AFTER A SLOW START , THE CHURCH GRADUALLY RECOGNIZED ST. JOSEPH'S CONTRIBUTIONS

Canada's patron , ST. JOSEPH,  is also patron to the universal church
By CATHOLIC REGISTER STAFF ..Toronto, Canada.... April 06  -1998

Joseph, Mary's husband and earthly father to our Lord Jesus, is truly one of the mystery men of the Bible. Every March 19 we celebrate his annual feast day.

On top of having nothing to say in any Bible passages, we know nothing of him beyond the time Jesus as a 12-year-old boy was found discoursing with the doctors in the temple in Jerusalem where the family had gone to mark the feast of Passover.

Even devotions to St. Joseph originated very late in western church history, though he had been widely venerated in eastern churches between the fourth and seventh centuries.

What we do know about Joseph is that he knew his life was in God's hands. This helped him defy the tradition of his land and accept Jesus as his own child, even though law required him to divorce and publicly disgrace Mary, his betrothed, for bearing a child that was not his own.

The first known celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph in the western church wasn't until the eighth century in northern France or Belgium. The feast wasn't widely celebrated until after 1479, when the feast date of March 19 was introduced in Rome by Sixtus IV.

The delay in recognizing his position in the Holy Family, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, was due "undoubtedly (to) the fear that Joseph's unique role as virginal husband of Mary and father of Jesus by spiritual ties might have caused misunderstanding about the dogmas of Mary's perpetual virginity and Jesus' miraculous origin in Mary."

Today, however, St. Joseph's position has been greatly enhanced within the church. The church venerates Joseph as second in holiness and dignity only to Mary. He is venerated as Patron of the Universal Church because "this is his numberless family, scattered throughout all lands, over which he rules with a sort of paternal authority," according to Pope Leo XI in Quamquam Pluries.

He is also Canada's patron saint as well as patron for Mexico, Bohemia, Belgium and the Chinese missions - and is recognized as a protector of working men, the patron of social justice, and patron of the church's campaign against atheistic communism.