St. Joseph: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers

Feast day: March 19 (Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary); May 1 (St. Joseph the Worker)

Patron of: The Universal Church, fathers, families, workers, and a happy death.

About St. Joseph

St. Joseph, a descendant of King David, was the carpenter of Nazareth chosen by God to be the husband of the Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus. The Gospels record not a single word he spoke, yet they show him again and again as a man of quiet, immediate obedience. When an angel told him in a dream to take Mary as his wife, he did. When warned to flee Herod, he rose in the night and took the Child and His Mother into Egypt. When told it was safe, he brought them home and made a life for them in Nazareth.

Scripture calls him simply "a just man." He taught Jesus his trade, protected the Holy Family through danger and poverty, and, tradition holds, died in the arms of Jesus and Mary, which is why he is invoked for a happy death. In 1870 Blessed Pope Pius IX declared him Patron of the Universal Church, and Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. Whenever we feel unseen or overwhelmed, St. Joseph shows that faithful, hidden love is great in God's eyes.

Prayers to St. Joseph on Daily Catholic Prayers

• Aspiration for Purity

• Divine Praises

• Jesus Aspiration (Traditional)

• Litany of St. Joseph

• Litany of the Saints

• Prayer After Losing a Job

• Prayer After the Death of a Loved One

• Prayer at Retirement

• Prayer Before a Job Interview

• Prayer Before Work or Study (Actiones Nostras)

• Prayer for a Couple on Their Wedding Day

• Prayer for a Marriage in Difficulty

• Prayer for a New Home

• Prayer for a Sick Loved One

• Prayer for a Wedding Anniversary

• Prayer for an Adoptive Family

• Prayer for an Engaged Couple

• Prayer for an Expectant Mother

• Prayer for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

• Prayer for Caring for an Aging Parent

• Prayer for Dating and Discerning a Spouse, with St. John Paul II

• Prayer for the Church

• Prayer in Financial Hardship

• Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Birth of a Baby

• Prayer to St. Joseph

• Prayer to St. Joseph for a Happy Death

• Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

• Prayer When Starting a New Job

• Prayers for the Dead: All Souls' Day and the Month of November

• To Thee, O Blessed Joseph (Prayer of Pope Leo XIII)

Learn more: “St. Joseph” in the Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent)

Browse every saint in our Catalog of Saints A–Z.

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