St. Joseph, the pure spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
foster father of Our Blessed Lord, was descended from the royal
house of David. He is the “just man” of the New Testament, the
lowly village carpenter of Nazareth, who among all men of the
world was the one chosen by God to be the husband and protector
of the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate. To his
faithful, loving care was entrusted the childhood and youth of the
Redeemer of the world. After the Mother of God, not one of the
children of men was ever so gifted and adorned with natural and
supernatural virtues as was St. Joseph, her spouse. In purity of
heart, in chastity of life, in humility, patience, fortitude, gentleness
and manliness of character, he reveals to us the perfect type and
model of the true Christian.

Poor and obscure in this world’s possessions and honors, he
was rich in grace and merit, and eminent before God in the
nobility and beauty of holiness. Because St. Joseph was the
representative of the Eternal Father on earth, the divinely
appointed head of the Holy Family, which was the beginning
of the great Family of God, the Church of Christ, on Dec. 8,
1870, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Pope Pius IX solemnly
proclaimed the foster father of Jesus, Patron of the Universal
Church.

From his throne of glory in Heaven, St. Joseph watches over
and protects the Church militant, and no one who calls on him
in need ever calls in vain. He is the model of a perfect
Christian life and the patron of a happy death. His patronage
extends over the Mystical Body of Christ, over the Christian
family, the Christian school, and all individuals who in their
need appeal to his charity and powerful intercession, especially
in the hour of death; for he who, when dying, received the
affectionate ministry of his foster Son, Jesus, and his Virgin
spouse, Mary, may well be invoked and trusted to obtain for us
poor sinners the mercy of God and the grace of a peaceful and
holy death.

Lives of the Saints, pages 113-116