The Death of Saint Joseph

February 29, 2024

JOSEPH: HIS LIFE, HIS VIRTUES, HIS PRIVILEGES, HIS POWER by Very Reverend Archdeacon Kinane (1884)

Where, and at what age, the holy soul of St. Joseph winged its flight to the bosom of Abraham, we know not for certain, as the Gospel is silent. After the memorable occasion of the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the Gospel, as we have seen, says, the Holy Family returned to Nazareth; and the last word about St. Joseph is – Jesus “was subject to them;” that is, Jesus, after having completed His twelfth year, lived under the authority and guardianship of His reputed father St. Joseph, and His holy Mother the Blessed Virgin.

At this distance of time and place we can contemplate and meditate on the Holy Family at Nazareth. We can see St. Joseph, forgetful of himself, busily engaged to maintain in comfort and happiness the Mother and the Child. We can see the Child Jesus, from time to time even, helping with His Divine Hands, St. Joseph in his workshop. We can contemplate the Blessed Mother, assiduous in keeping her house neat and clean, and every way in her power, making happy the Son and the Husband. Now and again, Mary and Joseph would kneel, and with reverential awe, look into the Divine countenance of the Saviour of the world, and adore, love, and render supreme homage to the Incarnate and Eternal Son of God.

The eyes of all heaven were riveted on the “Holy House,” when Jesus, Mary, and Joseph knelt, prayed, and adored the Eternal Father. At the Transfiguration, Our Blessed Lord condescended to console Peter, James, and John, who were afterwards to witness His Agony in the Garden; and one faint ray of the Divinity rapt them into an ecstasy of delight. So we can well imagine that our Blessed Lord, in the Holy House at Nazareth, allowed from time to time the Divinity to shine forth through the Humanity, and, as the Eternal Son of God, manifested Himself in all His heavenly glory to Mary and Joseph. At the Nativity, a “multitude of the heavenly army ” appeared to the shepherds, singing, “Glory to God in the highest.” So we can well imagine, that at intervals this heavenly music broke upon the ears of Mary and Joseph; and that their eyes beheld countless millions of Angels, nay, the nine choirs of celestial Spirits, paying homage to their Lord. How long this paradise on earth lasted, how long St. Joseph enjoyed this foretaste of heaven, before he was permitted to drink of the ” torrents of God’s pleasure,” as we remarked before, we know not for certain.

As to the precise time of the death of St. Joseph, the ancient Fathers differ in opinion. Some are of opinion that he lived to a very old age, and that he witnessed the Passion, Death, and the Ascension of Our Blessed Lord. This opinion does not appear to accord with reason; for if St. Joseph witnessed the Passion and Death of Jesus, his name would most probably be mentioned by the Evangelists; and, secondly, Our Blessed Lord, at dying, would leave His holy Mother in the charge of her faithful husband, and hence would not have confided her, as He did, to St. John the Evangelist.

The common opinion therefore, which is supported by reason, as well as by the great majority of the Fathers, is that St. Joseph died in the arms of Jesus and Mary, a little before the public Ministry, or preaching of Our Blessed Lord. That is, the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived together at Nazareth for eighteen years after the Finding in the Temple; and that St. Joseph died when Jesus was about thirty years of age. This opinion is conformable to reason; for during the Sacred Infancy, and up to the time of His public Ministry, the name of St. Joseph is mentioned by the Evangelists in connection with all the great events of Our Blessed Lord’s Life; yet, after the public Ministry, the name of St. Joseph, does not even once occur in any of the Gospels; thereby clearly indicating that he was no longer alive. Besides, it would not appear fitting, that the Jews could point to the reputed father of the Saviour, when the preaching, and stupendous miracles of Jesus went to prove Him the Son of God, and that His Father was in heaven. This opinion also is supported by the great majority of ancient and modern writers. …

Some are of opinion that our great Saint died where he had lived, in the “Holy House” at Nazareth. Others, with the Bollandists, Venerable Bede, and St. Adamnan, hold that he died in Jerusalem, where he had gone on the solemn feast of the Pasch to worship in the Temple; and almost all agree that he was buried in the valley of Josaphat in the tomb of his ancestors. Although the age of St. Joseph, at his death, is not known for certain; yet it can be told with a fair approach to accuracy. In a preceding section we have seen that St. Joseph, at his Espousals with the Blessed Virgin, was a young man. Venerable Marie of Jesus, of Agreda says thirty-three; let us add to this, thirty, the age of our Blessed Lord at the time of His public Ministry, when St. Joseph died, and we have a fairly accurate estimate of the age of our great Patriarch at the time of his death.

