On 1o May the Church once again celebrates Saint Joseph (also remembered on 19 March as patron of the universal Church), honored as patron of workers.
What is the history of this feast?
The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker was established by Pius XII on 1o May 1955, to help workers not lose the Christian meaning of work, but Pius IX had already recognized its importance as a worker when he proclaimed the Saint the universal patron of the Church. Indeed, Joseph was a blacksmith, a cabinetmaker, a carpenter… Besides being Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father, he was therefore an honest worker, and it was precisely through his manual labor that he supported the Holy Family, thus participating in the plan of salvation.
In this role as patron of workers, Saint Joseph speaks to our present time in a particular way, as Pope Francis indicates: «An aspect that characterizes Saint Joseph is his relationship with work. In our time, when work seems to have once again become an urgent social issue and unemployment sometimes reaches alarming levels, even in nations where a certain level of prosperity was enjoyed for decades, it is necessary, with renewed awareness, to understand the meaning of work that gives dignity and of which our Saint is an exemplary patron.
Work becomes participation in the very work of salvation, an opportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom, develop one’s potential and qualities, and place them at the service of society and communion; work becomes an opportunity for fulfillment not only for oneself, but above all for that original nucleus of society which is the family. A family without work is more exposed to difficulties, tensions, divisions, and even the desperate and despair-inducing temptation of dissolution. How could we speak of human dignity without committing ourselves to ensuring that everyone, each and every person, has the possibility of a decent livelihood?
Anyone who works, whatever their task, collaborates with God himself and becomes, in a small way, a creator of the world around us. The crisis of our time, which is economic, social, cultural, and spiritual, can represent for everyone a call to rediscover the value, importance, and necessity of work in order to give rise to a new “normality” in which no one is excluded. We implore Saint Joseph the Worker so that we may find ways to commit ourselves to saying: no young person, no individual, no family without work!» (cf. Patris corde, 6).
