St. Joseph (flourished 1st century CE, Nazareth, Galilee, region of Palestine; principal feast day March 19, Feast of St.
Joseph the Worker May 1) in the
New Testament,
Jesusā earthly father and the
Virgin Maryās husband. St. Joseph is the
patron of the universal church in
Roman Catholicism, and his life is recorded in the
Gospels, particularly
Matthew and
Luke.
Joseph was a
descendant of the house of
King David. After marrying
Mary, he found her already pregnant and, ābeing a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgraceā (Matthew 1:19), decided to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him that the child was the Son of God and was conceived by the
Holy Spirit. Obeying the angel, Joseph took Mary as his wife. After Jesusā birth at
Bethlehem in
Judaea, where the
Holy Family received the
Magi, an angel warned Joseph and Mary about the impending violence against the child by King
Herod the Great of Judaea, whereupon they fled to Egypt. There the angel again appeared to Joseph, informing him of Herodās death and instructing him to return to the Holy Land.
Avoiding Bethlehem out of fear of Herodās successor, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus settled in
Nazareth (Matthew 2:22ā23) in
Galilee, where Joseph taught his craft of carpentry to Jesus. Joseph is last mentioned in the Gospels when he and Mary frantically searched for the lost young Jesus in
Jerusalem, where they found him in the Temple (Luke 2:41ā49). Like Mary, Joseph failed to comprehend Jesusā
ironic question, ā āWhy were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Fatherās house?ā ā The circumstances of Josephās death are unknown, except that he probably died before Jesusā public ministry began and was certainly dead before the Crucifixion (John 19:26ā27).
Saint Joseph | Biography & Feast Day