Joseph of Nazareth, the carpenter of the Gospels, whom Catholics honour as patron of workers. Since 1955 his feast as ‘the Worker’ has fallen on 1 May, and people out of work often ask for his prayers. He appears here as an emblem, not a portrait.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the people of Nazareth call Jesus ‘the carpenter’s son’. In 1955 Pope Pius XII proposed Joseph as ‘Patron of Workers’ and set the feast of St Joseph the Worker on 1 May, the same day as International Workers’ Day, to honour Joseph and to make people aware of the dignity of human work.
Catholics bring many requests to St Joseph, and employment is often named among them, with a vocation, a happy marriage and a happy death. A novena is prayed before his main feast, on 19 March. Among his attributes in art are a carpenter’s square or tools and a staff with lily blossoms, which is why our plate shows the square and the lily.
To verify: A devotional or scholarly source, beyond Wikipedia, for prayers to St Joseph for work (Wikipedia’s own references here include a devotional blog)
In his 2020 letter Patris Corde, Pope Francis called Joseph ‘a carpenter who earned an honest living’ and an exemplary patron of dignified work, and asked Catholics to implore Saint Joseph the Worker to help them find ways to express their conviction that ‘no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work’. Wishlore note: this is living Catholic devotion; we tell it, and promise nothing about a job.
