Feast of Saint Joseph

On March 19th we celebrated the Feast of Saint Joseph.  The kids and I spent the afternoon preparing dinner and making altars for Saint Joseph.  This is the first year that we are celebrating Saint Joseph's feast and the first year that we made altars.  I found the history of the altar very interesting and am including it below.

History of the Saint Joseph Altar:  The St. Joseph Altar is Sicilian in origin. During a terrible famine, the people of Sicily pleaded to St. Joseph, their patron saint, for relief. St. Joseph answered their prayers, and the famine ended. In gratitude, they prepared a table with foods they had harvested. After paying homage to St. Joseph, they distributed the food to the less fortunate.

The Altar is set up in three tiers, representing the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph is placed on the top tier, usually surrounded by flowers, greenery & fruit.

No meat is prepared for the Altar.   There is symbolism in many of the items on the Altar. Breadcrumbs represent the sawdust of St. Joseph the Carpenter. Twelve whole fish represent the apostles (we used goldfish). Wine is symbolic of the Miracle at Cana (we used sparkling juice - it was a huge hit!).

The girls standing next to their altars.  We cut out and colored pictures of Saint Joseph and some of the food that is typically served during the feast to make our altars. 

Bridget and I decided to make some French bread for the feast while Charlotte was at school and Joseph was napping. 

Charlotte came home in the middle of our bread making and wasn't too pleased that we started our feast prep without her.  She did get to have a pirate party at school though - hence the hat!

Our own little family feast.

Joe was a very happy MESS after he ate!

Prayer to Saint Joseph

Joseph, strengthen in our family every bond of love which unites us -- 

the marriage bond, the love of parent and child, the bonds of mutual love between all. 

Joseph, protect our family from every danger from without and every threat to peace and harmony within.

Joseph, teach us to be kind and loving towards one another, careful for one another, tolerant of one another, forgiving towards one another. 

Joseph, may contentment with our lot and joy in each other abound in our house, as we seek faithfully to serve and greatly to love God.

Joseph, be you yourself a father towards the family of ours, and pray Mary be a mother to us.