19 March Solemnity
This celebration has profound Biblical roots; Joseph is the last Patriarch who receives the communications of the Lord through the humble way of dreams (cf. Gn 28, 12-14; Mt 1, 20-24). Like the ancient Joseph, he is an upright and faithful man (Mt 1, 19) whom God had placed as guardian of his household. He connects Jesus, the Messianic King, to the descent of David (Mt 1, 1-16; Lk 3, 23-38). Joseph, Spouse of Mary and foster father, guide of the Holy Family in their flight to and return from Egypt, retracing the way of the Exodus (Gn 37; 50, 22-26; Mt 2, 13-21).
A medieval legend held that the Holy Family occasionally exchanged visits with the hermits on Mount Carmel. Some paintings from the period “record” these visits. According to the mentality of the time, this confirmed the bond between the Carmelites and the Holy Family. Later the carpenter of Nazareth provided the Carmelite with a model of one’s contemplative and active life.
The liturgical feast of the Saint Patriarch already appeared in the Carmelite Order in the second half of the XV century. In 1680 the General Chapter unanimously elected Saint Joseph as the principal protector of the Order.
In 1847 Pius IX declared him as Patron of the Universal Church and John XXIII inserted his name in the Roman Canon. With the liturgical calendar reform after the Second Vatican Council, the feast was suppressed in the Universal Church but the Order as well as the Discalced Carmelites obtained that “Protector of our Order” be added to the title of the March 19 feast.
