St. Joseph, Patron Saint of Families and Workers and Welcomes the Stork Back to Poland

 

   It was on his feast day of March 19th, that widows and widowers of Poland often took their marriage vows. Despite the feast day falling during Lent, the Catholic Church granted a dispensation from the rigors of Lent and marriages were permitted.


   Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, caretaker of the Christ Child, patron saint of fathers and married couples and someone who had special care of married couples and families, St. Joseph  was also patron saint of carpenters and those who work.   There was also a time in Poland when he was considered patron against temptations and was the saint to pray to for maintaining sobriety and restraint. He was also held to be the patron saint of a good death. 

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← Roadside shrine in Kozłów, Poland, dedicated in 1991. The inscription on the plaque reads:

St. Joseph, Caretaker of Families
Have us in your care.

Edward Knab photo.

  He is turned to for enlightenment in times of difficult choices, for healing, comfort and at the same time is a perfect mediator for expressing thanksgiving to God for favors received. 
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  The Litany to St. Joseph is held to be an effective prayer in times of suffering, illness, anguish, crisis, or unemployment.

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    It was also on this day that storks, who had migrated for the winter, traditionally returned to their nests in Poland. Old stork nests were repaired on the roofs of barns or in tall trees near the farmstead. New ones were also built, for example by attaching wagon wheels to them. According to old folk beliefs, the presence of a stork on the farm was a symbol of good fortune, so every effort was made to encourage the bird to occupy the nest on the property.

Edward Knab photos.

​  Hundreds of churches in Poland bear his name and his image is seen frequently as an independent figure on posts and pillars along roadsides, but also in the interior of chapels in paintings or as a statue.

  St. Joseph is generally depicted holding the Infant Jesus on one arm and a white lily in the other.
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For more about the purposes and types of roadside shrines found in Poland see: Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2023  Available as hardcover and ebook.