JOSEPHOLOGY:
A systematic study of St. Joseph in the light of Church’s Teaching.
1.0
Introduction
In
the Sacred Scripture mention is being made of the name “Joseph.” First in the
line, was the 11th son of Jacob who was sold into slavery and later
rose to an important position in the Egyptian Government.[1]Secondly,
the father of one of the spies sent into Canaan was also called “Joseph.”[2]Son
of Asaph was also referred to as “Joseph”;[3]
the man who married a foreign wife during the exile also go by the name
“Joseph.”[4]
A priest of the family of Shebaniah also answered the name “Joseph.”[5]
We can as well see in the Scripture, a converted Jew of Arimathea in whose tomb
Jesus was laid was named “Joseph.”[6]
Lastly, the four gospels described a young man called “Joseph” as the husband
of Mary and earthly father of Jesus.[7]
In
the course of this work, we are going to take into consideration the latter
figure, whom the four Evangelists made reference to: St. Joseph the foster
father of Jesus Christ and husband of Mary.
St. Joseph could be rightly described as an
inconspicuous figure in the pastoral traditions of the Church. Though
references have been made concerning his fostering role as the father of the
child Jesus, during the visit by the shepherds and magi. His presence at
the presentation in the temple and flight to Egypt with the child and mother
(his wife) also proved his fatherly care and support. Joseph right from the
moment of birth, through infancy has been in great support and care of the
child and the mother.
Surprisingly,
along the line his fostering paternal care lost in history, thus creating a
sort of lacuna (or missing link) in the traditional history of the
Church. Over the years some ecclesiastical writers and popes have made efforts
to bring in St. Joseph once again into the line of events such as St. Bernhard,
Pierre D’Ally, Johannes Gerson, Hermann Josef, Berhardin Von Siena, etc.While
Popes like Leo XIII, Pius XII, Benedict XV and Francis have made great efforts in
giving the pride of place to St. Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church.
Consequently, this work aims at reflecting on
the life and times of St. Joseph in the light of the Church’s teachings through
the age; with special reference to Pope Leo XIII’s Quamquam Pluries and
Pope Francis’ Patris Corde. It will also give an in-depth study of the
historical background of St. Joseph, his call to fatherhood (though on the
grounds of a foster parenthood), how he is seen as an inconspicuous figure in
Christendom, recommendations and conclusion.
2.0
Historical Background of St.
Joseph
Everything
we know about Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus,
comes from the Sacred Scripture, and mentions of him are very significant. The thirteen
Pauline’s letters/epistles in the New Testament make no reference to him at all.
But the four gospels made reference to St. Joseph as a father of Jesus and
husband of Mary.[8]The
mention of St. Joseph first appears in the Bible in the four gospels, of which Evangelist
Matthewtraces Joseph's lineage back to King David. And no other books in the
New Testament make reference to him, apart from writings from the church
historians and scholars.
However, the actual dates of birth and death of
St. Joseph – foster father of Jesus are unknown. Some extant documents asserted
that, he must have flourished in the 1st century B.C., in Nazareth,
a city in Galilee found in the region of Palestine. The Holy Scripture
described him as the earthly father of Jesus, put it right “the foster father
or care giver” of Jesus Christ; and husband of our Lady, Blessed Virgin Mary.
He is being traced to the ancestry line of the house of King David.[9]
The second century historian Julius Africanus, a native of Israel gave an
account of Joseph’s descent tracing it to Matthan as his grandfather, who
married a woman named Estha, who bore a son named Jacob. After Matthan died,
Estha married his relative Melchi and bore a son named Heli (marrying relatives
was a common tradition among Jews at this time). Jacob and Heli were then
half-brothers. Heli died childless, so Jacob married his widow and fathered
Joseph, who was biologically the son of Jacob but legally the son of Heli.[10]
Later in life, a young lady (Blessed Virgin
Mary) was betrothed to him, which he later on found to be with a child. The
situation that puts him off-balance. “Being a righteous man and unwilling to
expose her to public disgrace, he made plans to divorce her in secret.”[11]This
secret plan was thwarted with the appearance of the angel Gabriel, who
admonished him: “… Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and will bear a son, whom
you shall call “Jesus” for He will save His people from their sins.”[12]Obeying
the angel, Joseph took Mary as his wife. After Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem
in Judaea,
where the Holy Family
received the Magi,
an angel warned Joseph and Mary about the impending violence against the child
by King Herod
the Great of Judaea, whereupon they fled to Egypt.
