♔ YOUNG ST. JOSEPH - NOT AN OLD WIDOWER ♔

♔ ST JOSEPH THE OLD WIDOWER? ♔

Given the customs at the time, Mary was believed to be no older than sixteen when she was married. We are told by the mystics Venerable Maria de Agreda, Mother Maria Cecilia Baij, and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, that Joseph was a young man at the time of his espousal to Mary. Through the ages, art has shown him as an elderly man hunched over his walking stick, barely able to stand. Joseph was not a senior citizen.  No offense to the elderly, but God would choose a strong, energetic man who would be able to support his family. Why, then, was Joseph depicted as an old man in so many European art pieces through the centuries? There are two reasons for this:

The first reason was to explain the “brothers and sisters” of the Lord, mentioned in the Bible. The apocryphal book titled, “The History of the Carpenter Joseph,” states that he was once a priest as well as a carpenter who was a widower with four sons and two daughters, meaning Mary’s stepchildren would be far older then she was. Apparently, Joseph was old enough to be Mary’s grandfather. This is false, and the notion of Christ having “brothers and sisters” will be explained in a later post, though some Christians are too proud and do not want an explanation—choosing instead to be deaf to the fact that Mary and Joseph were both young virgins at the time of their marriage and remained so afterward.

The second reason for the elderly Joseph was to protect the virginity of Mary. The idea of the Virgin Mary living with a handsome and robust man was not acceptable as people would think that he might have some inclination to have sexual relations with her, therefore robbing her of her virginal title. This insults both Joseph and his bride. The Bible tells us that the Messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14.) Mary herself tells us this when the angel Gabriel tells her she will conceive: “How can this be since I am a virgin?” (St. Luke 1:27, 34.)

St. Jerome (347–420,) Doctor of the Church, explains the virginal relationship between Joseph and Mary:

That God was born of a virgin we believe because we read it. That Mary consummated marriage after her childbirth we do not believe because we do not read it.  Nor do we say this in order to condemn marriage, for virginity is itself a fruit of marriage, but because there is no license to draw rash conclusions about holy men.

For if we wish to take the mere possibility into consideration, we can  contend that Joseph had several wives because Abraham and Jacob had several wives and that from these wives, the ‘brethren of the Lord’ were born, a fiction which most people invent with not so much pious as presumptuous audacity. You say that Mary did not remain a virgin; even more do I claim that Joseph was virginal through Mary, in order that from a virginal marriage a virginal son might be born. For if the charge of fornication does not fall on this holy man, and if it is not written that he had another wife, and if he was more of a protector than a husband of Mary, whom he was thought to have as his wife, it remains to assert that he who merited to be called the father of the Lord remained virginal with her. — St. Jerome

♔ VOWS OF CHASTITY  ♔

The earliest saints of the Church, who would have had contact with the original twelve Apostles, were all in agreement that the mother of Jesus was a virgin both before and after the birth of Christ. Also, Church traditions fully support that Joseph, being led by the Holy Spirit, chose to offer everything about himself to God, and had made a vow of virginity early on in life. Given that he was sanctified by God, and given many special graces, this doesn’t seem so strange.

Venerable Maria de Agreda: From his twelfth year he had made and kept the vow of chastity… and was known for the utmost purity of his life, holy and irreprehensible in the eyes of God and of men.

St. Francis de Sales: How exalted in this virtue of virginity must Joseph have been who was destined by the Eternal Father to be the companion in virginity of Mary! Both had made a vow to preserve virginity for their entire lives, and it was the Will of God to join them in the bond of a holy marriage…

This was not a common practice; however, Jesus was not a common man, so why should we doubt His parents’ uncommon vows? Joseph and Mary were Jews, and yes, it was unusual to make vows of virginity in their culture, but it is the same in our own culture today! If someone tells you they have made a vow of virginity, would you doubt them? You may doubt them, you may not, but you would be inclined to ask them why they say this. Why would anyone want to live without sex!? Because sex, in its proper context of “making love,” is one of life’s most beautiful treasures, and some people, impelled to serve God in a unique way, choose to offer it to the Lord instead of to themselves. Joseph gave one of the most beautiful gifts he could offer to God. Virginity in our culture is seen as prudishness and “old school,” and some people lie to say that they are not virgins! It is seen as something to lose as early as possible and to brag about losing – more notably among young men. If it were the other way around and virginity was seen as something to cherish, this perpetual virginity of Joseph would not seem so strange.

