St Joseph in the garden

No early record

We found no early written record of burying a statue of St Joseph to sell a house, and no date for when the custom began.

A statue in the garden

People hoping to sell a house bury a small statue of St Joseph in the garden. The Catholic Company, a Catholic goods shop, says nobody knows where the custom began. It presents the custom as faith and tradition rather than superstition, and reminds buyers that the statue is not a charm.

To verify: How the statue is placed in the ground, and what people do with it after the sale; our files do not say; When and where the custom was first written about

A saint of a living faith

Small statues for this purpose are still sold. St Joseph is a saint of a living faith, so we draw the house and the patch of earth, never the saint, and we make no promise about a sale or its price.