The Church venerates St. Joseph with two feast days on the liturgical calendar. On March 19, we honor Joseph, the Husband of Mary, and on May 1, we honor Joseph, the Worker.

There is not much information about the life of St. Joseph, but what is known is that he was from the royal lineage of King David. He was also the chaste and devout spouse of Mary and foster father of Jesus.

It is also known that St. Joseph was a carpenter by trade and that Jesus learned the carpentry trade from him.

St. Joseph’s actions in the Bible illustrate his compassion and complete obedience to the will of God in his life. He loved and protected Mary and Jesus and together they are the role models for a Christian family.

Pope John Paul II commented on the dignity of all human work in his encyclical Laborem Exercens: “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

St. Joseph the Worker is the Church’s role model for the dignity of human work. Pope Pius XII added the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955.

Other Saints of the Day:
St. Isidora
St. Marculf
St. Amator
St. Benedict of Szkalka