Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph

Joseph "of the House of David" (Hebrew éåÉñÅó, also known as Saint Joseph, Joseph the Betrothed, Joseph of Nazareth, Joseph the Worker and other titles) is known from the New Testament as the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus and although according to Christian tradition he was not the biological father of Jesus, he acted as his foster-father and as head of the Holy Family. Joseph is venerated as a saint within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches.

The genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew says that Joseph s father was called Jacob; but according to the genealogy in the Gospel of Luke Joseph was a son of Heli. The canonical Gospels do not, however, give the date and place of Joseph s birth nor his death. All that is known from them is that Joseph lived at times in Nazareth in Galilee, stayed for a couple of years in Bethlehem in Judea, and was forced into exile for a time in Egypt.

It is common to refer to him as a "carpenter", although the modern English words "joiner" or "cabinet-maker" might fit the sense of the Greek better. Very little other information on Joseph is given in the Gospels, in which he never speaks. His places of birth and death are not given, and his dates have been presented very diffently at different periods; sometimes he has been seen as much older than Mary, and at other periods only slightly older. He is mentioned in the Gospels as present on the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve, but no mention can clearly be placed later than that one. Christian tradition, though vague on the time and place of his death, represents Mary as a widow during the adult ministry of her son. In the Roman 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 universal Catholic Church (along with Saint Peter) by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions. He is a rare example of a saint from the early days of the church whose religious role has tended to increase in the centuries since the Middle Ages.

In the canonical Gospels All the events involving Joseph s presence that have been narrated in the canonical Gospels happened before Jesus birth or during his childhood.

There is only an allusion to the first event, namely Joseph s betrothal to Mary, which made her his wife according to Jewish law. The clarification has been added that they were not yet living together, from which follows that they had not yet conducted the wedding rite known as the "home taking", which is the legal ceremony that permits Jewish couples to begin conjugal relations.

The first event related in some detail is Joseph s dream, during which he is told by "an angel of the Lord" not only to take his wife Mary home – in other words, to conduct the concluding legal wedding rite –, rather than to be afraid for the reason that the child with which she is now pregnant is of the Holy Ghost, but also to name him Jesus, hence to assume legal paternity. The first command Joseph carries out, apparently promptly, the second in due time.

The next event is Joseph s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled as required by the Roman political authorities. He is accompanied by Mary who is heavily pregnant and who, whilst they are at Bethlehem, gives birth to Jesus.

Thereafter Joseph and his family are visited by a group of shepherds saying that they have been guided to them by an angel who told them the good news and its implications.

Eight days later, at the boy s circumcision – as the angel had told Joseph when he commanded him to take Mary home –, Joseph names him Jesus, and thus assumes legal paternity. Five days after the circumcision of Jesus, three Wise Men from the east came to Bethlehem to "adore the Child."

Shortly thereafter, after completion of the post-natal cleansing prescribed by the Law of Moses, Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer the sacrifices required on the occasion of the birth of a couple s first son. Whilst doing so, he and his wife receive a blessing from the aged "just man" Simeon and listen to his words and those of the prophetess Anna – two people who have been waiting eagerly for the salvation of their nation and perceive now the significance of the child before them.

The next event related that involves Joseph occurred somewhat less than a couple of years later, when Joseph is told by the angel in another dream of Herod the Great s plan to kill Jesus, and ordered to save the boy by taking him and his mother to Egypt, which he promptly does.

Once Herod had died, Joseph is told by the angel in a further dream to return with Jesus and his mother to the land of Israel; but when Joseph learns that Herod has been succeeded in Judea by Herod Archelaus, and Joseph worries on account of the latter s ill repute, a further dream guides him to the district of Galilee. And so Joseph takes mother and child to Nazareth and settles there.

The last event mentioning the presence of Joseph is the family s Passover visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is around 12 years old, hence coming to the end of his childhood.

The canonical Gospel accounts are silent about the life of Jesus and his family during the next couple of decades. They resume the narration when first John the Baptist, and then Jesus himself, commence their public ministries; but their accounts from thereon mention only the presence at certain events of Mary and never again that of Joseph.