St. Joseph Medals

The Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about Joseph, foster-father of Jesus and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The little it does tell us speaks volumes about his love of God and devotion to his family. When he discovered that Mary was pregnant he wanted to divorce her quietly to spare her shame. But when God told him that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit he accepted the task of caring for her and her son with simple faith. By faith he left his house, friends, and family to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt when cruel Herod sought the life of Jesus. By faith, he found shelter for Mary and her newborn son when it was time for her to give birth.

We know Joseph was a poor man, though he was of the royal house of David, for he offered two turtledoves, the sacrifice of the poor when he presented Jesus to God in the Temple at Jerusalem.

We think Joseph died before Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, for the Scriptures do not mention him after Jesus started his public ministry. Joseph is patron of the Church, fathers, families, and workers. He is honored by two feasts: one on March 19 and the other, the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, on May 1.