01/05/2026
May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker—Optional Memorial
Patron Saint of workers
Work was not part of God’s plan for humanity. When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield…” Working “by the sweat of your brow” is a consequence of Original Sin. We should not see this consequence as evil, but as a means by which we now fulfill our human mission. Human labor has dignity as an act of obedience to God’s will and a participation in God’s work, the work of creation.
Through the eighteenth century, the majority of people tilled the land and raised animals to provide food for their families. Some engaged in trades: a carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, baker, or shoemaker. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, societies began to change. Machines performed tasks that had been performed by hand. Workers moved into cities to labor in factories of mass production, and many of the individual tradesmen were left behind. As production increased, abuses arose. Child labor, long hours, unsafe work environments, and low wages were among the new problems that especially affected family life. In response, the Church held up Saint Joseph as a model for all to emulate.
In 1889, Pope Leo XIII pointed the faithful to Saint Joseph. Unchecked capitalism tore families apart as profit became the goal of work, rather than a means of providing for one’s family. Socialism arose, coupled with atheism. Socialism sought to eliminate religion, the family, and private ownership of property. Instead, each individual was to become a subject of the state, while the state took the place of God. Work was for the fatherland or motherland, not primarily to care for one’s family. In Saint Joseph, workers had someone to emulate. Saint Joseph did not work to get rich, nor was he a servant of the state or an oppressed laborer who needed liberating. He was a family man who found dignity in work as he humbly provided for his family.
On May 1, 1955, in an address to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers, Pope Pius XII took devotion to Saint Joseph one step further by instituting the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. May 1 (May Day) was chosen for the feast because socialist countries celebrated “International Workers’ Day” on that date. A Catholic feast, honoring the laborer in the person of Saint Joseph, was a fitting way of combating socialist ideology and restoring the dignity of labor to its proper place.
Though socialism and communism have faded in many parts of the world, their philosophies continue to permeate many political systems. Unchecked capitalism remains a threat to healthy human development and family life when the common good is overshadowed by selfish gain. The answer is simple: Go to Saint Joseph! For the laborer and the family, Saint Joseph is a just man, a faithful spouse and father, a hard worker whose primary concern is for his family, a guardian and protector, an obedient servant of God, one who is humble and hidden from the spotlight, but faithful in all he does.
Saint Joseph, God gave you great responsibility in life, which you embraced with loving devotion and hard work. You found dignity in your labors as you sought to fulfill the will of God by caring for your family. Please pray that I will always keep the right priorities in life, never wavering from my duty to labor, and never laboring in vain for selfish profit. I choose you as my model and intercessor this day and always. Saint Joseph, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