Pope St. John Paul II: In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as "united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal love." There are really two kinds of love here,   both of which together represent the mystery of the Church - virgin and spouse - as symbolized in the marriage of Mary and Joseph. “Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people,” the Covenant which is a communion of love between God and human beings.

The Bible gives us examples of people who gave their gift of virginity to God and were not ashamed of people knowing it. They were seen as holy, not because sex is bad and they were abstaining from it, but because they saw this God-given gift as being so wonderful and they wanted to offer it and themselves wholly to God. It is a selfless act of love!

Revelation 14:1, 14:4 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb was standing upon Mount Sion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads… These are they who were not known with women; for they are virgins.

♔ VIRGINAL TRINITY ♔

The great St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-389) proclaimed that the first virgin ever is the Holy Trinity. God the Father is a virgin who generates the Son in all His goodness; God the Son is a virgin who existed in Heaven without a mother; God the Holy Spirit is a virgin, who proceeds gloriously from the Father and the Son. As the Heavenly Trinity is the first and altogether virgin, so is the second Trinity, on earth. The Earthly Trinity of Jesus, Mary and Joseph mirror the Heavenly Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Jesus (God the Son) connecting the two Trinities. If Jesus is a virgin and Mary is a virgin, why wouldn’t Joseph, who completes this virginal Trinity, be one as they are?

St. Josemaria Escrivá: You don't have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth is no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures. Anyone who cannot understand a love like that knows very little of true love and is a complete stranger to the Christian meaning of chastity.

♔ Saved by St. Joseph of Kalisz - the Story of Dachau ♔

Sunday April 29^th, 1945 will always be remembered by the priests imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp. On that day they were to be slaughtered, yet they survived. They owe saving their lives to St. Joseph’s intercession.

By order of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler the first concentration camp was set up in Dachau near Munich in 1933. It became a penal labour camp for over 30 thousand prisoners, 3 thousand of whom were clergymen. The largest group consisted of 1773 priests of Polish origin. Those priests who were claimed to be handicapped were sent to gas chambers and then to crematoriums.

Hunger, toil, typhoid, and death were the prisoners’ everyday companions at the camp. After 6 hours of sleep and a roll call the prisoners had to stand all day at the camp square or carry cauldrons which weighed 100 kilograms with food for the whole camp. Even the convalescents released from hospital were not allowed to stay in the block. Every day workers were chosen to do casual work: shoveling off snow in winter, distributing linen at the store, moving beds, as well as loading. The prisoners were beaten and humiliated.

They were forced to fall down into the mud, which was called “doing sport”. The Nazis would bludgeon them on their heads and trample over those who while prostrating themselves did not keep their face deep enough in the mud. They used mainly priests for pseudo medical experiments carried out by Prof. Claus Schilling. In the early days of the camp refusal meant death. They were infected with malaria in order to put to trial new treatments for German soldiers. They were exposed to low temperature and low air pressure to establish how high it was possible for airmen to fly. The situation slightly changed after the Nazi defeat at Stalingrad in 1943 when young SS men were sent to the Eastern Front. The new staff consisting of older Germans were more humane. The hard discipline code was softened and the prisoners were allowed to receive food parcels.

♔ The Strength that came from the Eucharist ♔

On 22^nd January 1941, for the purpose of Hitler’s propaganda, clergymen were allowed to access a chapel in block 26. The Holy Mass was celebrated there and the prisoners could take communion every day. As the survivors claim, on numerous occasions it helped to withstand the hardships at the camp.

