Tuesday, March 19, 2024

It is the 19th of March 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Sure, the Irish get their fun on the 17th of March—decked in Green, and some dioceses even allow the consumption of corned beef during Lent (although this year was a Sunday, so bullet dodged). But today, the 19th of March, is a traditional day to wear red among Poles, Czechs, and Sicilians and amongst their American descendants, who celebrated the day much like the Irish with St. Patrick, but without the meat. Today is St. Joseph’s Day to commemorate the adopted father of Jesus.

The celebration has various origin stories, but we can trace it to the 10th century and the story of prayers by Sicilian Christians concerning a famine that ended on this day with showers and the sprouting of Fava beans- one of the favorite non-meat dishes on the St. Joseph (or in Italian, San Giuseppe) the Zepolla is a favorite dish today- a kind of deep fried cream puff filled with creams or ricotta cheese.

You may note that this is one of two feast days for Joseph (depending on your tradition, of course). This is the older of the two, as it seems to have parallels to the growth of medieval Mariology. The higher in status she went, the more it made sense that Joseph would follow just a little behind.

The other feast day, May 1^st, was implemented as a Catholic Workers Day to combat May Day and its popularity amongst European and American socialists.

Joseph, of course, is of great importance to the story of Jesus but only plays a minor part in the story. He, of course, is betrothed to Mary, and he stays with her as "a just man and unwilling to put her to shame”. We are given two different genealogies of Joseph tying Jesus to the royal line- or maybe one and the other is Mary’s (although they both tie Joseph to Jesus). One might be a physical genealogy and the other legal. Perhaps Joseph was adopted or was the product of a levitate marriage (whereby his dad raised him as his own after his uncle’s death). You may consult your favorite bible commentary on Matthew I and Luke 3 for more on that.

But we see him for the last time when a young Jesus remains in the temple and claims to be “about this work of his father” which was confusing because the people thought he was the son of Joseph “the teknon” which could mean carpenter or any skilled craftsman.

Traditionally, Mary is understood to be widowed by the time of the miracle at Cana and the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. And, as we know, the church has abhorred a vacuum in stories, and we get a particular kind of “fan fiction” developed about Joseph. These come to us in the 2nd century, apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, and the 4th century, apocryphal History of Joseph the Carpenter. As listeners might come to expect, Joseph gets his medieval treatment in Jacob Voragine’s The Golden Legend.

An early story tells us that when Mary was 14, she was to be betrothed despite being pledged by her parents as a virgin. The priest had all the unmarried men in the House of David bring a staff forward, and one of them would bloom, and a dove would descend on it. Initially, Joseph didn’t go forward because he was old- but when the priest received no first response, he called Joseph forward, and his staff bloomed. This story would establish Joseph as an old man; as the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary developed, it was important to cover the rest of the story and establish the “brothers and sisters” of Jesus as his cousins.

The story of Joseph and his patronage would also grow as one of faithful spouses and fathers raising children. I just read a book published in 2003 titled St Joseph My Real Estate Agent, and I think it might be a telling of various odd anecdotes about the adopted father of Our Lord. Nope. It’s a pious retelling of a story that claims ancient roots (although it seems to go back only a couple of decades) of burying statues of St. Joseph in the yard of a home you want to sell. By the 1990s, some realtors offered statues with prayer cards, and you too can find one on Amazon today for about eight bucks. Let me know how that works for you.

Nonetheless, whether tales of blossoming staffs, famine, or real estate, today is St. Joseph’s Day- the patron saint of Poles, Czech, and Sicilians- a time to wear red, spread a Joseph (or Giusseppe table), and get out your focaccia, dandelion, beans and Zepolla for his day, the 19th of March. 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary, from Acts 2- a little Pentecost before Easter from Peter’s sermon:

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 19th of March 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who recommends either a buried statue of Joseph or a cash offer for the quick purchase of real estate- He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who was going to tell you that the Swallow’s return to nearby Capistrano today as well, but ran out of time- I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.