We Know More about St. Joseph than You Think!

On the Feast of St. Joseph, Let Us Thank Him for All His Assistance!

I have to smile when I think that Joe the Plumber has St. Joseph the worker as his special friend and patron saint. But St. Joseph belongs to all the regular Joes as well: all the fathers and foster fathers, all single men and young boys. They can all claim him for a friend and mentor. St. Joseph has a carpenter's tent big enough for every man or boy no matter who his other patrons are. 

And what a model he is - a real man's man: strong, patient, courageous enough to leave town with his family at night on a road commonly traveled by robbers. No arguments with God, just a hasty response to God's will. Scripture tells us he's a "just man," no small feat in any age. He says not one word in Scripture, but his faithful presence and his prompt obedience to God's will speak volumes. He's a model for us wives and mothers too. If you want to know how to support your spouse, ask St. Joseph. He'll never fail you.
Do you think we know nothing about this great saint because Sacred Scripture offers us so little? Think again. The Fathers of the Church and others have drawn a detailed picture about the man behind the holy cards. I'll mention only one issue from the wonderful book, The Life and Glories of St. Joseph by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A., published in 1888. St. Joseph is often pictured as an old man, but historical records give us a different picture:

Now when the tender age of Mary at the time of her espousals is considered, and the providential object of that marriage, which was to shield her reputation and to hide for a time the mystery of the Incarnation ; to provide her also with a fitting companion and protector, who was to be an aid and a support to her, especially during their flight into Egypt and in all the labours and sufferings which their exile must have entailed ; it would seem surprising, not to say incredible, in the absence of any solid proof, to suppose that it pleased God to select for her husband a man weighed down by the burden of years. Again, as regards the evidence to be drawn of Joseph's great age from pictorial representations, we may say that it has become quite valueless ever since patient research has brought to light monuments of much earlier date in the sculptures and paintings of the very first centuries. St. Joseph, the Cavaliere de Eossi tells us, is portrayed in the most ancient marbles and ivories as very young and almost always beardless. Later on, he was given a thick beard and a more mature and even aged appearance. Of the youthful representations he mentions many examples, one of which is even supposed to belong to the sixth century. However, it was in about the fifth century that the habit of depicting the saint of, at least, a mature age seems to have commenced. Clearly, then, as De Eossi observes, the most ancient monuments, those of the third and fourth centuries, are so far from following the apocryphal legend that, on the contrary, they picture to us the spouse of the Virgin in the flower of his youth.

And so we see first of all a young man, perfectly fit for that long walk to Bethlehem and dangerous journey to Egypt. Can you imagine the man below being able to make such grueling journeys, let alone protect Mary and Jesus from any threat from man or beast along the way?  

The following prayer was reportedly found in 50 A.D. It can be prayed as a nine or thirty-day novena and would be particularly appropriate to pray with those in danger of death. Remember that St. Joseph is also the patron of a good death. What a friend to have beside you in your final hours!

O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen

Imprimatur
Most Rev. George W. Ahr
Bishop of Trenton

Let us all thank St. Joseph today for being the "pillar of families" and the guardian of the universal Church. Let us ask him to intercede for the poor battered Bride of Christ. 

St. Joseph, pillar of families and patron of the universal Church, pray for us.