St. Joseph
Time Period:
1st Century
Feast Day:
March 19
Title/Attributes:
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin
Location of Relic:
Main Reliquary - Center Section
Type of Relic:
Stone from the workshop

St. Joseph’s Workshop is located in Nazareth in St. Joseph’s Church. From the account of the pilgrim Arculfo (670 BC), we know that at Nazareth "two large churches were built: one in the middle of the city, founded over two arches, the place where the house in which our Savior grew up was built and the other on the site off the house where the angel Gabriel came to Blessed Mary and, finding her alone, spoke to her."
In the 17th century, Father Francesco Quaresmi describes a place "that the locals call Joseph’s House and Workshop where, there was a beautiful church dedicated to Saint Joseph."
The Sanctuaries in the Holy Land are taken care of by the Franciscans.
You can read about the various sanctuaries here www.custodia.org/en/
In St. Joseph’s Workshop – A Homily by St. Josemaria Escriva
Joseph loved Jesus as a father loves his son and showed his love by giving him the best he had. Joseph, caring for the child as he had been commanded, made Jesus a craftsman, transmitting his own professional skill to him. So the neighbours of Nazareth will call Jesus both faber and fabri filius: the craftsman and the son of the craftsman. Jesus worked in Joseph's workshop and by Joseph's side. What must Joseph have been, how grace must have worked through him, that he should be able to fulfil this task of the human upbringing of the Son of God!
For Jesus must have resembled Joseph: in his way of working, in the features of his character, in his way of speaking. Jesus' realism, his eye for detail, the way he sat at table and broke bread, his preference for using everyday situations to give doctrine — all this reflects his childhood and the influence of Joseph.
It's not possible to ignore this sublime mystery: Jesus who is man, who speaks with the accent of a particular district of Israel, who resembles a carpenter called Joseph, is the Son of God. And who can teach God anything? But he is also truly man and lives a normal life: first, as a child, then as a boy helping in Joseph's workshop, finally as a grown man in the prime of life. "Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and men."
In human life, Joseph was Jesus' master in their daily contact, full of refined affection, glad to deny himself to take better care of Jesus. Isn't that reason enough for us to consider this just man, this holy patriarch, in whom the faith of the old covenant bears fruit, as a master of interior life? Interior life is nothing but continual and direct conversation with Christ, so as to become one with him. And Joseph can tell us many things about Jesus. Therefore, never neglect devotion to him — Ite ad Ioseph: "Go to Joseph" — as christian tradition puts it in the words of the Old Testament.
A master of interior life, a worker deeply involved in his job, God's servant in continual contact with Jesus: that is Joseph. Ite ad Ioseph. With St Joseph, the Christian learns what it means to belong to God and fully to assume one's place among men, sanctifying the world. Get to know Joseph and you will find Jesus. Talk to Joseph and you will find Mary, who always sheds peace about her in that attractive workshop in Nazareth.
Text in chapter 'In Joseph's workshop' in the book 'Christ is passing by' of Josemaría Escrivá. Link: https://escriva.org/en/es-cristo-que-pasa/in-josephs-workshop/