There the angel again appeared to Joseph, informing him of Herod’s death and
instructing him to return to the Holy Land.
He avoided, Bethlehem out of fear of Herod’s
successor, and thensettled in Nazareth, where
Joseph taught his craft of carpentry to Jesus.[13]The
last time Joseph was mentioned in the scripture was when he was in the company
of our Lady in great searched for Jesus in Jerusalem, where they found Him in
the Temple.[14]
But it is traditionally believed that he died
about 18AD in Nazareth before the crucifixion of our Lord (cf. John 19:26-27). Though
the circumstances surrounding his death was unknown. Some of the subsequent
apocryphal narratives concerning Joseph are extravagantly fictious. The 2nd
century Protoevangelium of James and the 4th – century
History of Joseph the carpenter present him as a widower with children at the
time of his betrothal to Mary, thus contributing to the confusion over the
question of Jesus; brothers and sisters. The allegation that he lived to be 111
years old is spurious. Reliable information about St. Joseph is found only in
the Gospels, for the later pious stories distort his image and helped delay his
commemoration.[15]
Melanie Rigney, described him to have come from
a royal lineage, but that he was not blessed with worldly goods.[16]
Though the scripture has already designated him as carpenter, and it further
told us of the offering presented at the presentation of the child in the
temple, instead of the offering of the traditional lamb offering, the Holy
Family had a pair of turtle doves. Though this was not in any way obstruct the
child Jesus to be presented, but it deeply explains the lowly state of the Holy
Family.
4.0 St. Joseph as an unremarkable figure in Christendom
It will be a surprise to have no one christened after St.
Joseph, no Church named after him, no shrine erected in his honour. Then a lot
of harm would have been done on this great man of faith, who not only a foster
father of Jesus but the protector and guardian of the Holy Family. St.
Joseph though designated as a foster father of Jesus and husband of Mary by the
two Evangelists - Matthew and Luke, was as an inconspicuous figure in
Christendom. His relevance was relegated to the background after the
presentation of our Lord in the temple. Nothing so much was said about him,
even how and where he died remains a story yet to be told. His paternal
assistance to our Lord and His Mother cannot be over-emphasized. He was as well
seen as a “father in the shadow” as a result of the fostering responsibility
entrusted to him. Though a foster father, but he carried out the duty every
biological father could. He was there in and out of seasonfor the Holy Family.
Amidst these obligations exercised by him, to an extent he is still ignored to
a mere spear-carrier in the pageant of salvation. For the Byzantine Christians
St. Joseph has not been accorded an independent cult or feast day but he is
being include among other holy ancestors of Christ.[17]
However, the long obscurity of this great
pillar of faith, whose identity is being exhumed in a very special way with the
proclamation of the year in his honour to mark the 150th year
anniversary of his pronouncement as the patron of the universal Church. In the
light of this unremarkable fame of his, the scripture is noted to provide
minimal resources for a popular cult of St. Joseph. The gospels made reference
to him by name “Joseph” which means “God adds or God gathers” only fifteen
times. He appeared briefly in connection with the early life of Jesus, then
simply disappears. Sandra Miesel observed that, the evangelists did not record
any word spoken by St. Joseph, without making reference to a traditional burial
place or him leaving behind bodily relics. She further avers that; the early
Church writers and scholars were anxious in defending the virgin birth and
perpetual virginity of our Lady. And that it seemed to many Christians of that
time that minimizing St. Joseph Mary is magnified. It is on this note that, the
Fathers of the Church remained studiously incurious about his life. Although
they mention him occasionally in passing, there is not a single listing for St.
