{"id":113174,"date":"2026-05-01T09:26:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/the-story-behind-the-feast-of-st-joseph-the-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:28:26","slug":"the-story-behind-the-feast-of-st-joseph-the-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/the-story-behind-the-feast-of-st-joseph-the-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the feast of St. Joseph the Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Saint Joseph, the beloved spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus, is celebrated by the Catholic Church twice each year \u2013 first on March 19 for the Feast of Mary’s husband Saint Joseph, and again on May 1 for the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.<\/p>\n

While the saint’s March feast dates back to the 10th century, his May feast did not begin until 1955. What was behind this?<\/p>\n

may Day<\/h2>\n

Pope Pius XII established the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, 1955, so that it would coincide with International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day \u2013 a secular celebration of labor and workers’ rights.<\/p>\n

During this time, the Soviet Union declared itself “defender of the workers” and used May Day as an opportunity to promote communism and demonstrate its military power. Pope Pius XII specifically chose the date to ensure that workers would not lose the Christian understanding of work.<\/p>\n

in his Address<\/a> Pius XII said to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers that day in 1955: “There can be no better protector to help you enter into your life the spirit of the Gospel… From the heart of the Savior of the world, the man-God, this spirit flows into you and all men; but it is certain that no worker has ever been affected by it as completely and deeply as the professed Father of Jesus, who was with him the closest of family and friends. Lived in intimacy and equality. Work.”<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTherefore, if you want to be close to Jesus Christ, we also repeat to you today \u2018Ite ad Iosif\u2019 \u2013 go to Joseph!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church has long valued the dignity of human work. By working, we fulfill the commands found in the Book of Genesis to care for the earth and be productive in our actions.<\/p>\n

in their encyclopedia labrum exercises<\/em><\/a>Pope John Paul II wrote that “The Church always considers it her task to draw attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn the conditions in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help guide (social) changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”<\/p>\n

St. Joseph is considered a role model because he worked tirelessly to protect and provide for his family, while also listening to and obeying God.<\/p>\n

Even before the establishment of this feast, several Popes were beginning to spread devotion to St. Joseph the Worker. One of these was Pope Leo XIII, who wrote on the subject in his encyclical Quamquam Pluriese<\/em><\/a> In 1889.<\/p>\n

He wrote: “Joseph became the guardian, administrator, and legal protector of the divine household of which he was the head. And during the whole of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set himself to protect his spouse and the divine infant with a powerful love and daily solicitude; by regular work he acquired the necessaries for one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded the child from death, frightened by the king’s jealousy, and found a refuge for him; He was always the companion, help and protector of the Virgin and Jesus in the sorrows and bitterness of exile.<\/p>\n

In addition to being the patron of the universal Church and workers in general, St. Joseph is also the patron saint of many professions, including artisans, carpenters, accountants, lawyers, bursars, cabinet makers, cemetery workers, civil engineers, confectioners, teachers, furniture makers, wheelwrights, and lawyers.<\/p>\n

This story was first published May 1, 2024, and has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saint Joseph, the beloved spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus, is celebrated by the Catholic Church twice each year \u2013 first on March 19 for the Feast of Mary’s husband Saint Joseph, and again on May 1 for the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. While the saint’s March feast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[27436,616,2396,5645],"class_list":["post-113174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-news","tag-feast","tag-joseph","tag-story","tag-worker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113180,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113174\/revisions\/113180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}