(BEFORE A.D. 30.)
[Roman Martyrology. His festival was ordered by pope Sixtus IV. to be
observed as a double; Gregory XV. recommended its general observance
by the faithful, and this recommendation was confirmed by Urban XIII.,
by bull in 1642.]
All we know for certain concerning S. Joseph, the husband of Mary the
mother of God, is derived from the Holy Gospels. To him was confided
the most precious treasure ever entrusted to man, the guardianship of
Mary and Jesus, of the Mother and the Son of God; whence we may infer
the great sanctity and merit of S. Joseph.
He was of the lineage of David, and therefore of royal race, but was
poor, and gained his livelihood as a carpenter. According to S. Matthew
his father's name was Jacob, according to S. Luke it was Heli, this
discrepancy in the accounts is explained by the supposition that one
of the genealogies represents the direct line of natural generation,
the other the legal descent of royal prerogative. We are expressly told
that he was a just man. On perceiving that his virgin wife was with
child, he resolved secretly to put her away, for having lived with her
in the purest relations, he knew that the child could be none of his;
and by secretly divorcing her, he would spare her the scandal which
would attach itself to her, for the world would regard her offspring as
his son, and he alone would know that this was not the case.
But he was warned by God in a dream to believe in the innocence of his
wife, and was told that she was to become the mother of the Son of God.
Afterwards, when Herod sought the life of the young child, he took Him
and His mother by night and fled with them into Egypt, till hearing
that Herod was dead, in obedience to an angelic order, he returned to
Palestine; but finding that Archelaus the son of Herod was reigning in
Judea, he thought it imprudent to enter his dominions, and therefore
settled at Nazareth. He and Mary went once every year to Jerusalem to
offer their sacrifice in the temple, in obedience to the requirements
of the law, and on one of these occasions Jesus accompanied them.
The child Jesus grew up under the care of Joseph, assisting him in
his shop. It is believed that Joseph died before our Lord began his
ministry; for we hear of him no more.
The girdle of S. Joseph is said to be preserved among the sacred
treasures of the church of Joinville, in the diocese of Langres.