St. Joseph,
Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Solemnity of St. Joseph is celebrated on March 19th each year [because it is a solemnity the celebration is moved to another day should 19th March be a Sunday.] Following the growth in devotion to St. Joseph after the reformation the feast of St Joseph was added to the 1570 Tridentine Calendar.
The feast honors Joseph, the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. Joseph, in the gospels and Christian tradition, is portrayed as a man of faith attentive to the word and revelation of God and one who, despite the difficult circumstances occasioned by the pregnancy of his espoused wife Mary, attentive to the divine will protected her and her child, Jesus thus facilitating the plan of God for the world.
The Role of Joseph in the Gospels
It is through Joseph that Jesus is shown to be descended from Abraham through the House of David. Matthew's gospel uses this relationship, established in the genealogy of his infancy narrative (Mt. 1:1), to establish that Jesus is truly the revelation of the prophetic promise to Israel, and that Jesus is the Son of God and the messiah. Luke's gospel also associates Joseph with the House of David (Lk. 2:4).
While Joseph does not have a significant presence in Luke's gospel, his role as husband and protector of Mary and of Jesus in Matthew's gospel is portrayed in a manner to invoke allusions to the biblical Joseph, son of Jacob (Genesis), who
received divine communications in dreams and who acted to save Israel. Joseph's flight to Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus (Mt. 2:13-14) to escape the wicked intention of Herod, suggests a similar massacre in Egypt from which the infant Moses was saved (Ex. 1:22-2:10). These events while typing Jesus with Moses also type Joseph with his ancient namesake and allow for his characterization as one who is attentive to divine intention and thus facilitates the salvation of his people. Readers of Matthew who are familiar with the story of Irael's salvation history, as where Matthews original readers, are left in no doubt about the implications of Matthews allusive parallels.
The character of Joseph in the gospel of Matthew helps create a vision that both looks backward in salvation history and forward to the messianic future.
Joseph is remembered with a second feast day in the General Roman Calendar where he is remembered as Joseph the Worker. This feast falls on May 1st.
