“Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus”, 1610 -20, Juan Martínez Montañés, Real parroquia de Santa María Magdalena, Sevilla.
This St Joseph is young, good looking. At 5ft 7, the he sculpture is almost life size. His hair and his beard are dark, his shoulders broad and his arms strong. With his parted hair and a double pointed beard, this St Joseph resembles sculptures of the adult Jesus by the same artist. Here he leads the little boy Jesus by the hand. Their lavish dress in brocaded cloth of gold follows the accepted norms of decorum for sculptures of the saints in 17th Century Seville. Notice that both figures wear sandals. This suggests that these sculptures were made for a convent or church of the discalced Carmelites. St Joseph was an important saint for them. This St Joseph would have carried a rod that had burst into flower in accordance with the account of his betrothal to the Virgin Mary in the Golden Legend (c.1260), which in turn was dependent on an apocryphal gospel from around 800. Before that date there is very little evidence of devotion to St Joseph. But his cult grew in popularity in the late Middle Ages and in 1480, with the approval of Sixtus IV, his feast began to be celebrated widely on 19th March. In Spain devotion to St Joseph is particularly evident from the 16th century onwards, due in large part to the writings of St Teresa of Avila (1515-82), who had a great personal devotion to him. As a young sister she fell seriously ill, became paralysed and, at one point, was even presumed dead. After praying fervently to St Joseph, her special patron, she was cured of her paralysis and St Joseph became a very important saint for her and her sisters. St Joseph never speaks in the gospels and St Teresa greatly admired this graced silence. She told her sisters that much could be learned from his acts of obedience to God’s word. In her autobiography she wrote “I took for my advocate and Lord the glorious Saint Joseph and commended myself earnestly to him… I do not remember that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favours which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint…” When she founded her first convent of the reformed Carmelite women, it was dedicated to St Joseph. For her religious, the saint became an icon of their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In modern times, several Popes have fostered devotion to St Joseph. Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed him Patron of the Universal Church. Pope St John XXIII inserted his name into the Roman Canon in 1962 and Pope Francis added his name to Eucharistic Prayers II, III and IV in 2013. With them, the emphasis is on St Joseph as a protector and father. In his letter Patris Corde (with a father’s heart) of 8th December 2020, Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved, tender, loving, obedient and accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. St Joseph is the patron saint not only of the Universal Church but also of fathers, expectant mothers, workers, immigrants, and a happy death. St Joseph pray for us!
The Catholic Chaplaincy serves the students and staff of the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University.
The Catholic Chaplaincy is also a parish of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh (the Parish of St Albert the Great) and all Catholic students and staff are automatically members of this parish.
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St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy is part of the English Province of the Order of Preachers, a charity registered in England and Wales (231192) and in Scotland (SC039062).