protestant depictions), 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. [69]
Saint Joseph sleeping, Nativity by Gentile da Fabriano
Full cycles of his life are rare in the Middle Ages, though the scenes from the Life of the Virgin or Life of Christ where he is present are far more often seen. The Mérode Altarpiece of about 1425, where he has a panel to himself, working as a carpenter, is an early example of what remained relatively rare depictions of him pursuing his métier. Some statues of Joseph depict his staff as topped with flowers, recalling the non-canonical Protoevangelion's account of how Mary's spouse was chosen by collecting walking sticks of widowers in Israel, and Joseph's alone bursting into flower, thus identifying him as divinely chosen. Several Eastern Orthodox Nativity icons show Joseph tempted by the Devil (depicted as an old man with furled wings) to break off his betrothal, and how he resists that temptation. There are some paintings with him wearing a Jewish hat. Joseph is normally associated with the colours black, or, as in more modern depictions, green; this is similar to his wife's association with blue. Accordingly, Sacrenoire is the analogue to the old French curse Sacrebleu. [70]
5. Gallery of life in art
Joseph and Joachim, Dürer, 1504
At work in the Mérode Altarpiece, 1420s
Joseph's dream, Rembrandt, c. 1645
Marriage to the Virgin, Perugino, c. 1448
Nativity of Jesus, Marten de Vos 1577
Temple presentation, di Fredi, 1388
Dream of Flight, Daniele Crespi, c. 1625
Flight to Egypt, Giotto, 14th c
_excerpt.jpg)
Finding in the Temple, Book of Hours, 15th
Holy Family, Claudio Coello, c. 1650
Death of Joseph, St. Martin's at Florac
.jpg)
Coronation of Joseph, Valdés Leal, c, 1670
6. In music
•Nicolas Chadeville (1696 - 176?): Joseph est bien Marié, a choral composition (1755)
7. See also
•Joseph, the name
•Solemnity of Saint Joseph
•History of Joseph the Carpenter
•Prayer to Saint Joseph
•Genealogy of Jesus
•The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
8. Notes
1.^ Spong, John Shelby. Jesus for the non-religious. HarperCollins. 2007. ISBN 0-06-076207-1
2.[1]
3.Google booksJoseph, Mary, Jesus, Lucien Deiss, Liturgical Press, 1996, ISBN 0814622550, 9780814622551
4.P. de Letter, "The Theology of Saint Joseph", The Clergy Monthly, March 1955, Online at JSTOR
5.For the use of the term, see: A Thomistic Josephology by James J Davis 1967, University of Montreal, ASIN B0007K3PL4
6.Matthew 1:18-2:18
7.Matthew 2:19-23; Luke 2:39
8.Luke 2:41-51
9.Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Matthew," p. 129-270
10.Mark 6:1-6
11.Matthew 13:53-58
12.Luke 4:16-30
13.Vermes, Geza "The authentic gospel of Jesus" (London, Penguin Books, 2004) Chapter 1: Narratives and commands, p. 1-37.
14.John 6:41-51
15.Catholic encyclopedia on Saint Joseph
16.Gospels in harmony
17.Life of Jesus
18.Steven L. Cox, Kendell H Easley, 2007 Harmony of the Gospels ISBN 0805494448
19.Dickson, 47
20.Fiensy, 68-69
21.Fiensy, 75-77
22.http://www.jstor.org/pss/1453874?cookieSet=1
23.Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-073817-4
24.Crossan, John Dominic. The essential Jesus. Edison: Castle Books. 1998. “Contexts,” p 1-24.
25.Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition)
26.Sanders terms it a "minor village." Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. p. 104
27.Laughlin, 192-194. See also Reed's Chapter 3, pp. 131-134.
28.Reed, 114-117, quotation p. 115
29.Reed, Chapter 4 in general, pp. 125-131 on the Jewish nature of Sepphoris, and pp. 131-134
30.Fiensy, 74-77
31.For example, Dickson, 47
32.Vermes, Geza. The authentic gospel of Jesus. London, Penguin Books. 2004. Epilogue. p. 398-417.
33.^ Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Birth & Infancy Stories" p. 497-526.
34.^ Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. Quest of the historical Jesus. p. 1-16
35.John Nolland (2005), The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text, Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, pp. 65-87, ISBN 9780802823892.
36.Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. Chapter 7, Two contexts. p 78-97.
37.Holy Apostles Convent (1989). The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. Buena Vista: Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete. pp. 64. ISBN 0-944359-03-5.
