When one thinks of Joseph, one usually pictures a figure in the Nativity scene standing next to Mary and watching over the infant Jesus in the manger. Joseph has been far overshadowed through history by his wife and the Marian devotion accorded her.

Not much is known about his life — he left no words behind for hagiographers to study, and he apparently died before the Crucifixion because he was not at Calvary with Mary.

Still, to this day he continues to attract the faithful in a quiet way, some to churches bearing his name, devoted to him for his fidelity to family and home. In fact, it is said that in the Roman Catholic Church, next to Mary, he and St. Jude are the most popular patrons.

Betrothed

The gospel authors Matthew and Luke agree that Mary and Joseph were to be married at the time that Mary discovered that she was pregnant. Mary was informed that her pregnancy was divine, but Joseph did not know about that part of it. He was, quite understandably, aghast at the news, since the two had not lived together. He decided he would quietly “put her away” and not marry her, which was certainly a kind alternative to having her stoned to death, a common custom at the time with errant girls.

Figure5-1: St. Joseph

But then an angel appeared to him in his sleep and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20–21) Joseph awoke with fresh courage and decided to go through with his plans to wed Mary.

Since Mary and Joseph had planned to be married anyway, it is conceivable that Joseph was a young or reasonably young man. When we see paintings of Joseph, or when he is portrayed in films, he is often presented as much older than she. On the other hand,the hypothesis that he was no longer living at the time of the Passion of Christ could lend some credence to the tradition that he was many years older than Mary.

A Worker's Household

Joseph was probably not a poor man, but he was not prosperous, either. Though he was linked to the house of King David, at the time of the Annunciation he was, and remained, a carpenter in a small town.

Whatever his income, when he and Mary brought their infant to the temple on the occasion of Mary's purification after Jesus's birth and the baby's presentation, the couple took with them only two turtledoves as an offering. Doves were gifts of the working class.

A short time after Jesus's birth, Joseph was warned in a dream to take the baby into exile in Egypt because King Herod had called for the slaying of male children under two years of age. Herod had heard that a “king” had been born and wanted no such person eventually threatening him.

So Joseph left. After the death of Herod he brought his little family back to Nazareth. When Jesus was about twelve years old, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem, lost him, and found him talking with the learned men at the temple.

In those times sons worked alongside their fathers, so Joseph taught carpentry (and possibly metalwork) to Jesus. He was known to be a fair and just man and did not stand in Jesus's way when his foster son began a public life at age thirty. Joseph is mentioned later in the Bible when Jesus is scorned for his humble beginnings: “Is not this the carpenter's son?” (Matthew 13:55)