Saint Joseph
(flourished 1st century
AD, Nazareth, Galilee region of Palestine; principle feast day March 19; Feast of St. Joseph the Worker May 1) In the
New Testament, the husband of
Mary and the earthly father of
Jesus. Descended from the house of
David, he was a carpenter in
Nazareth. Betrothed to Mary when he found her already pregnant, an angel appeared to him in a vision and told him the expected child was the son of God. He and Mary journeyed to
Bethlehem to be counted in the Roman census, and while they were there the child was born. The last mention of Joseph occurs in the Gospel of Luke, when he and Mary take the 12-year-old Jesus to Jerusalem.
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