St. Joseph's Day

Photo credit: Catholic.org

When I was a kid, the Irish has March 17th, and the Italians had March 19th.  Even in school, we had "no uniforms" day for both days.  We could wear green on the 17th and red on the 19th.  I grew up in a city that had a large Italian-American community and it was awesome.

On March 19th, Sicilians celebrate the feast of St. Joseph.  We thank him for his intercession during a famine in Sicily in the middle ages.  In most places around the world, there is a traditional meal and celebrations that go on, but where I grew up, we celebrated a little bit differently, and I still like to celebrate it here in NC.  People I know actually look forward to it now.

Back home, we would get loaves of St. Joseph's Bread and have them blessed by our parish priest.  Now, not only can I not get the bread here, I'm afraid my parish priest would think I was nuts since no one around here celebrates the holiday at all, much less the way I do it.  So I make my own bread.  There is a traditional St. Joseph's Bread, but back home we had small round loaves with a cross on the top, so that's what I make.  We would take these loaves and share them with friends and neighbors, along with dipping oil and spices.  Now I bring a couple of loaves to work and make a nice dinner.  I'm especially excited this year because I get to use the awesome oil plates and carafe my uncle gave us as a wedding gift.

This year St. Joseph's day has special meaning.  He's the patron saint of families.  Now, many people think Catholics worship saints, but that isn't the truth.  We pray WITH them and ask for their intercession.  Kind of a "since you have God's ear right there and all..." thought process.  The Pope chooses what a saint will be a "patron" of based on things that occurred in that saint's earthly life.  My mom prays for the intercession of St. Joseph in our family building.  I pray with St. Anne, the mother of Mary.  Apparently she struggled with infertility and got Mary out of the deal.  I picked her because most people don't chose her for infertility so I figure she isn't too busy. :)  But on the feast of St. Joseph, I will be saying some extra prayers for our family building efforts.  Can't hurt, right?