Joseph in the saints’ index to Migne’s Patrologiae Latina, a 221-volume
collection of Church writings up to 1216AD.[18]
Notably, the popularity of St. Joseph had
no root in the East, thus making Mohammed to be strange to the name among
Christian informants. But got to hear of the unmarried Virgin Mary. This
therefore pave way for her recognition in the Koran, where Sura 19is titled
“Mary”. There are other extant documents which described the unremarkable
nature of St. Joseph, stating that he was discussed only feasts of our Lord or
that of our Lady because he lacked a feast of his own. Another outstanding area
where St. Joseph is being seen in the lowly state is in the work of Arts. Despite
his debut in an illustrative mosaic at St. Mary Major in Rome (Circa 440), St.
Joseph was marginalized in medieval art. He did not rate a separate image, even
in prayer books. In Northern Gothic artists St. Joseph was not given an active
role in caring for the child Jesus, but only in menial chores like fetching
water, cooking or swathing the infant in his wooly hose, Sandra Miesel
observed.
5.0 Regaining His Proper Status
St. Joseph was considered a “father in the shadow”, a title
which prompted him to be unremarkable for many ages. In many occasions, his
identity was not given attention. For instance, in most of the artistic
representations of the Holy family group portrait which was popular in Northern
Europe until the end of the middle Ages; He was not given a rightful position
as it is today. Until after 1500 does St. Joseph move into the circle of
activity and get to touch the Child Jesus. In order to redress the obscurities
surrounding the figure of St. Joseph, the Holy Kindred picture was rearranged
giving St. Joseph slightly greater prominence. In order to reposition him, some
of the manuscripts shows St. Joseph escorting our Lady to St. Elizabeth’s home
for the visitation and holds the infant for the Presentation in the Temple, a
role previously reserved for the Blessed Mother.
Medieval parents, however, continued to
avoid the name Joseph. Only one Giuseppe appears on a list of 53,000 Tuscan
householders collected before 1530, whereas that name is now one of the most
popular Italian names. The first Catholic saints named for St. Joseph came
along later still: Canary Islander Blessed Joseph de Ancheita in 1534 and
Spaniard St. Joseph Calasanctius in1556. This slowly building interest would
not necessarily have brought St. Joseph to his later fame. What propelled him
to saintly stardom were the calamities of the 14th century. That era opened
with unprecedented famine around the shores of the North Sea. The Hundred
Years' War broke out between France and England. Civil war tore at Castile.
Portugal, Scotland, and Poland-Lithuania battled for their national lives.
Peasants and urban artisans rose in revolt from Tuscany to Flanders, England to
Estonia.
However, heresies, corruption, and
religious hysterias disfigured the Church while she suffered the Babylonian
Captivity and the Great Western Schism. And over all these miseries rode the
Black Death, killing a quarter of Europe's people in its first assault alone.
The horrors inflicted on families and communities needed heavenly healing.
Reform-minded French theologian Jean Gerson (d. 1429), chancellor of the
University of Paris and a noted spiritual writer, turned the spotlight on St.
Joseph as the ideal family model and protector. Gerson's 2,957-line poem about
St. Joseph, the Josephina, promoted the saint and his marvelous virtues
across Western Europe.[19] In another major effort to restore
the dignity and status of St. Joseph, Gerson and St. Bernardine of Siena, a
spellbinding preacher and reformer of the Franciscan order gathered up existing
fragments of devotion to St. Joseph and rewrote his role in the Church. In the
course of counter-reformation moment, St. Joseph whom many considered as the
unfaltering family saint, was well interconnected with the trend of that time;
as his strength and dignity fit the early modern ideals of patriarchal
authority. In the same spirit, families were encouraged to imitate harmonious
order of the Holy Family headed by St. Joseph.
