St. Joseph the Worker

St. Joseph the Worker is not a distinct saint but a title of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, honored under a feast instituted by Pope Pius XII on May 1, 1955. Addressing Catholic workers' associations gathered in Rome, the pope established the feast so that the first of May—long observed by secular and socialist movements as a day of labor—would have at its heart the humble craftsman of Nazareth, and so that the dignity of human work would be seen in the light of the Gospel. The Gospels describe Joseph as a tekton, a carpenter or builder, and Jesus himself was known in Nazareth as 'the carpenter's son.' In the home and workshop of Joseph, the Son of God spent the greater part of his earthly life in ordinary labor. From this the Church draws a profound teaching: work is not a curse but a sharing in God's creative activity, a means of providing for one's family, serving one's neighbor, and growing in holiness. The feast stands within the Church's long tradition of social teaching on labor, from Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) through St. John Paul II's Laborem Exercens (1981), which holds up Joseph as the model of the worker and defends the rights and dignity of those who labor. Devotion to Joseph the Worker invites Christians to bring patience, honesty, and prayer into their daily employment, however hidden or ordinary. The optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker is celebrated on May 1. It complements, rather than duplicates, the principal Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19; both celebrate the same silent, faithful man whom God entrusted with the care of his Son, and whom the Church honors as patron of workers and laborers everywhere.