Saint Joseph (29)

He was the royal and divinely-trusted man to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary was given as a bride, and whom God knew would guard her innocence as a virgin and protect her Divine Child. Saint Joseph is the foster father of Jesus. The Litany of the Saints refers to him as the last of the patriarchs. Saint Joseph was espoused to Our Blessed Lady by divine arrangement on September 8, in the year 2 B.C., when she was just fourteen years old. Saint Joseph was thirty years old at the time. His solemn espousals to Our Lady took place on the following January 23. Saint Joseph died when he was sixty years old, just before the public life of Our Lord began. The whole month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph’s body arose from the grave when Our Lord died, on Good Friday. Saint Joseph ascended with Jesus into Heaven, in soul and in body, forty days later, to await there the coming of Mary on the great feast of the Assumption, on August 15, in the year 58. Saint Joseph has now two special feast days, one for his royalty on March 19, and one for his humility as a workman, on May 1. It was told to the Israelites in the Old Testament, “Go to Joseph,” if they wanted any favor or benefit. “Go to Joseph,” is the advice and counsel given to every Catholic who wants a favor and who believes in the sanctity of the Holy Family and in its simple and innocent hierarchy. Anything Saint Joseph asks of Mary and of Jesus in eternity, he will get. He is still the head of the Holy Family. One of his greatest admirers and lovers among the saints was Saint Teresa of Avila.

Cusco School Artist, Saint Joseph and the Christ Child (credits/details)

Cusco School Artist, Saint Joseph and the Christ Child (credits/details)