We celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph with our traditional St. Joseph
Altar in New Orleans. We are grateful to the dedicated group of  volunteers who created our showpiece display, especially Lillian Moran, former parish secretary who has coordinated our elaborate celebration for many years, and Terry Loetzerich, a parishioner and Seelos Shrine volunteer who directed many of the planning responsibilities this year.

Parishioners, visitors and neighbors gathered at St. Mary’s Assumption Church on March 18 for the altar blessing. The altar was beautifully adorned with breads, wines, fruits, vegetables, desserts and many other Italian traditional items, notably fava beans and lemons. Parishioners reconvened on St. Joseph’s Feast Day – March 19 – to celebrate Mass and enjoy a fellowship potluck.


The history of our celebration has been passed down through the oral tradition. In the Middle Ages a great famine ravaged Sicily. The rains did not come. Crops died in the fields. People were starving. The desperate villagers prayed to St. Joseph, asking him to intervene on their behalf. The rains came and an abundant harvest of fava beans followed. Ever since, the Feast of St. Joseph had this added special meaning. To mark the occasion, parishes erect elaborate culinary altars (whose ornate symbolic contents range from bread sculpture to pastries) to represent the abundance the saint restored to the island.

The little we do know about Joseph comes from the Scriptures, but we do not have any recorded words that he spoke. We know he was a carpenter. He was not rich. When he took Jesus to the temple he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves, allowed only for those who
could not afford a lamb. Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from the royal lineage of David.



Joseph was a compassionate man. When the angel came in a dream and told him to take Mary into his home as his wife, he did as the angel told him. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned – as well as his family and friends – and fled to a strange country with his young wife and baby.


There is much we wish we could know about Joseph. In art, he is portrayed as an older man with grey hair and a beard, a marginal figure next to Jesus and Mary. He does not appear in Jesus’ public life, or at his death or resurrection. In the Scriptures, Joseph is acknowledged as “a righteous man.” That says so much. Today, we know St. Joseph as the patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travelers, immigrants, house sellers, craftsmen, engineers and working people. That includes almost everyone. St. Joseph, pray for us.