Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Joseph is known from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. A descendant of David living in Nazareth, he was betrothed to Mary. When he learned that she was with child, he decided to divorce her quietly, but, Matthew tells, an angel in a dream told him to take her as his wife. He brought her to Bethlehem for the census, fled with the Child to Egypt to escape Herod, and settled the family in Nazareth. The Gospels call him a tekton, a carpenter or builder.

He is last mentioned when Jesus is twelve, so tradition holds that he died before Jesus began to preach. His cult grew in the West from the 15th century. In 1870 Pius IX declared him patron of the universal Church.