38.See, e.g., David Brown. "Commentary on Matthew 13:56". Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb.xi.i.xv.html#xi.i.xv-p102.3. Retrieved 2009-01-07. "An exceedingly difficult question here arises—What were these 'brethren' and 'sisters' to Jesus? Were they, First, His full brothers and sisters? or, Secondly, Were they His step-brothers and step-sisters, children of Joseph by a former marriage? or, Thirdly, Were they cousins, according to a common way of speaking among the Jews respecting persons of collateral descent? On this subject an immense deal has been written, nor are opinions yet by any means agreed. For the second opinion there is no ground but a vague tradition, arising probably from the wish for some such explanation. The first opinion undoubtedly suits the text best in all the places where the parties are certainly referred to (Mt 12:46; and its parallels, Mr 3:31; Lu 8:19; our present passage, and its parallels, Mr 6:3; Joh 2:12; 7:3, 5, 10; Ac 1:14). But, in addition to other objections, many of the best interpreters, thinking it in the last degree improbable that our Lord, when hanging on the cross, would have committed His mother to John if He had had full brothers of His own then alive, prefer the third opinion; although, on the other hand, it is not to be doubted that our Lord might have good reasons for entrusting the guardianship of His doubly widowed mother to the beloved disciple in preference even to full brothers of His own. Thus dubiously we prefer to leave this vexed question, encompassed as it is with difficulties."
39.^ Everett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, "Encyclopedia of early Christianity, Volume 1", article Joseph, p.629
40.Luigi Gambero, "Mary and the fathers of the church: the Blessed Virgin Mary in patristic thought" pp.35-41
41."The History of Joseph the Carpenter". Comparative Religion. http://www.comparative-religion.com/christianity/apocrypha/new-testament-apocrypha/6/4.php. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
42.^ The liturgy and time by Irénée Henri Dalmais, Aimé Georges Martimort, Pierre Jounel 1985 ISBN 0814613667 page 143
43.Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3 by Phyllis G. Jestice 2004 ISBN 1576073556 page 446
44.Bernard of Clairvaux and the shape of monastic thought by M. B. Pranger 1997 ISBN 9004100555 page 244
45.The childhood of Christ by Thomas Aquinas, Roland Potter, 2006 ISBN 0521029600 pages 110-120
46.Aquinas on doctrine by Thomas Gerard Weinandy, John Yocum 2004 ISBN 0567084116 page 248
47.Medieval mothering by John Carmi Parsons, Bonnie Wheeler 1999 ISBN 0815336659 page 107
48.Vatican website: Quamquam Pluries
49.Sunday Catholic Magazine October 4, 2009
50.Foundations of the Christian way of life by Jacob Prasad 2001 ISBN 8876531467 page 404
51.Vatican website: Redemptoris Custos
52.Cradle of redeeming love: the theology of the Christmas mystery by John Saward 2002 ISBN 0898708869 page 230
53.Divine likeness: toward a Trinitarian anthropology of the family by Marc Ouellet ISBN 0802828337 page 102
54.Roman Missal
55.Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 89
56.19 March is observed as the Feast of Saint Joseph, Guardian of Jesus, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Some Protestant traditions also celebrate this festival.
57.Mention Your Request Here: The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel, 2000 ISBN 0879733411 page 154
58.Devotions to St. Joseph by Susanna Magdalene Flavius, 2008 ISBN 1435709489 pages 5-15
59.Favorite Prayers to St. Joseph Tan Books, ISBN 9780895554468
60.Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales ISBN 076610074X Kessinger Press 1942 page 297
61.The interior castle by Saint Teresa of Avila, Paulist Press 1979, ISBN 0809122545 page 2
62.The Story of a Soul by Saint Therese De Lisieux Bibliolife 2008 0554261588 page 94
63.Ann Ball, 2003 Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices ISBN 087973910X page 449
64.Applebome, Peter (2009-09-16). "St. Joseph, Superagent in Real Estate". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/nyregion/17towns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Joseph%20statue%20bury%20real%20estate&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
65.Saint Joseph: His Life and His Role in the Church Today by Louise Bourassa Perrotta 2000 ISBN 0879735732 page 130
66.cf. Mt 1:25a
67.cf. Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21; Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3; cf. section above
68.Shapiro:6-7
69.Finding St. Joseph by Sandra Miesel gives a useful account of the changing views of Joseph in art and generally in Catholicism
70."St. Joseph: A Casual Analysis of His Traditional Garb"
9. References
•verett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, "Encyclopedia of early Christianity, Volume 1", article Joseph, p.629
•Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus : A Revolutionary Biography. Harpercollins: 1994. ISBN 0-06-061661-X.
•Dickson, John. Jesus: A Short Life, Lion Hudson plc, 2008, ISBN 0825478022, 9780825478024, Google Books
•Fiensy, David A.; Jesus the Galilean: soundings in a first century life, Gorgias Press LLC, 2007, ISBN 1593333137, 9781593333133, Google books
10. Further reading
•Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos) by Pope John Paul II, St. Paul Books and Media (January 1, 1989) ASIN: B002AQ5E08
Scriptural Readings:
Psalm 32
1Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
7You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
8I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
10Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Genesis 4:1-16
4Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” 2Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
13Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.
16Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Hebrews 4:14-5:1014Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
5Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; 3and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
10having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
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