In the Renaissance era, his reputation
continued to thrive with the 16th century Italian’s paintings where he
wedded with Mary, the artistic work which exalted the religious significance of
matrimony over its social and economic aspects.This raised an argument by the
counter-reformation’s arbiter of religious art – Johannes Molanus in 1570,
which he demanded a clean sweep of legendary material in Christian art. One of
the subjects matters his writings denounced were the Holy Kindred and
apocryphal accounts of St. Joseph’s selection as Mary’s spouse.He maintained
that St. Joseph should be depicted as a “young” and “vigorous” man with the
Christ child firmly placed under his paternal care. This standpoint was not
observed by Baroque in his artistic work, as he presented St. Joseph with a
miraculous flowering staff. While that of the likes of El Greco, Zurbaran had a
strong backing, as they presented St. Joseph as a strong, black-bearded walking
hand-in-hand with the Holy Child. The act that Sandra Miesel, a medievalist and
a Catholic writer described as a motif of a man leading God by the hand, which
captured St. Joseph’s love for our Lord.[20]
However, other reputable artists in the
likes of Zurbaran, who in his artistic work presented St. Joseph with the risen
Christ awarding His foster father a floral crown of glory. While Murillo on the
other way round gave a delightful genre scene of the Holy Family with little
bird and his tender St. Joseph the Holy Child Jesus.
Consequently, various Popes across the
ages saw him as a prime healer of modern vices. In 1847, Blessed Pope Pius IX
ordered the feast to be celebrated everywhere on the third Wednesday after
Easter. In 1870, the same pope, now "the Prisoner of the Vatican,"
declared St. Joseph as the patron of the universalChurch. This latest
development served as one of the major reasons, that Pope Leo XIII in 1889
wrote Quamquam Pluries – an encyclical on devotion to St. Joseph. The
work which called for the intercession of St. Joseph against the religious and
social crises of that time. The Holy Father further asked the poor to invoke
himas their guide in seeking justice, and not to see him as a socialist. The
rise of communism made this last thought more timely than even Leo could have
predicted. In 1930, Pius XI named St. Joseph a special promoter of Russia to
counteract Soviet persecution of the Church; he invoked him again in 1937
against atheist communism in general. In 1955, Pius XII replaced the Patronage
of St. Joseph with a new feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, the
traditional holiday of the working class. Since then, new images of the saint
show him holding carpenter's tools rather than lilies. To draw blessings from the Church's
patron, Pope John XXIII made St. Joseph, patron of Vatican II in 1961 and
inserted his name in the canon of the Mass in 1963. But John Paul II's
apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos in 1989 broadens his
predecessors' concerns. For Pope St. John Paul II, the mystery of St. Joseph's
heroic obedience to God plays out in the family, the "sanctuary of love
and cradle of life." He emphasizes the reality of the saint's marriage and
paternity despite the absence of sexual activity: Self-giving love is what
matters most. Outside the family, St. Joseph "brought human work closer to
the mystery of the Redemption." He is our model for harmonizing the active
with the contemplative life. Inheritor of the Old Covenant, his association
with Jesus and Mary in their "domestic church" makes him a fitting
patron of the universal Church born of the New Covenant.Redemptoris Custos places
St. Joseph firmly in the foreground of efforts to renew family, society, and
the Church. Remarkably, the Roman calendar
had first listed St. Joseph's feast day in 1479, it was not until the 17th
century that grandiose Latin hymns were written for this celebration. He
received his own special office in the Roman Breviary in 1714, and his name was
inserted in the Litany of Saints in 1729. The Congregation of St. Joseph,
founded in Le Puy, France, in 1650 was the first religious congregation
dedicated under his patronage. It is worthy to note that, Montreal’s Oratory of
St. Joseph begun by Brother Bessette in 1904 has grown into a huge basilica
that still draws legions of pilgrims and promotes the saint worldwide. Although his veneration seems to have begun in
Egypt, the earliest Western devotion to him dates from the early 14th
century, when the Servietes[21]
an order of mendicant friars, observed his feast on March 19, the traditional
day of his death. Among the subsequent promoters of the devotion were Pope Sixtus
IV, who introduced it at Rome
about 1479, and the celebrated 16th-century mystic St.
