The history of St. Joseph is not as well known as the history of Jesus or the history of Mary but St. Joseph was also a very important figure. St. Joseph came from the line of King David, one of the most well known Biblical kings. Joseph was a carpenter from Bethlehem who was engaged to Mary when Mary became pregnant with Jesus. If Joseph had decided not to go through with the marriage because of the pregnancy in that culture and at that time in history Mary would have been publicly shamed and possibly even stoned. To protect her Joseph married her anyway and agree to raise Jesus as his own child.
Throughout the Bible there are mentions of the history of St. Joseph and of his kind and loving nature. Even though he is not mentioned very often in the story of Jesus, not as much as Mary or some of the Apostles, it is clear that his influence and teachings had a profound effect on Jesus and helped him become a very compassionate, kind and caring person. St. Joseph has been revered as a father for centuries and today is the patron saint of family and the home.
The history of St. Joseph as a saint is an interesting one. For a long time he was not officially recognized as a saint because he had always been venerated as a saint since the very beginning of the church and was not canonized in the way that saints who were declared saints after the organization were canonized in order to achieve sainthood. In 1870 Pope Pious IX declared Saint Joseph the patron saint of the Universal Church, so St. Joseph really is considered to be the father of the Church and not just the foster father of Jesus.
The history of St. Joseph helping people sell their homes is said to have started way back in the mid 1500's when St. Teresa of Avila was looking for a place to build a second convent for the order of nuns that she founded, the Discalced Carmelite order. Even though she searched for quite awhile she couldn't find an appropriate piece of land to build the convent on. So she prayed to Saint Joseph for help, since he is the patron saint of land and home. She also had her nuns pray to St. Joseph and bury medals of St. Joseph around the property where the original convent was.
Soon she found the perfect piece of land to build the second convent and found the second chapter of the Discalced Carmelite nuns and she credited St. Joseph with helping her find the land she needed. Because of that it became a tradition for anyone that was searching for a home to bury medals and later statues of Saint Joseph in the ground and to pray to St. Joseph for help finding a new home.
Over the years the tradition was adapted a little bit and it became customary for people that wanted to sell their homes to pray to St. Joseph and bury a statue of St. Joseph in the yard of the home in order to attract buyers for the property. Some people say that this tradition came about because German builders would put small St. Joseph statues or medals in the walls and the foundations of homes that they were building to bless the home and protect the family that moved in.
In the end no one really knows where the history of St. Joseph statues being used to sell home really began but that doesn't change the fact that it works. So if you're trying to sell your home you should pray to St. Joseph for help and bury a St. Joseph statue in your yard. You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll get an offer on the property.
Eric Thompson is an known author on this subject and the owner of http://www.st-josephstatue.com
This site is a E-commerce site, but it also contains valuable information, facts and articles about Saint Joseph. Here you can find out more about the tradition, and the various items associated with the ledgend
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