Saint of the Day for 19 March

Saint of the Day 19 March: Celebrating the Lives of the Church’s Saints

Every day, the Catholic Church honors a saint or blessed who stood out for their faith, dedication, and love for God. The Saint of the Day is an opportunity for the faithful to learn more about the history of the Church and be inspired by the witness of these men and women who lived according to Christ’s teachings.

The Meaning of the Saint of the Day

The celebration of the Saint of the Day is a Church tradition that helps us remember those who were examples of faith and holiness. Saints may have been martyrs who gave their lives defending their faith, missionaries who spread the Gospel, or ordinary people who lived in deep communion with God through simplicity.

Learning about each saint’s story inspires us to live with more love, patience, and hope. It also reminds us that we are all called to holiness.

Why Do We Celebrate the Saints?

Saints serve as models of Christian life. Their stories show us that, despite challenges, it is possible to live according to God’s will. Moreover, the faithful often seek the intercession of saints, believing that they are close to God and can pray for our needs.

Following the Saint of the Day is a way to strengthen our spiritual journey and learn from those who dedicated their lives to serving God. May we follow their examples and strive each day to live with greater love, faith, and hope!

🙏 May today’s Saint of the Day intercede for us and inspire us to live according to God’s will!

St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron of the Universal Church

The Just Man

In his Gospel, Matthew describes St Joseph as "just". Mary’s future husband, faced with the inexplicable pregnancy of his fiancé, does not consider his wounded pride or dignity. Instead, his first thought is to save her from popular animosity or, worse still, from the stoning to which she risks being condemned. He does not want to repudiate her publicly but intends divorcing her informally and in secret. It’s precisely at that moment of understandable anguish and suffering that the love of God comes, in the shape of an Angel, to encourage him. The Angel inspires Joseph to make the right choice, which is always to overcome fear. These are the words of the Angel: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name Him Jesus".

The Obedient Man

An Angel accompanies St Joseph in the most difficult moments of his life, and his response to the words of the heavenly messenger is always that of trusting obedience. Joseph takes Mary as his bride and when, after the birth of Jesus, the Angel returns to warn him that Herod wants to kill the Child, he escapes with his family to Egypt, a foreign country, where he has to get a new job and start all over again. We know that he worked as a craftsman because, when the skeptical inhabitants of Nazareth query Jesus’ origins, they ask: "Is this not the carpenter's son?". When the Angel appears to him again to tell him that Herod has died and he should return to the land of Israel, Joseph takes his wife and son and seeks refuge in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee, simply because the Angel tells him to.

The Foster Father

Joseph certainly loved Jesus with all the tenderness that a father feels for his own son. Moreover, he protected and educated this mysterious and wise child who was entrusted to his care. Educating Jesus must have been an immensely challenging task: imagine telling the Son of God what is right and what is not. Protecting Him must have been equally difficult. After searching for Him anxiously for three days (while Jesus remained behind in the Temple discussing with the Doctors of the Law), Joseph had to hear a twelve-year old boy tell him: "Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?”. Perhaps Joseph felt like every other Father who, sooner or later, has to accept the fact that his child really does not belong to him – but to God alone, who holds that child’s destiny in His hands.

Protector of the Dying

Joseph does not appear in any of the four Gospels that recount the public life of Jesus, nor at His crucifixion on Calvary, nor at the Resurrection. It is fair to presume, therefore, that he died before Jesus began his preaching. According to tradition, Joseph died with Mary and Jesus by his side – which is why he is also invoked as the Protector of the Dying. It is the wish of every one of us to leave our earthly home in the company of Jesus and His Mother.

Liturgical Calendar

19 March: Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Solemnity

Today's Readings and Gospel

Reading 1 : 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

Responsorial Psalm : Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29

Reading 2 : Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22

Verse Before the Gospel : Psalm 84:5

Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

or : Luke 2:41-51a

Liturgical vestments: White

Liturgical Calendar

“Faith, love, hope: these are the axes of the life of Saint Joseph and of all Christian life. The dedication of Saint Joseph appears woven from that interweaving of faithful love, of loving faith, of trusting hope.” (Saint Josemaría)

“In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness.” (Francis)

The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: "From a sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord"; to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us "at the hour of our death" in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1,014)

Addressing himself above all to the Judeo-Christians, Matthew starts from Abraham and ends up at Joseph, defined as "the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (1:16). (…) The evangelist Matthew helps us to understand that the person of Joseph, although apparently marginal, discreet, and in the background, is in fact a central element in the history of salvation. Joseph lives his role without ever seeking to take over the scene. (…) Thus, everyone can find in Saint Joseph, the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily presence, of discreet and hidden presence, an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty. He reminds us that all those who are seemingly hidden or in the “second row” are unparalleled protagonists in the history of salvation. The world needs these men and women: men and women in the second row, but who support the development of our life, of every one of us, and who with prayer, and by their example, with their teaching, sustain us on the path of life. (…) A society such as ours, which has been defined as “liquid”, as it seems not to have consistency… I will correct the philosopher who coined this definition and say: more than liquid, gaseous, a properly gaseous society. This liquid, gaseous society finds in the story of Joseph a very clear indication of the importance of human bonds. Indeed, the Gospel tells us the genealogy of Jesus, not only for a theological reason, but also to remind each one of us that our lives are made up of bonds that precede and accompany us. The Son of God chose to come into the world by way of such bonds, the way of history: he did not come down into the world by magic, no. He took the historic route we all take. (General Audience, 24 November 2021)