Teresa of Ávila. St. Joseph was already
patron of Mexico,
Canada,
and Belgium,
before he was declared patron of the universal church by Pope Pius
IX in 1870. In 1955 Pope Pius XII
established the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1 as a counter-
celebration to the communists’ May
Day. In 1919, Pope Benedict XV inserted a preface
in his honour into the Sacramentary.
It is in the light of this development, that
Pope Francis continued in the footstep of his predecessor by bringing into
limelight the efficacy of the patronage of St. Joseph in his apostolic letter –
Patris Corde:a title which depicts the love of St. Joseph on Jesus, whom
all four Gospels refer to as “the son of Joseph;”[22]
to mark the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of St. Joseph as
the patron of the universal Church.
5.0 Revisiting Popes Leo XIII’sQuamquam
Pluries and Francis’Patris Corde.
The duo made remarkable imprints in the history of
the Church on St. Joseph. While Pope Leo XIII was advocating and popularizing
the devotion to St. Joseph as the universal patron of the Church in the
encyclical on devotion to St. Joseph - Quamquam Pluries. Pope Francis on
the other hand renewed this solemn call and then, put St. Joseph at the centre
of our reflection in the wake of deadly COVID-19 pandemic an Apostolic Letter -
Patris Corde (with a Father’s heart)
Popes Leo XIII’s Quamquam Pluries
In 1889 when the
world and the Church were faced with the challenges posed by modernity, His
Holiness, Pope Leo XIII came out with an encyclical Quamquam Pluries. In
the document he became the first pope to draw the lines of a theology of St.
Joseph with clearly defined titles that fit into the history of salvation, of
human redemption, both at the level of the incarnation, as husband of Mary and
father of Jesus, and at the level of the Church’s life as her natural
protector. In the work, he urged the Church to pray to St. Joseph seeking his
intercession as the universal patron of the Church. The sense behind his choice
as the patron of the Church, is that he was the spouse of Mary and foster
father of Jesus Christ. However, from these sources have sprung his
dignity, holiness, and glory. The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIII said: “He [St.
Joseph] set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his
spouse and the Divine infant; regularly by his work he earned what was
necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing.” That is why
he saw the Holy Family as the foundation of Christianity and society. And that
the Holy Family provides an example of the dignity of labour and the obligation
of the employer to provide a living-wage. This standpoint came as a result of
his opposition meted by capitalism on the family. In the last part of the work, that
he prescribed that during the month of October, a prayer to St. Joseph should
be said after the Rosary and granted an indulgence of seven years and seven
Lents for each such act; the prayer remains enriched with a partial indulgence
in the current Enchiridion Indulgentiarum.
Pope Francis’ Patris Corde.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic Pope Francis puts down
an Apostolic LetterPatris Corde (With a Father’s heart) to mark the
opening of a Year of St. Joseph (December 8, 2020 – December 8, 2021). He made reference to the four Gospels for
referring to Jesus as "the son of Joseph", even though Joseph was not
his biological father. For centuries, Joseph’s name was hardly mentioned,
because the very fact that he thought of sending Mary away seemed wrong.
Everything changed 150 years ago, when Blessed Pius IX named Joseph Patron of the Catholic Church. In the light of this that the
Holy Father, in his reflection in the time of pandemic, when he personally
decided to retreat alone in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, there he recognised the contribution being made
"by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in
newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in
these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors,
nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers,
transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and
public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many
others". What he praised in
them is not only generosity, but a willingness to work patiently spreading
"not panic, but shared responsibility" and, in many cases, praying
and encouraging others to pray. "Each of us can discover in Joseph - the
man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence - an intercessor,
a support and a guide in times of trouble". Catholics have traditionally
held Joseph in great affection. St. Teresa of Ávila often prayed to him and
encouraged others to do the same. In view
of this, that he made reference to Pope Saint Paul VI who pointed out how St.
