Portal:Saints/Selected biography/October 2007
Joseph "of the House of David" (heb.יוֹסֵף also Saint Joseph, Joseph the Betrothed, Joseph of Nazareth, and Joseph the Worker) was, according to the canonical Christian Gospel accounts and tradition, the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus of Nazareth, mentions the "naming", which is the rite that establishes legal paternity of a Jewish child. Mary herself refers to Joseph as Jesus's father. The local population thought of Jesus as "the carpenter's son". The Gospel according to Luke speaks of Joseph as Jesus's father in Luke 2:33. The genealogy in Luke 3:23 states that Jesus was "the son – as was supposed – of Joseph". Belief in the virgin conception and birth is held by Christians of most faith traditions, including Evangelicals, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and most traditional Protestants.
The genealogy in Matthew shows that Joseph's own father was called Jacob; according to the genealogy in Luke[1] Joseph was a son of Heli.
From the canonical Gospel accounts little else is known about Joseph himself except that he was a skilled craftsman (often held to have been a carpenter) and during Jesus's childhood lived at times in Nazareth in Galilee, and in exile in Egypt.
In particular, the canonical Gospel accounts contain no information about Joseph's death. However, because they mention his presence only at events during Jesus's childhood but not during his public ministry and passion, moreover, when hanging on the cross Jesus made provision for the care of his mother after his own imminent death, the possibility cannot be ruled out that she was a widow by then and that Joseph had died some time during the two decades between Jesus's childhood and the commencement of his public ministry, an interval about which the canonical Gospel accounts are altogether silent.
In the Roman Catholic and other traditions, Joseph is the patron saint of workers and has several feast days (see Saint Joseph's Day). He was also declared to be the patron saint and protector of the universal Catholic Church (along with Saint Peter) by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions.