St. Joseph

St. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ and the husband of the Virgin Mary, is venerated as the patron saint of workers and a protector of the Church. Though the exact dates of his birth and death remain unknown, his life is documented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where he is described as a righteous and obedient man. A carpenter by trade, Joseph lived in Nazareth and was of the lineage of King David, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah’s ancestry. When Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit, Joseph initially planned to divorce her quietly but obeyed God’s message delivered by an angel in a dream, taking Mary as his wife and accepting his role as Jesus’ guardian. Joseph protected the Holy Family during their flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of infants and later returned to Nazareth, where he raised Jesus in humility and faith. His quiet devotion and steadfast care for Mary and Jesus exemplify his role as a model of fatherhood and labor. Though the circumstances of his death are unrecorded, tradition holds that he died before Jesus’ public ministry, with Mary and Jesus at his side. St. Joseph’s canonization predates formal processes, as his veneration as a saint emerged organically in the early Church. His feast day, celebrated on March 19, honors his enduring legacy as a humble servant of God and a protector of the faithful.