St. Joseph

Joseph belonged to the house of David, the family of Israel's ancient king, but earned his living through manual work. His life belongs to the years surrounding the birth of Christ and the early first century. The Gospels give no date for his birth and record no words spoken by him. What they preserve is a series of decisions through which he cared for Mary and Jesus.

Matthew describes Joseph as a just man. When he learned that Mary was expecting a child, he intended to separate from her quietly rather than expose her to public disgrace. An angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that the child had been conceived by the Holy Ghost. Joseph received Mary as his wife and accepted the charge entrusted to him. He was to give the child the name Jesus.

The birth of Jesus placed Joseph beside Mary in circumstances far removed from royal comfort. His responsibility was to receive and protect the Saviour as a member of his own household. Butler draws attention to this double service: the guardianship of Mary and the upbringing of Jesus. Joseph's place in the Holy Family involved the daily care that a child and mother needed, as well as obedience to the extraordinary events unfolding around them.

When Herod sought the child's life, another warning came in a dream. Joseph took Jesus and Mary into Egypt. Matthew says that he departed by night. The Gospel does not describe their lodgings, his employment there, or how long they remained. It does tell us that Joseph acted on the warning and stayed until he was directed to return. His fatherly care included taking his family away from a ruler who threatened them.

After Herod's death, Joseph brought the family back. Learning that Archelaus ruled in Judaea, he feared to settle there; another warning directed him toward Galilee. They made their home in Nazareth. Butler describes Joseph supporting the household through his trade. The Church's familiar image of Joseph as a carpenter expresses this life of skilled work and provision, although the surviving account gives few details of his workshop.

Luke next shows him making the yearly journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. When Jesus was twelve, Mary and Joseph discovered on their return journey that He was missing. They went back and found Him in the Temple after an anxious search. Jesus returned with them to Nazareth and was subject to them. This is the last Gospel episode in which Joseph appears taking an active part.

The circumstances and date of Joseph's death are not recorded. Butler follows the traditional understanding that he died before Jesus' public ministry, and connects devotion to a happy death with the belief that Jesus and Mary attended him. That consoling tradition should be distinguished from the events explicitly narrated in Scripture. The Church remembers Joseph above all for the faithful service the Gospels do reveal: receiving God's direction, protecting his family, and giving himself to the care of Christ.