|
Saint
Joseph in Scripture
Sacred Scripture is the most authentic source we have for the study
of the importance and significance of Saint Joseph in the present
economy of salvation. The Magisterium of the Church, the universal
and proximate norm of all truth, bases its love for, and devotion
to Saint Joseph on the data given in the pages of the inspired word
of God.
What does Sacred Scripture tell us about Saint Joseph? Does it tell
us very much? It would be misleading to gauge his importance by
the number of words assigned to him in the sacred narrative. As
is so often the case in the Bible, a few seemingly simple remarks
say more than we can comprehend in a lifetime of study and reflection.
True, the Bible does not give us an exhaustive picture of the saint,
but then neither does it contain a definitive biography of Christ
or his Mother. Sacred Scripture, however, does tell us all that
we need to know about Saint Joseph, as well as the mission assigned
him in the life of the people of God.
The following points are the main facts in the life of Saint Joseph
that Sacred Scripture proposes as historically true.
1. Saint
Joseph was married to Mary, the Mother of God
When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing that she was
to become the Mother of God, she was, according to the account given
by Saint Luke, "espoused to a man named Joseph"1. The
wording of the text is common to all modern versions of the Bible.
Commenting on this text, scripture scholars warn us that the word
"espoused" is not to be equated with the word "engagement".
The words espousal and engagement are allied terms that are related
to marriage, but they are not perfectly synonymous. The word espousal
refers to the making of vows of marriage rather than to the ceremonies
that surround the wedding; it implies that the couple have, in the
strict legal sense, entered upon the state of wedlock. Engagement,
on the other hand, connotes only the "promise" of one
day entering the state of matrimony, providing the present desires
and wishes of the couple endure. Thus, to understand the phrase
of Saint Luke "espoused to a man named Joseph" as meaning
that Mary was engaged to him at the time, would not do justice to
the text. Saint Luke is simply saying that Mary and Joseph were
already married when Mary became the Mother of God.
Why, then, does Saint Luke use the word "espoused" instead
of the word "married"? Would it not have been clearer
and more simple for him to use the second?
It must be remembered that according to the Jewish custom of the
time there were two steps that lead to marriage as we understand
it today. First, the couple exchanged their <matrimonial consent>
in a special ceremony. Today we would say they pronounced their
marriage vows. In virtue of this they were joined together as man
and wife in the eyes of God and in the eyes of the law. From that
time they had all the rights and privileges accorded to husbands
and wives. According to Jewish law if the man died, the woman was
considered as his widow and was entitled to his inheritance. If
the woman was unfaithful to him, she would be punished as an adulteress;
neither could she remarry without first obtaining a bill of divorce.
The second step was the <solemnization> of the marriage or
the celebration of the wedding festivities. According to the means
of the couple, the wedding feast was celebrated as elaborately as
possible. The man would come to the home of the bride and in public
procession he would escort her to his home. Then they would begin
their life together.
This second part of the ceremony took place many months after the
exchange of the wedding vows. And it is for this reason that Saint
Luke tells us that they were "espoused" at the time of
the Annunciation. The meaning is clear. At the time of the apparition
of the Angel they were not living together as man and wife for the
wedding festivities had not as yet taken place, but they were married
in the eyes of God since they had already exchanged matrimonial
consent.
How old Saint Joseph was at the time he married Mary is a question
of great interest to the modern mind because of the conflicting
ideas expressed on this subject. For many centuries the idea prevailed
that Joseph was an old man of eighty years when he married. Even
today in some of our churches there are still statues and pictures
that would appear to corroborate this view.
It is interesting to note that the earliest known paintings or pieces
of sculpture in the catacombs show Joseph as a young man, probably
no more than twenty-five years old. This trend continued until the
fourth century. But from that time almost to modern times, Mary's
husband is pictured as a man of advanced years. This raises the
interesting question of why Joseph suddenly became an octogenarian
in Christian art. There can be no doubt but that the change was
deliberately introduced. In the fourth century the perpetual virginity
of Mary was under attack, and by way of implication it was asserted
that Joseph was the natural father of Christ. This claim was a serious
distortion of divine revelation and was promptly refuted by the
bishops of those times. History tells us that heresies die slowly
and there follows a period of time in which there is a danger that
the false doctrine will reappear. Hence the artists of the times
were convinced that it was not advisable to depict Joseph as a young
man for fear that the faithful would imagine him to be the natural
father of Christ. Portraying him as a very old man, they thought,
was the best way of upholding belief in the perpetual virginity
of Mary and Joseph. This trend continued well into the twentieth
century.
In recent decades there has been a change in thinking among religious
artists. The modern artist, sensitive to the preferences of modern
man, now prefers to represent Joseph as a strong and vigorous young
man. This healthy trend accords with modern scriptural scholarship
and has helped thinking Christians to reject as worthless fables
many of the legends about Saint Joseph that are contained in the
apocryphal literature, especially the <Gospel of Pseudo Matthieu>
and the <Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.
