Saint · Feast 19 March
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast day is 19 March, kept as a solemnity in the General Roman Calendar.
- Feast
- 19 March · Solemnity
- Remembered as
- Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Patron of
- Carpenters and woodworkers, Families, Fathers, A happy death, Canada, Belgium, Ceará, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton
The life
Sources. The chief sources of information on the life of St. Joseph are the first chapters of our first and third Gospels; they are practically also the only reliable sources, for, whilst, on the holy patriarch's life, as on many other points connected with the Saviour's history which are left untouched by the canonical writings, the apocryphal literature is full of details, the non-admittance of these works into the Canon of the Sacred Books casts a strong suspicion upon their contents; and, even granted that some of the facts recorded by them may be founded on trustworthy traditions, it is in most instances next to impossible to discern and sift these particles of true history from the fancies with which they are associated. Among these apocryphal productions dealing more or less extensively with some episodes of St. Joseph's life may be noted the so-called "Gospel of James", the "Pseudo-Matthew", the "Gospel of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary", the "Story of Joseph the Carpenter", and the "Life of the Virgin and Death of Joseph".
From the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), article “St. Joseph”, in the public domain. Some details may since have been revised by later research. Read the whole article on Wikisource.
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