Who is this patron saint of workers, venerated in the Lot as everywhere in France on May 1st?

One saint, two celebrations! It is the rare privilege of Saint Josephwho is revered in the Lot like everywhere in France, and celebrated twice THE March 19 as husband of Mary and patron of the church and the May 1 inasmuch as boss of workers.

“Isn’t that one the carpenter’s son?” “. These are the words in which Pope Francis begins on 1^er May 2013 his catechetical homily which he continues: “Jesus has entered our history and he comes into our midst. Born of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, through his presence, watches over Jesus and even teaches him his work. Born into a family, he learned the trade of carpenter from Saint Joseph, sharing with him the effort, the fatigue, the satisfaction and the daily difficulties.”

Saint Joseph recalls the importance of work

Joseph reminds us of the importance of work. Which is part of God’s plan of love: We are called to cultivate and preserve all the goods of creation. Work is a fundamental element for a person’s dignity.

To put it graphically, work fills us with dignity: It gives us the ability to provide for one’s own needs, those of one’s family, and to contribute to the growth of one’s nation. “I am thinking here of the difficulties encountered in a certain number of countries by the world of work and business,” the Pope adds. I am thinking of all those, and it is not just young people, who are unemployed, very often because of an economistic conception of society which seeks selfish profit, without taking into account the parameters of social justice.

Honoring Saint Joseph the Worker reminds us that the Gospel is the Good News announced in particular to the people of those who, in their sometimes exhausting and difficult daily lives, can find in it an ardor which strengthens them.”

Honor to the working people

“Patron of workers”, is it difficult in the contemporary context to recall this term under which Joseph is invoked in churches around the world, like every year on this date? It is so true that this classic vision of the man who works to feed his family and who also protects it has today become suspect, even non-conformist.

The term “worker” tickles many ears as it has become over time a term with political connotations and therefore necessarily suspect for many good consciences. The immense merit of this simple word is that it calls us back to reality. Yes, work should not simply be a means of earning a living, it must be one of the fundamental places for human beings to flourish. A place through which it contributes effectively to the growth of humanity, to the common good and thereby to the Gospel message. There are too many examples of lives where work is a place of suffering and exploitation. Too many places where the worker is considered an adjustment variable, a simple production tool. Even near us, at our doors or in our offices.

Joseph, model of worker

It is only mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. None of his words are transcribed. About Joseph, we know almost nothing, only the essential: He took Mary as his wife, he agreed to be a father to the Messiah and was the adoptive father of Jesus. He knew how to adjust to what God wanted for him, listening to the angel in a dream taking Mary and the child into his home: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home. The child who is begotten in her comes from the Holy Spirit.”

Let’s imagine all these years with Mary and Jesus. The first days of great sobriety around Jesus in a stable at his birth, the short nights of the first months, “the storm” of the flight into Egypt.

Joseph, craftsman in Nazareth

Joseph, who knows how to make decisions, through his fatherhood and his masculinity took his share of responsibility. Even if he is not directly called “father of Jesus”, he remains his adoptive father.

These will be the child’s first tools, learning with the father, the first achievements, the childhood friends who invite themselves, the tantrums and the fits of laughter, the meals taken together, the prayer in the synagogue and the big Religious holidays.

We simply lived in Nazareth which must have had around forty houses. Let us imagine Mary speaking around the well with the women of her village, praying with Jesus and Joseph. The child had to look at her attentively when entering “Shabbat” when it was up to the mother to light the candelabra. The prayer of Mary and Joseph was nourished by their daily lives.

And then…. The end of Joseph’s life. We really don’t know when he died. We only know that he passed away, probably before Jesus began his public ministry.

History of his party

The Roman martyrology specifies: “Memory of Saint Joseph, working to provide for the needs of Mary and Jesus whom he initiated into the work of men. This is why he is the model and protector of Christian workers who revere him on this day when, in many countries around the world, Labor Day is celebrated.”

The cult given to Saint Joseph is very late. It appears in the private register around the 10th century. It was only in the 14th century that it spread: Chapels, churches and foundations placed under its protection multiplied.

It was in 1870 that Saint Joseph was declared patron of the universal Church, patron of carpenters, joiners and workers.

In 1889, Leo XIII made him “patron of fathers and workers”.

A century later, in 1955, Pope Pius XII, showing that Jesus shared all aspects of human life, established the feast of Saint Joseph the artisan or “worker” on May 1.

Joseph, the Faithful, the Just, the Silent, the Passerby is nonetheless the greatest saint of all time after Mary. It is precisely this simplicity based on trust and abandonment, commitment to serving others, a sense of responsibility and perseverance in effort that must make us grow.

Joseph is a man of his time who lived in difficult times: “In our time where work represents an urgent social issue, where unemployment sometimes reaches impressive levels, including in nations where for decades people have lived in a certain well-being, it is necessary to understand, with a renewed awareness, the meaning of work” concludes Pope Francis in the same homily.

André DECUP

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