Joseph: The Man Closest to Jesus: The Complete Life, Theology, and Devotional History of St. Joseph

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pt. 3, Questions pertaining to St. Joseph's marriage:ch. 6: The Question of Joseph's Miraculous Selection, p. 77 (PDF p. 76)ch. 9: St. Joseph's Doubt, p. 134-52 (PDF p. 133-51)pp. 83 (PDF p. 84):> it is worthy of note that in most medieval paintings representing St. Joseph, the saint holds the blooming staff. This portrayal follows the account of the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, so influential in shaping the medieval concept of St. Joseph. Eventually the blooming staff was replaced by the lily as an emblem of purity. In all likelihood the first occasion of this substitution was in the "[Espousal](https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/giotto/padova/2virgin/mary051.html)," one of a series of frescoes painted by Giotto between 1303-1306 for the chapel of Santa Maria dell' Arena at Padua. Slowly the lily replaced the staff in all art. Today it is a universal symbol on statues and paintings of St. Joseph.pp. 140-41 (PDF pp. 139-40):Augustine, *Sermo* 51 ([PL 38:338](https://archive.org/details/sanctiaureliiau05augugoog/page/n175/mode/2up)), No. 10:> The husband was indeed perturbed, but the just man did not rage. He was so just that on the one hand he was unwilling to keep an adulteress; on the other, he would not expose her to punishment. Therefore, he wished to put her away privately. Consider his untainted justice. Many men forgive adulterous wives out of carnal love, wishing to have them even if adulterous; but this just man does not wish to have her. Therefore, he does not love her carnally. Yet he does not wish to punish her. Consequently, he mercifully spares her. What type of person is this just man? Deservedly, indeed, was he chosen as a witness of his wife's virginity. Chrysostom, *In Mt. hom.* 4, 3-6 ([PG 57:43](https://books.google.com/books?id=vFTgA6jiBpIC&pg=RA1-PA43) ff.):> Since he was just, that is merciful and self-controlled, he wished to dismiss her privately. Not only was he reluctant to punish her; but he would not even deliver her up. Have you ever seen anyone who so loves wisdom and who is free from all tyrannical bent? He was so free from (jealousy) this plague of the soul, that he refused to inflict pain on the virgin even in the slightest degree. Accordingly, since it seemed that by law he was no longer permitted to keep her, and since it appeared that to denounce her and to bring her to trial was of necessity to condemn her to death, he chose neither course but began to elevate himself above the law. For with the coming of grace, many prophetic types of this sublime institution were to appear. Just as the sun, not yet showing its rays, nevertheless illumines the zenith of the celestial vault from on high, so did Christ, who was about to emerge from the womb, illumine the whole world before His actual appearance.> "Do you perceive the moderation of this man? He did not chastise, he mentioned the affair to no one, not even to her who was under suspicion, but he debated the matter with himself, seeking to hide from the virgin the reason for separation. Nor did he say that he wished to cast her off, but rather to send her away, so kind and self-controlled was he. While he was pondering over all this, the angel appeared to him in sleep. And why not openly, in the manner that he appeared to the shepherds and to Zachary as well as to the Virgin? This man was so ready to believe that he did not require such a manifestation.pt. 5, p. 153 (PDF p. 152): St. Joseph's fatherhoodFilas cited in Griffin, [*Supernatural Fatherhood through Priestly Celibacy: Fulfillment in Masculinity: A Thomistic Study*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=7019), §5.7. "Saint Joseph: Model of Celibate Fatherhood"* * *See * Filas, S.J., [*Joseph: The Man Closest to Jesus*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=9016) pp. 328-36 (PDF pp. 327-35) * Llamera, O.P., [*Saint Joseph*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=9015) p. 77 (PDF p. 93)for how the title "Joseph, virginal father of Jesus" is, as Llamera, O.P., [*ibid.*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=6713) writes, "true and, without doubt, the most sublime and exact of all the titles which have been given the holy Patriarch." Also,> St. Pius X approved and indulgenced the ejaculation: “O Joseph, virginal father of Jesus!”74\. [*ASS* 40 (1906)](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ass/documents/ASS-40-1907-ocr.pdf), 59.Pope St. *Giuseppe* Sarto (Pius X)'s beautiful prayer (Oct. 1906, [*Raccolta*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_details&book_id=9664) #439, p. 347, PDF p. 369):> O Ioseph, virgo Pater Iesu, purissime Sponse Virginis Mariæ, quotidie deprecare pro nobis ipsum Iesum Filium Dei, ut, armis suæ gratiæ muniti, legitime certantes in vita, ab eodem coronemur in morte.> O Joseph, virgin-father of Jesus, most pure Spouse of the Virgin Mary, pray every day for us to the same Jesus, the Son of God, that we, being defended by the power of His grace and striving dutifully in life, may be crowned by Him at the hour of death.cf. * Gabriel Breynat, O.M.I. and François Blanchin, O.M.I. “[Saint Joseph, Père Vierge de Jesus](https://isidore.co/misc/Physics%20papers%20and%20books/Zotero/storage/IFJ3WM9C/Gabriel%20Breynat,%20O.M.I.%20and%20Fran%C3%A7ois%20Blanchin,%20O.M.I.%20-%201936%20-%20Saint%20Joseph,%20p%C3%A8re%20vierge%20de%20Jesus.djvu).” *Revue de l’Université d’Ottawa* , 1938 1936, 73–80, 149–58, 81–111. 87*: " *Cette virginité que va féconder l'Esprit divin est conjointe. Elle appartient à Joseph autant qu'à Marie. A l'égal de celle-ci, celui-là en est la cause efficiente, quoique négative et par abstention* ". Very interesting, but how can an a privation be an efficient cause? * Garrigou-Lagrange, Reginaldus. “[De Paternitate Sancti Ioseph](https://isidore.co/misc/Physics%20papers%20and%20books/Zotero/storage/T5TTTUE7/Garrigou-Lagrange%20-%201945%20-%20De%20paternitate%20Sancti%20Ioseph.pdf).” *Angelicum* 22, no. 3/4 (1945): 105–15.