History of St Joseph’s Day: Why isn’t it more popular?
St Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni, c 1635. Image: Wikipedia
HISTORY OF ST JOSEPH
March 19 is Saint Joseph’s Day, or the Feast of St. Joseph. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches worldwide. The terms feast and festival are often used interchangeably and often refer to a religious holiday.
What is the history of the holiday and Joseph himself?
Why don’t we hear more about St. Joseph’s Day?
I cannot think of St. Joseph’s Day without recalling the skits from the ’70s Saturday Night Live by comedian and show writer Don Novello as the (fictitious) Father Guido Sarducci, “papal legate, rock critic, and gossip columnist for The Vatican Enquirer.” He talked about St. Patrick as compared to St. Joseph:
Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci.
“You see, [St Patrick] was a good-a saint. But he wasn’t a great-a saint. Like-a Saint Joseph, the patron saint of Italy. He’s a great-a saint and not just a good-a saint.
Saint Joseph’s named day is-a coming up-March 19th. But-a, there won’t-a be no parades, no parties, not even a song for Saint-a Joseph.
“And-a the reason is-a because of-a Saint Patrick. You know, it’s just like having a birthday two days after Christmas-you just don’t get-a the same attention. And it just-a breaks my heart that he was a great-a saint, and this good, mediocre saint gets all-a the glory…
“But-a you know, he did-a invent-a Saint-a Joseph’s Aspirins. Think of all-a the lives he’s-a saved with-a those tiny little aspirins. People take-a the Saint-a Joseph’s Aspirins to-a prevent-a the heart attack.”
While St Joseph’s Day is not a holy day of obligation (to attend Mass) for Catholics in the United States, it is a big deal in Europe. It is celebrated as Father’s Day in Spain, Portugal, and especially Italy.
History of St. Joseph’s Day
While the celebration of Joseph’s life goes back to the 10th century, it was officially established in Rome in 1479, and later Pope Pius V extended it to the whole church in 1570.
Pope Pius IX subsequently declared Joseph to be both the patron and the protector of the Catholic Church.
St. Joseph and Sicily
Traditional Saint Joseph’s Table
During the Middle Ages, Sicily experienced a severe drought. Crops failed, and families were starving.
Sicilians prayed to San Giuseppe (Joseph) to help them by sending rain. If he answered their prayers, they promised a feast in his name. The rain came.
Crops were planted, preventing a widespread famine in Sicily, and the people kept their word. Every year, a table is prepared with gifts, both of food and sentiment, in thanks to St Joseph. It is widely believed that this is why the celebration is held in March.
Foods containing breadcrumbs, or the “poor man’s parmigiana,” are enjoyed. Breadcrumbs are eaten to resemble the sawdust left behind after a day’s work in Joseph’s carpenter shop.
Lemons, like fava beans, are said to bring good luck. The fava bean was the crop that saved the population from starvation and is a traditional part of St. Joseph’s Day altars and traditions. The fried pastry zeppole, cannoli, and fig cookies are presented for dessert.
In addition to New York, where my Sicilian grandparents settled, southern Louisiana was another primary landing place for Sicilian immigrants. At one point, the French Quarter of New Orleans was known as “Little Palermo.” Celebrations still occur today with traditional foods and festivities.
History of St. Joseph
What we know about Joseph is as memorable as it is brief. We learn about him from the nativity story in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
The carpenter Joseph was betrothed to Mary, and before they consummated their relationship in marriage, she was found to be pregnant. As a “just man,” he did not want to shame her with a public divorce. In a dream, an angel appeared to him and instructed him to marry Mary because her pregnancy was “from the Holy Spirit.”
A decree for a census was issued by the Roman Emperor Augustus, requiring all subjects of the Empire to return to their ancestral homes. Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, first visited by local shepherds and later by the Wise Men. When Herod the Great sought to kill this newborn “King of the Jews,” Joseph was warned by an angel in a dream to take Mary and the child to Egypt.
After the family returned to Nazareth in northern Israel, the last mention of Joseph in Jesus’ life was when the family went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover, when Jesus was 12. Historians have concluded that Joseph died sometime between this event and the opening of Jesus’ public ministry when he was around 30.
What about pictures of St. Joseph as an older man?
The Scriptures do not support this; no age is given for either. According to Jewish customs, Joseph and Mary were more likely about the same age: mid-teens or early 20s.
Extra-biblical Traditions
So why was this idea popularized in art and tradition? A 2nd-century Greek document titled the Protoevangelium of James, meaning the first “gospel” of the apostle James. It was one of several “infancy gospels” circulating during the first few centuries AD that are considered pseudepigraphical writings. Pseudepigrapha means a falsely attributed writing where the name of a past saint is attached to a work to lend it authority, but not written near the life of Jesus.
The “Protoevangelium of James” depicted Joseph as an old widower with adult children from a previous marriage. It suggested that Jesus’ siblings, described in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55-56, were from Joseph’s previous marriage. But there’s no historical basis for the claims in this document, and the fact that it was written centuries after Christ’s time makes it suspect. However, it was popular throughout the Middle Ages.
So what should you do on St. Joseph’s Day? As my Sicilian ancestors did:
“Have some spaghetti and cannoli.”
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
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