The belief that Mary was about fifteen years old when she became
the Mother of Christ is very widely held by scripture scholars.
Now who could seriously imagine God inspiring Mary to marry a man
who was nearly eighty years old? How could he have been a real companion
to her? Would he not have been more like a great-grandfather? Furthermore,
the gospel assures us that the contemporaries of the holy family
thought that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus. Is it likely
that people would have come to such a conclusion had Joseph already
been a very old man?
In addition, how could such an old man have worked as a carpenter
to support his wife and child? Could he have taken the long journeys
related in the gospel? How could he have protected his family on
such trips? It is not necessary to portray Joseph as a decrepit
old man in order to affirm his virginity, for virginity comes from
virtue and the grace of God and not from debilitating old-age.
Is it possible to be more specific about his age at the time of
his marriage? Yes, scholars of oriental history assure us that most
Jewish men married when they were sixteen years old; they rarely
deferred marriage beyond twenty-four. Thus in all likelihood Joseph
was married when he was in his late teens.
go to page 1, 2, 3
|
|
|
| |
| LIVES
OF THE SAINTS |
SEPTEMBER 1
ST. GILES
St. Giles was born in Athens, Greece, in early times. When his parents died, he used the large fortune they left him to help the poor. 
SEPTEMBER 2
BLESSED JOHN DU LAU AND THE SEPTEMBER MARTYRS
Blessed John was the archbishop of Arles, France..
SEPTEMBER 3
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT
St. Gregory was born in 540 in Rome. His father was a senator. His mother is a saint, St. Celia. 
SEPTEMBER 4
ST. ROSE OF VITERBO
St. Rose was born in 1235 in Viterbo, Italy. She lived at the time when Emperor Frederick had conquered land that belonged to the Church. 
SEPTEMBER 5
ST. LAWRENCE JUSTINIAN
St. Lawrence Justinian was born in Venice, Italy, in 1381.
SEPTEMBER 6
BLESSED BERTRAND
Blessed Bertrand lived in the last half of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.
SEPTEMBER 7
BLESSED JOHN DUCKETT AND BLESSED RALPH CORBY
Blessed James Duckett studied at the English college of Douay and became a priest in 1639.
SEPTEMBER 8
BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints. 
SEPTEMBER 9
ST. PETER CLAVER
St. Peter Claver, the Spanish priest of the Society of Jesus was born in 1580.
SEPTEMBER 10
ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO
St. Nicholas was born in 1245 in Ancona, Italy. His parents had waited long and anxiously for a child. 
SEPTEMBER 11
BLESSED LOUIS OF THURINGIA
Blessed Loius, the German prince, lived during the last part of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.
SEPTEMBER 13
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
St. John Chrysostom was born in Antioch around 344.
SEPTEMBER 15
OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Our Lady had many great joys as the mother of Jesus, but she had much to suffer, too.
SEPTEMBER 16
ST. CORNELIUS AND ST. CYPRIAN
St. Cornelius, a holy priest of Rome, was elected Pope in 251. He accepted because he loved Christ. 
SEPTEMBER 17
ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE
St. Robert Bellarmine was born in Italy in 1542.
SEPTEMBER 18
ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO
St. Joseph was born on June 17, 1603, in a small Italian village to poor parents.
SEPTEMBER 19
ST. JANUARIUS
St. Januarius lived in the fourth century. He was born either in Benevento or Naples, Italy.
SEPTEMBER 20
ST. ANDREW KIM TAEGON AND ST. PAUL CHONG HASANG
St. Andrew Kim Taegon was a priest and St. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay person. 
SEPTEMBER 21
ST. MATTHEW
St. Matthew was a tax collector in the city of Capernaum, where Jesus was living.
SEPTEMBER 22
ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA
St. Thomas was born in Spain in 1488.
SEPTEMBER 24
ST. PACIFICUS
St. Pacificus, a little Italian boy born in 1653 was named Charles Anthony. He was just five years old when his loving parents died.
SEPTEMBER 25
ST. SERGIUS
St. Serguis, the famous Russian saint lived in the fourteenth century.
SEPTEMBER 27
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
St. Vincent de Paul, the son of poor French peasants, was born in 1581.
SEPTEMBER 28
ST. LAWRENCE RUIZ AND COMPANIONS
St. Lawrence Ruiz, and his fifteen companions were killed for their faith in 1637, in Nagasaki, Japan.
SEPTEMBER 29
ST. MICHAEL, ST. GABRIEL, ST. RAPHAEL
Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are called "saints" because they are holy.
SEPTEMBER 30
ST. JEROME
St. Jerome was a Roman Christian who lived in the fourth century.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
PHOTO OF THE MONTH |

Tour
of the Relics of the Passion
(International Center
for Holy Relics)
www.HolyRelics.org
|
|
| |
| REFLECTIONS |
“Jesus’
Baptism”
Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven,
submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke
3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of
the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the
cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning
of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah
52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among
sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s
will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death
for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust
and submission to God? 
|
|
| |
|
| |
|