However, it lasted only until September 17^th when all the German priests were separated from the rest of the clergymen and moved to block 26. From that moment the chapel stayed closed for Poles. Sometimes secretly the German priests shared their host and wine to enable Polish priests to celebrate the Holy Mass in the barracks between bunk beds. Some priests had a chance to celebrate the Mass in this way at least once during their few years’ stay in Dachau. The host was broken into twenty or more pieces so that everyone was given at least a bit. The Eucharist was delivered stealthily to the ill in the camp hospital, as well as to the dying of typhoid. Jesus present in the communion bread gave them the strength to survive or helped them to die with dignity. Although it was forbidden, they gathered for prayer, sermons, and lectures. Rev. Franciszek Korszyński (later vicar general in the Diocese of Włocławek) even managed to organize a divinity school at the camp.

♔ Trusting in St. Joseph ♔

Polish priests helped and supported other prisoners. They initiated the prayer to St. Joseph since it was him who had protected the Son of God from death. On December 8^th, 1940 in the chapel of Sachsenhausen camp a group of priests from block 18 entrusted their lives to St. Joseph of Kalisz. Priests from other blocks were to do the same, but on 13^th they were brought to Dachau where they renewed the act in their personal prayers. They also entrusted their lives to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

♔ The Convicts’ Prayer ♔

By the end of the war the SS men took several groups of people outside the camp to kill them. As a result, the prisoners became afraid of extermination again. That is why they repeated the act of entrustment to St. Joseph. This time both clergymen and laymen were being prepared spiritually for this event. There was even a committee headed by Rev. canon Franciszek Jedwabski to supervise the preparations (e.g. talks and conferences). However, what seems the most significant was that the convicts said a novena to St. Joseph for the intentions of saving their Homeland, their families, and themselves. The Polish prisoners gathered for 9 days in the German priests’ chapel asking the Saint for the miracle of liberation from bondage. During two Holy Masses on the last day of the novena (22^nd April 1945) about 800 people surrendered themselves to the guardianship of St Joseph of Kalisz. What is more, the priests pledged to spread the worship of St Joseph, and after being saved to pay homage to him during a pilgrimage to the Kalisz collegiate church. Moreover, they promised to contribute to the work of God’s Mercy through his intercession. According to Bishop Franciszek Korszyński: “we were the largest group at the camp who gathered in public to pray for the miracle of liberation”. At that time the priests did not know that in a secret order Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler had planned the annihilation of the camp. By that order no prisoner was to be taken by the enemy alive. Seven days later (29^th April) at 9 p.m. a fire was supposed to be set as a signal for the SS “Wiking” division, which was stationed nearby, to raze the camp to the ground.

♔ Miraculous Liberation ♔

However, 4 hours before the order was carried out the camp guarded by armed men was taken over by a handful of allied soldiers. They belonged to General Patton’s Army which was heading for Munich. As soon as the prisoners got to know about the American soldiers, 32 thousand of them fearlessly and happily ran out of the barracks. One of the sentinels on the tower opened fire. Not realizing the fact that the Germans outnumbered the allied soldiers by one to six, the Americans fired back. Right after the liberation the American commander summoned everyone to say “Our Father” as a thanksgiving prayer and they sang “Te Deum” hymn in the chapel. In the meantime the forces of the SS “Wiking” division were defeated by the American army. For the priests it became clear that they owed saving their lives to the intercession of Saint Joseph. They believed he was the intercessor with God on their behalf (856 priests were on that day at the camp).

As they had promised, in 1948 the survivors came to The Shrine of Saint Joseph of Kalisz in a thanksgiving pilgrimage. Every year they renew their pledge. The Chapel of Martyrdom and Gratitude and The Institute of Family Studies in Lomianki were created as a votive offering. When visiting Kalisz in 1997 John Paul II thanked the priests (former prisoners of Dachau concentration camp) for “the initiative that originated in the dreadful days of the camp”, and for the fact that “they continue to show gratitude after being saved” and “on their pilgrimage to The Shrine of Saint Joseph of Kalisz (…) they pray for their persecutors” and those brothers “who did not survive the camp”.

Article taken from www.swietyjozef.kalisz.pl

♔ ST. JOSEPH PATRON OF WORKERS and ANTI-COMMUNISM ♔

… 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 20^th 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