Saint Joseph, 1st Century, Was the Biblical Father of Jesus, Who is an Example of Fatherhood and Husbandry

Saint Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth and the biblical father of Jesus and husband of Mary. He is frequently held up as an example of fatherhood and husbandry. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph by all Christians. Saint Joseph is recognized in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism, and Lutheranism. In Catholic traditions, Saint Joseph is regarded as the patron saint of workers and the protector of the Catholic Church. In addition to his patronages of the sick and of a holy death, due to the belief that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Do you think Saint Joseph was a model husband and father?

Saint Joseph Biography

The first appearance of Saint Joseph is in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke, often dated from around the years 80-90. Each contains a genealogy of Jesus showing ancestry from King David, but through different sons; Matthew follows the major royal line from Solomon, while Luke traces another line back to Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. Consequently, all the names between David and Joseph are different.

The infancy narratives appear only in Matthew and Luke and take different approaches to reconciling the requirement that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem with the tradition that Jesus in fact came from Nazareth. In Matthew, Saint Joseph obeys the direction of an angel to marry Mary.

Following the birth of Jesus in a stable Bethlehem, Saint Joseph is told by an angel in a dream to take the family to Egypt to escape the massacre of the children of Bethlehem planned by Herod, the ruler of the Roman province of Judea. Once Herod has died, an angel tells Joseph to return, but to avoid Herod’s son, and he takes his wife and the child to Nazareth in Galilee and settles there.

The last time Saint Joseph appears in person in any of the Gospels is in the narrative of the Passover visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus is 12 years old, which is found only in the Gospel according to Luke. The story from Luke emphasises Jesus’ awareness of his coming mission: here Jesus speaks to both Mary and Joseph of “my father,” meaning God, but they fail to understand.

Saint Joseph is not mentioned as being present at the Wedding at Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ mission, nor at the Passion at the end. If he had been present at the Crucifixion, he would under Jewish custom have been expected to take charge of Jesus’ body, but this role is instead performed by Joseph of Arimathea. Nor would Jesus have entrusted his mother to the care of John the Apostle if her husband had been alive. So, Saint Joseph was probably deceased at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion.

While none of the Gospels mentions Saint Joseph as present at any event during Jesus’ adult ministry, they share a scene in which the people of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, doubt Jesus’ status as a prophet because they know his family. In Mark 6:3, they call Jesus “Mary’s son” instead of naming his father. In Matthew, the townspeople call Jesus “the carpenter’s son,” again without naming his father. In Luke 3:23 “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.”

Saint Joseph Veneration

The earliest records of a formal devotional following for him date to the year 800, and references to him as the educator/guardian of the Lord. Veneration of him began to appear in the 9th century, and continued growing to the 14th century. Saint Thomas Aquinas discussed the necessity of the presence of Saint Joseph in the plan of the Incarnation, for if Mary had not been married, the Jews would have stoned her, and in his youth, Jesus needed the care and protection of a human father.

In the 15th century, major steps were taken to Venerate Saint Joseph. Gerson wrote “Consideration sur Saint Joseph” and preached sermons on Saint Joseph at the Council of Constance. In 1889, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical “Quamquam pluries,” in which he urged Catholics to pray to him. Likewise, Leo stated that Joseph “set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing.”

Josephology, the theological study of Saint Joseph, is one of the most recent theological disciplines. Together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus, Joseph is one of the three members of the Holy Family; since he only appears in the birth narratives of the Gospels, Jesus is depicted as a child when with him. The formal veneration of the Holy Family began in the 17th century with François de Laval.

Conclusion

Joseph is one of the most important Saints in the Catholic Church. He is venerated, despite his scanty appearance in the Gospels, as the head of the Holy Family. He is believed by Catholics to be the prime example of both fatherhood and husbandry. It was not always this way, but Saint Joseph is now revered.