At death we covet the prayers of holy souls to help us on the passage to eternity; happy the death of St. Joseph, who was helped and comforted by the hands and prayers of the Blessed Virgin herself. At death, we covet the presence of God’s minister, that the departing soul may get the last blessing, the last absolution; happy the death of St. Joseph, whose departing soul was absolved and blessed by Jesus Christ Himself. The presence and the attentions of a dear and holy friend sweeten the pains of death; sweet, peaceful, and happy, the death of St. Joseph, who died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. In the hour of trial, the faithful friend proves his gratitude and love; so at the death of St. Joseph, his holy spouse, the Blessed Virgin, endeavored to reward him, for his loving and reverential attentions and kindness to her, during the long period of thirty years. If Jesus rewards, as He does, a cup of cold water given in His name; what choicest heavenly graces and blessings did He not shower upon His dying reputed father St. Joseph, who assisted Him before He was born; who first, after Mary, adored Him in the manger at Bethlehem; who saved His life from the cruelty of Herod; who carried Him in his arms through the wild desert, and over the burning sands of Egypt; who, by the labor of his hands, supplied the wants and comforts of Jesus; in one word, who lived for Jesus, who is now dying of love for Jesus – how Jesus rewarded our dying Saint, the mind cannot conceive, nor the tongue express. …

The following extracts, on the death of St. Joseph, are taken from the famous work, Mystical City of God by the Venerable Marie of Jesus, of Agreda:

“This most holy Lady, knowing, through her infused knowledge, that the last hour of her chaste spouse in this place of exile was very near, went to her adorable Son, and said to Him: ‘My Lord and my God, the time for the death of Thy servant Joseph, which Thou hast determined by an eternal will approaches. I beseech Thee, Lord, by Thy infinite goodness to assist him in this hour, so that his death may be as precious to Thee as his life has been agreeable. Remember, my Son, the love and humility of Thy servant – his merits, his virtues, and the pains he has taken to preserve Thy life and mine.’”

“Our Saviour replied to her: ‘My Mother, your requests are pleasing to Me, and the merits of Joseph are in My thoughts. I will now assist him, and I will give him so eminent a place among the princes of My people, that it will be a subject of admiration for the Angels, and a motive for praises to them and to men. I will do not for any nation that which I will do for your Spouse.’ Our august Lady returned thanks to her most sweet Son for this promise.”

“The most humble Joseph, wishing to close his life by the seal of humility, asked pardon of his holy Spouse for the faults he might have committed in her service as a feeble man of earthly mould. He entreated her to assist him in this last hour, and to intercede for him. He testified, above all, his gratitude to our Adorable Saviour, for the benefits that he had received from His most liberal hand during all his life, and particularly in his sickness. Then taking leave of his blessed Spouse, he said to her: ‘Thou art blessed among all women and chosen above all creatures. Let Angels and men praise thee. Let all nations know and exalt thy dignity. Let the name of the Most High through thee be known, adored, and glorified in all future ages, and eternally praised by all the blessed Spirits, for having created thee so pleasing in His eyes. I trust to meet thee in the heavenly land.'”

“After this, the man of God addressed our Lord Jesus Christ, and wishing to speak to His Majesty with profound respect, he made every effort to kneel on the ground. But the sweet Jesus approaching received him in His arms, and the Saint supporting his head upon His bosom, said: ‘My Lord and my God, Son of the Eternal Father, Creator and Redeemer of the world, give Thy eternal benediction to Thy servant, who is the work of Thy hands. Pardon the faults I have committed in Thy service and in Thy presence. I confess Thee, I glorify Thee, I render to Thee, with a contrite and humble heart, eternal thanks for having chosen me, by Thy ineffable goodness, from among men, to be the spouse of Thine Own Mother. Grant, Lord, that Thy own glory may be the theme of my gratitude through all eternity.’”

“The Redeemer of the world gave him His benediction. ‘Rest in peace,’ He said; ‘the grace of My Heavenly Father and Mine be with thee. Proclaim the good tidings to My Prophets and Saints, who await thee, and tell them that their redemption is nigh.’ As our beloved Redeemer pronounced these words, the most happy Joseph expired in His arms, and His Divine Majesty closed his eyes. The angels chanted the sweetest hymns of praise, and, by order of the supreme King, they conducted this most holy soul into the company of the Saints, who recognized him as the reputed father of the Redeemer of the world, and His greatly-beloved one, who merited singular veneration. He imparted a new joy to this innumerable assembly by announcing to them, according to the commandment of the Lord, that their redemption would not long be delayed.”

