St. Joseph

Joseph was, according to the canonical Christian Gospel accounts and tradition, the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus of Nazareth, although as they also assert Joseph did not physically beget Jesus, but Mary had conceived him through divine means.

The genealogy in Matthew shows that Joseph’s own father was called Jacob; according the genealogy in Luke Joseph was a son of Heli.  From the canonical Gospel accounts little else is known about Joseph  himself, except that he was a skilled craftsman (often held to have been a carpenter) and during Jesus’ childhood lived at times in Nazareth in Galilee, Bethlehem in Judea, and in exile in Egypt.

In particular, the canonical Gospel accounts contain no information about Joseph’s death.  However, because they mention his presence only at events during Jesus’ childhood but not during his public ministry and passion, moreover, when hanging on the cross Jesus made provision for the care of his mother after his own imminent death, the possibility cannot be ruled out that she was a widow by then and that Joseph had died some time during the two decades between Jesus’ childhood and the commencement of his public ministry, an interval about which the canonical Gospel accounts are altogether silent.  In the Roman Catholic and other traditions, Joseph is the patron saint of workers and has several feast days.  He was also declared to be the patron saint and protector of the universal Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions.