Saint Joseph

Who they were

Joseph of Nazareth was the husband of the Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew first calls him a just man: when Mary was found to be with child, he chose to send her away quietly rather than expose her to public shame, until an angel told him not to be afraid to take her as his wife.

Warned again by an angel, he fled by night with Mary and the child to Egypt to escape Herod, and afterwards settled the family at Nazareth, where he worked as a craftsman. He does not appear in the Gospels during Jesus' public life, so he is believed to have died before it began, with Mary and Jesus at his side.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Joseph is honoured as a saint from the Gospels themselves. He is Patron of the Universal Church and, because tradition holds that he died with Jesus and Mary beside him, patron of a good death.

Why that counted as sanctity

Joseph's holiness is the holiness of the Gospel's quiet obedience. Each time God spoke to him he did what was asked at once and without a word recorded: he took Mary as his wife, fled into a foreign country, began again from nothing, and came home when he was told. He guarded and raised the Son of God as a father, in ordinary work and family life. The Church names him Patron of the Universal Church because he protected Christ and His mother, as he is asked to protect the Church.

Connected on this site

• James the Just Saint Child
• Joachim Saint Relative
• Saint Anne Saint Relative