“We must not omit to mention that, although the precious death of St. Joseph was preceded by so long a sickness, and such severe sufferings, these were not the chief causes of it. He might have lived longer, notwithstanding these maladies, if the effects of the ardent love that burned in his chaste bosom had not been superadded; for this happy death was rather a triumph of love than the penalty of sin. The Lord suspended the supernatural aid by which He had preserved the strength of His servant, and hindered the violence of his love from destroying him; and this help failing, nature was vanquished. This victory sundered the ties that detained his holy soul in the prison of the body, in which consists our death. Thus, love was the last of his maladies, and it was also the greatest and most glorious, since by it, death is the sleep of the body, and the principle of life.”

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THE LOWLY LIFE AND BITTER PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Vol 1 by Anne Catherine Emmerich

As the time drew near for Jesus to begin His mission of teaching, I saw Him ever more solitary and meditative; and toward the same time, the thirtieth year of Jesus, Joseph began to decline. I saw Jesus and Mary often with him. Mary sometimes sat on the ground by his couch, or upon a low, round three-legged stool, which served also for a table. I seldom saw them eating; but when they did, or brought some refreshment to Joseph’s bedside, it consisted of three, white, rather long, four-cornered pieces, about two fingers in breadth, that lay side by side on a little plate, and I saw also some little fruits in a dish. They gave him something to drink out of a mug.

When Joseph was dying, Mary sat at the head of his bed, holding him in her arms. Jesus stood just below her near Joseph’s breast. The whole room was brilliant with light and full of angels. After his death, his hands were crossed on his breast, he was wrapped from head to foot in a white winding sheet, laid in a narrow casket, and placed in a very beautiful tomb, the gift of a good man. Only a few men followed the coffin with Jesus and Mary; but I saw it accompanied by angels and environed with light. Joseph’s remains were afterward removed by the Christians to Bethlehem, and interred. I think I can still see him lying there incorrupt.

Joseph had of necessity to die before the Lord, for he could not have endured His Crucifixion; he was too gentle, too loving. He had already suffered much from the persecution Jesus had had to support from the malice of the Jews from His twentieth to His thirtieth year; for they could not bear the sight of Him. Their jealousy often made them exclaim that the carpenter’s Son thought He knew everything better than others, that He was frequently at variance with the teachings of the Pharisees, and that He always had around Him a crowd of young followers.

Mary never ceased to suffer from these persecutions. Such pains always seem to me sharper than those of martyrdom. Unspeakable was the love with which Jesus in His youth bore the jealous persecution of the Jews.

After Joseph’s death, Jesus and Mary removed to a little village of only a few houses between Capharnaum and Bethsaida. A man named Levi, who was very much attached to the Holy Family, had given Jesus a house there in which to dwell. It stood alone surrounded by a ditch of standing water. A couple of Levi’s people also were in the house in the capacity of servants, and Levi himself supplied all necessaries from Capharnaum. It was to this little place that Peter’s father retired when he gave over to him the fishery at Bethsaida.

Jesus had already many followers among the young people of Nazareth, but they were not faithful to Him. He walked with them in the country around the lake and went up to Jerusalem with them for the feasts. The Lazarus family in Bethania were already acquainted with the Holy Family. The Pharisees of Nazareth were against Jesus; they called Him a vagrant. Levi gave Him that house that He might, without fear of disturbance, live in it and gather His followers around Him. …

Mary Cleophas, who with her third husband, the father of Simeon of Jerusalem, dwelt in Anne’s house near Nazareth, afterward removed with her boy Simeon to Mary’s in Nazareth. The rest of her family and her servants remained at Anne’s. When Jesus, a short time after, went from Capharnaum by way of Nazareth to the region of Hebron, He was accompanied by Mary as far as Nazareth, where she awaited His return. She was always so solicitous about Him.

There came also to comfort the Holy Family on the death of St. Joseph and to see Jesus again, Joses Barsabas, the son of Mary Cleophas by her second marriage with Sabas, and the three sons of her first marriage with Alpheus: Simon, James the Less, and Thaddeus, all three of whom already carried on business away from home. They had had no close communication with Jesus since His childhood. They knew in general of Simeon’s and Anne’s prophecies on the occasion of His Presentation in the Temple, but they attached no importance to them. They preferred to follow John the Baptist, who soon after passed through these parts.

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