Pope Pius XII instituted this celebration in 1955 and assigned it to May 1, the day widely observed as a workers' holiday. The intention was not to compete with that observance but to give it a Christian foundation: labor is not merely an economic transaction or a field of class conflict but a share in the Creator's work and a means of sanctification. The Church's social teaching, from Leo XIII's Rerum novarum through Saint John Paul II's Laborem exercens, develops this at length, insisting on the priority of the worker over the work and on the right to just wages, rest, and association. Joseph is the natural patron for such a day. The Gospel of Matthew records the astonishment of the people of Nazareth: is this not the carpenter's son? The Greek word describes a craftsman working in wood and stone, and it is the only trade the New Testament attaches to the household in which Jesus grew up. For roughly thirty years the Son of God worked with his hands under Joseph's instruction, which is why the Church can say that ordinary labor has been taken into the mystery of redemption. The celebration is an optional memorial, and it usually falls within the Easter Season; white vestments are worn and the Missal provides proper prayers, with the Gospel of the carpenter's son. Because it is optional, the Easter weekday may be kept instead. Related customs include the blessing of tools and workplaces, prayers for the unemployed, and the observance of May as the month of Mary alongside it. Saint Joseph is also honored on March 19 as Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is his principal celebration and a solemnity of the General Roman Calendar.

Optional memorial

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Easter

May 1

• Matthew 13:54-58

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