His story
Everything known of him is in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
He was a carpenter in Nazareth, engaged to Mary, and Matthew calls him “a just man” (Matthew 1:19). When an angel told him in a dream that the child Mary carried was from the Holy Spirit, he took her as his wife, and when another dream warned him of King Herod, he took the Child and His mother to Egypt by night (Matthew 2:13-14). Jesus grew up in his home, and the people of Nazareth called Him “the carpenter’s son” (Matthew 13:55).
The Gospel of Matthew, chapters 1, 2 and 13; Pope Francis, Patris corde, 2020
His feast days
19 March: His feast in the Catholic Church.
1 May: The feast of St Joseph the Worker in the Catholic Church.
The Roman Martyrology, 1916, 19 March; Pope Francis, Patris corde, 2020, note 3: the feast of St Joseph the Worker, set in 1955
Why people ask St Joseph
Finding a job
Catholics ask him as the patron of workers, because he fed his family by the work of his hands. Pope Pius XII gave him that title in 1955, when he set the feast of St Joseph the Worker on 1 May, and Pope Francis asked his help in 2020 so that “no family should be without work”.
Pope Francis, Patris corde, 2020, the introduction and section 6
Where it comes from
Who wrote it
Often said to be by Pope St Pius X, but who wrote it is not known. In his own hand, on 23 November 1906, he granted an indulgence to all who say it.
L’Ami du Clergé 29, no. 27 (4 July 1907), p. 602, the grant of 23 November 1906
In French
Glorieux saint Joseph, modèle de tous ceux qui sont voués au travail,obtenez-moi la grâce
de travailler en esprit de pénitence, pour l’expiation de mes nombreux péchés;de travailler en conscience, mettant le culte du devoir au-dessus de mes inclinations;de travailler avec reconnaissance et joie, regardant comme un honneur d’employer et de développer par le travail les dons reçus de Dieu;de travailler avec ordre, paix, modération et patience, sans jamais reculer devant la lassitude et les difficultés;de travailler surtout avec pureté d’intention et avec détachement de moi-même,ayant sans cesse devant les yeux la mort et le compte que je devrai rendredu temps perdu, des talents inutilisés, du bien omiset des vaines complaisances dans le succès, si funestes à l’œuvre de Dieu.
Tout pour Jésus, tout par Marie, tout à votre imitation, ô patriarche Joseph!Telle sera ma devise à la vie et à la mort.Ainsi soit-il.