Joseph concretely expressed his fatherhood “by making his life a sacrificial
service to the mystery of the incarnation and its redemptive purpose. He
employed his legal authority over the Holy Family to devote himself completely
to them in his life and work. He turned his human vocation to domestic love
into a superhuman oblation of himself, his heart and all his abilities, a love
placed at the service of the Messiah who was growing to maturity in his home”.[23] He
further reminded the faithful of the traditional devotion to St. Joseph, which
he stated that Prayers are to be offered to him every Wednesday and the month
of March. Pope Francis is convinced that "in Joseph, Jesus saw the tender
love of God". That is because Joseph doubted his own ability to do the
things God asked him to do. "The evil one makes us see and condemn our
frailty, whereas the Spirit brings it to light with tender love. Tenderness is
the best way to touch the frailty within us. Pointing fingers and judging
others are frequently signs of an inability to accept our own weaknesses, our
own frailty". Joseph was able to accept his own weaknesses and Pope
Francis is sure this molded the atmosphere in the life of the Holy Family.
"Joseph teaches us that faith in God includes believing we can work even
through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that we
must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be
in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture". Joseph is a
fine example, because he "accepted Mary unconditionally.[24] This work of the Holy Father called
to mind the need to go back to the tradition, and renew the devotion to St.
Joseph, a man whom God chose to be the steward of heavenly realities on earth.
He was and remained the renowned offspring of David, light of patriarchs, spouse
of the Mother of God and chaste guardian of the virgin.
6.0 Recommendations/Conclusion
Bearing in mind the Christ-like example shown by St. Joseph
in that moment of tribulation, and his attitude which encourages us to accept
and welcome others as they are, without exception, and to show special concern
for the weak, for God chooses what is weak to shame the strong.[25]
I wish to invite us after a careful reflection on this great man of faith who
could be described as the first man who prepared a place for the New Testament (Ark
of Covenant – manger), where the magi gather to worship the Divinity in
humanity. He happened to be the first custodian of the Ark itself during the
flight to Egypt.
In the light of this, I recommend a
systematic theological study of St. Joseph in ecclesiastical institutions (as JOSEPHOLOGY)
alongside with Christology, Mariology, Pneumatology, etc. This move will assist
to bridge the gap which relegation of his person over the years in the minds of
the faithful.
-
Effective returning to the
traditional Wednesday in his honour.
-
Rekindling of the spirit of
the faithful in the month of October through reflection on the life of this
poor carpenter whose docility to the will of God won humanity a place in God’s
heart.
-
As Fr. Jerome Okonkwo
recommended, a right place to be given to St. Joseph as the universal patron of
the Church in the introductory rite of the Holy Mass during Act of Contrition.
Thus: “…therefore I ask the blessed Mary ever-virgin and [St. Joseph] the
‘patron of Universal Church….”[26]
This call borne out of the
Holy Father’s submission inviting us to ask St. Joseph for the grace of graces
for our conversion.
In conclusion, St. Joseph remains at the heart of human
redemption as the custodian of the New Ark of Covenant which reconciled man
back to God after the great fall (cf. Genesis 3:1ff.) Let St. Joseph’s devotion
be popularized as his efficacy right from time immemorial remains
unquestionable till our age.
[6] Matthew 27:57; 59; Luke 15:43.
[7] Luke 4:22; John 6:42; Cf. Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3
[8]Luke 4:22; John 6:42; Cf. Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3
[10] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 1:6:7
[13] Cf. Matthew 2:22 – 23
[21] Members of the Order of the Servant of Mary (O.SM.)
[22] Luke 4:22; John 6:42; Cf. Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3
[23] Francis, Mediataion in the Time of Pandemic, March 27, 2020: L’Osservatore Romano, March 29, 2020 p.
10.
[24]file:///C:/Users/PADREPIO/Desktop/Patris-Corde-summary.pdf
[26] Okonkwo, J. I., The Plights of St. Joseph: Husband of Mary,
Owerri: Multi-Sectors Ltd, 2021, p.40
© ARCHIVE 18032025
