Saint Joseph

What is the greatest title of Saint Joseph?

While the Litany of Saint Joseph is filled with many rich titles describing Joseph's virtues and duties—such as most just, most chaste, patron of the dying, terror of demons, and protector of the Holy Church—there is one title that stands out which is quietly absent from his litany: the man closest to Christ.

Of all the men God has created, no one has been as close to Christ as Saint Joseph. He was the first man to hold God in his arms. He was the only man recorded to save Christ's life. He was, ultimately, the man chosen from all time to be God's earthly father.

Just as his Son was prefigured in the Scriptures, Saint Joseph was also long foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Looking at these biblical types opens our eyes to the reality that Saint Joseph has many other titles, such as the provider of the Eucharist and the souls in purgatory.

Even though the year of Saint Joseph has passed, the insights concerning our spiritual father continue to unfold. As the greatest of all the saints after Our Lady, Saint Joseph holds the key to opening the treasuries of Our Lord's Sacred and Eucharistic Heart. To imitate Christ is the goal of our spiritual lives. And what better way to imitate Christ than to learn from Saint Joseph, the man who spent the most time with Him, the man closest to Christ!

Father Sebastian Walshe is a Norbertine Canon of the Abbey of St. Michael in the Diocese of Orange, California. He earned his master’s in sacred theology and doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas at Rome, where he later taught from 2003 to 2005. Additionally, he is the author of The Foundations of Wisdom: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy set (TAN Books).