2nd Annual St. Joseph's Festival

This past weekend our parish celebrated its Second Annual St. Joseph's Festival. The event was sponsored by Joe Catholic, the Knights of Columbus and the Ladies of the Knights. We had over 200 people attend the dinner. The Knights and Joe Catholics cooked spaghetti, meatballs and Italian sausage. The Ladies provided all the treats that decorated the St. Joseph Table. We also made "goodies" bags for the children which contained St. Joseph medals and prayer cards, candy, coloring pages and a craft to build their own altars at home.

The tradition of celebrating St. Joseph's feast day, almost always in the middle of Lent, began centuries ago in a small village in Sicily. The tradition is based on a pious legend that holds that a village in Sicily had been suffering through a severe drought and people were struggling to find food to eat. At one point, they even began to eat fava beans, which were fodder for their cattle. Their local priest (I imagine he must have been a Franciscan) gathered the families and encouraged them to go to Joseph in prayer. Soon after the rains came and the drought was broken.

In celebration, the village erected a table or altar in St. Joseph's honor and had a huge celebration. Today, many communities have large celebrations in honor of St. Joseph, especially on the east coast.
We hope to continue to make this a tradition in our parish. St. Joseph, next to Mary, is the most revered saint. He was the man closest to Christ. He is the patron of the universal Church, the patron of fathers and the patron of workers. When in need, "go to Joseph!"