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Saint Joseph holding the Christ Child, who reaches for a piece of fruit, painted by Guido Reni in 1640

Saint Joseph

Husband of Mary, who obeyed the angel in his dreams and carried the Child into Egypt

Patron of
the whole Church, carpenters, Carmelites
Western calendar
19 March
Orthodox calendar
The Sunday after Christmas (26 December when no Sunday falls before 1 January)

Matthew calls Joseph "a just man", and each time an angel spoke to him in a dream he rose and did as he was told, taking Mary as his wife and carrying her and the Child by night into Egypt. The last we see of him is the search for the twelve-year-old Jesus, found after three days in the Temple, and he most likely died at Nazareth before the Lord began to preach. In 1870 Pius IX declared him patron of the whole Catholic Church.

Sources

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

A saint I’m looking for is missing. Can you add it?

Yes. Try the name another way first, or the saint’s feast day, because some saints are better known by a title. If they are still not here, send us the name through our contact page, and we will add the saint once we have checked their life and feast days in sources we trust.

Why did you choose these saints and not others?

We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

Every saint here, by feast day