St Joseph

All for Jesus - All for Mary
All to imitate thee O Patriarch St. Joseph

Joseph is of royal descent from David. Joseph's family came from Bethlehem in Judea but he had moved to Nazareth in Galilee, where he was a builder. He was bethrothed to Mary, became alarmed when he found Mary was pregnant though she had not lived with him, and was dissuaded from divorcing her by the angel of the Lord who told him her pregnancy was "by the Holy Spirit." He was with Mary at the birth of Jesus and the visit by th Magi at Bethlehem. He took Mary and the child to Egypt to escape Herod's massacre of the infants, and after the death of Herod, brought them back to Nazareth. He and Mary had Jesus circumcised and presented to the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus was twelve Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem, lost him, and found him discoursing with the doctors in the Temple.

Joseph was declared Patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870; a model for fathers of families by Pope Leo XIII, who confirmed that his pre-eminent sanctity places him next to the Blessed Virgin among the saints, in his encyclical Quanquam pluries in 1889; a protector of workingmen by Pope Benedict XV; and in 1955 Pope Pius XII established the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1. March 19 is the feast day of St. Joseph
Prayers to St. Joseph
Novena to St. Joseph
Litany to St. Joseph