…
and I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his work. –
Ecclesiastes 3:22
We know from
the Holy Bible that Joseph was a just man with a humble demeanor. He made an honest
living as a tradesman and no doubt was a great friend to others—always willing
to extend a helping hand. We are told that Joseph was a carpenter, one who
works with wood. We picture the scene at his workshop with people coming in and
out. We see curled wood shavings carpeting the floor and little piles of
sawdust scattered throughout his shop. We hear the rhythmic sawing of wood,
constant like a heartbeat. To some this would be considered “noise,” but to
Joseph this is music. He makes his work into an art and puts every effort into
each piece he makes—whether it be a table, a bed, or even a plough. To him a
quiet workshop is an idle one. “Noise” means there is work being done. Work
being done means there is food on the table.
But did
Joseph work only with wood? The word “faber,” used in the Latin scriptures when
defining Joseph’s occupation, was a general term applied to a workman in any
material; this could be one who works with wood, stone, iron, or even precious
metals. St. Hilarion, St. Isidore, and St. Bede believed that Joseph was an
ironsmith and wrote in their commentaries on the Gospels that Jesus was the son
of “the smith who subdues iron with fire.”
The great
saints Justin Martyr
(100-165), Thomas
Aquinas (1225-1274), and John Chrysostom
(347-407), however, held the opinion that Joseph was in fact a worker of wood,
as was Jesus:
Jesus came
to John, being reputed the son of Joseph, the carpenter, or worker in wood, and He Himself was reckoned to be a carpenter; for while He dwelt amongst men He had performed carpenter’s work, making ploughs and yokes, teaching us to live just
lives free from idleness. – St. Justin Martyr
Jesus was
reputed to be the son of Joseph, who was not a forger of iron but a worker in wood. – St. Thomas Aquinas
Therefore
Mary was espoused to a carpenter, because
Jesus, the Spouse of the Church, was to work, the salvation of the world by the
wood of the Cross. – St. John Chrysostom
The accepted
idea is that Joseph was a carpenter who worked with wood, but also worked with
other materials on the side. The earliest art depicting Joseph shows him
holding carpentry tools, but we are allowed to picture him working with both
wood and
iron.
He could be called on to help build a neighbor’s house, replacing locks, or
hanging doors. What Joseph did for a living isn’t as important as how he did it.
Certainly, Joseph was known as being not only a fine workman, but also a man of
integrity. Joseph was a master of his trade and put care into the work he did
for people, and the people of Nazareth knew this. They knew that he was a good
man who was proud of what he was and put his love into everything he did.
In his 1889
encyclical, “Quamquam
Pluries,” Pope Leo XIII shows us the dignity of St. Joseph the Worker:
For
Joseph, of royal blood, united by marriage to the greatest and holiest of women,
reputed the father of the Son of God, passed his life in labor, and won by the
toil of the artisan the needful support of his family. It is, then, true that
the condition of the lowly has nothing shameful in it, and the work of the
laborer is not only not dishonoring, but can, if virtue be joined to it, be
singularly ennobled. Joseph, content with his slight possessions, bore the trials consequent on a fortune so
slender, with greatness of soul, in imitation of his Son, who having put on the
form of a slave, being the Lord of life, subjected himself of his own free-will
to the spoliation and loss of everything.
PATRON AGAINST COMMUNISM
AND SOCIALISM
The 20th
century saw the rise of Socialism and
Communism – enemies of the Church and the Christian worker. Knowing full
well the threat of these powers, a succession of Pontiffs saw fit to warn the
faithful and to entrust them to the care of St. Joseph.
On July 25, 1920 Pope
Benedict XV, known as the “Pope of Peace” during World War I, issued the moto
proprio “Bonum
Sane” in which he warned the faithful of Socialism and World Government,
while also entrusting them to the care of St. Joseph:
We now see, with true sorrow, that
society is now much more depraved and corrupt than before, and that the
so-called "social question" has been aggravating to such an
extent as to create the threat of irreparable ruin. … This World Government will no longer acknowledge the
authority of the father over his children, or of the public power over the
citizens, or of God over human society. All things
will, if implemented, lead to terrible social convulsions, like those which are
already happening… We, therefore, concerned most of all by the course of these
events … remind those on Our side,
who earn their bread by their work, to save them from Socialism, the sworn enemy of Christian principles,
that with great solicitude We recommend them in particular to St. Joseph, to
follow him as their guide and to
receive the special honor of his heavenly patronage.
Pope Pius XI, who succeeded Benedict XV, also saw the
growing threat against the Church. In his 1937 encyclical “Divini
Redemptoris” he decided to explicitly entrusted the cause against
Communism to St. Joseph:
To hasten the advent of that "peace of Christ
in the kingdom of Christ" so ardently desired by all, We entrust the vast
campaign of the Church against world Communism under the standard of St.
Joseph, Her mighty Protector. He belongs to the working-class, and he bore the
burdens of poverty for
himself and the Holy Family, whose tender and vigilant head he was. To him was
entrusted the Divine Child when Herod loosed his assassins against Him. In a
life of faithful performance of everyday duties, he left an example for all
those who must gain their bread by the toil of their
hands. He won for himself the title of "The Just," serving thus as a
living model of that Christian justice which should reign in social life.
In 1955 the
successor to Pius XI, Venerable Pope Pius XII, established the Feast Day of
“St. Joseph the Worker” to be celebrated annually on May 1. This date was
specifically chosen in order to counteract the predominantly Socialist and
Communist holiday “International Workers’ Day,” also known as “May Day.” Pius
XII encouraged laborers to look to St. Joseph as their model and to ask for his
intercession in their work:
St.
Joseph is the best protector to help you in your life, to penetrate the spirit
of the Gospel. Indeed, from the Heart of the God-Man, Savior of the world, this
spirit is infused in you and in all men, but it is certain that there was no
worker’s spirit so perfectly and deeply penetrated as the putative father of
Jesus, who lived with him in the closest intimacy and community of family and work. So, if you want
to be close to Christ, I repeat to you “Ite ad
Ioseph”: Go to Joseph! – Ven. Pius XII, Address to Italian Workers, 1 May 1955
The clang of
the hammer deafens his ears; his eyes are fixed on what he is shaping. His care
is to finish his work, and he keeps watch till he perfects it in detail… he
maintains God’s ancient handiwork, and his concern is for exercise of his
skill. — Sirach 38:28, 34
There is
nothing better for man than to eat and drink and provide himself with good
things by his labors. Even this, I realized, is
from the hand of God. —
Ecclesiastes 2:24
