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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
St. Joseph	Anthony	Saturday, October 20, 2012
Question: I'm very devoted to St. Joseph, Our Lord's foster father and love to read about him.The Greek Orthodox Church and other Orthodox churches believe that St. Joseph was an elderly widower and was the father of several children before he married the Blessed Virgin Mary. I'm assuming that they believe this from the story in the apocryphal Protevangelium of St. James. St. Jerome however, disagreed with this and maintained that St. Joseph was not a widower when he wed the Blessed Virgin. I remember that Father Benedict Groeschel talked about this some months ago during the Sunday Night Prime program on EWTN. Father Groeschel said that the Catholic Church allows Catholics to believe the version they wish...that he was a widower with children or not. Is this true? I always had the impression from what the sisters taught us in grade school and later on that St. Joseph was a young man and a virgin when he married the Blessed Mother. Thanks for your reply Brother and God bless.
Question Answered by Dear Anthony: Most likely Joseph was an older man. We know that he was not alive at the time of Jesus' passion. Whether or not he was married before with children, nobody knows. A Catholic is free to hold either theory about St. Joseph. Some suggest that the reference to "the brothers of Jesus" was a reference to step-brothers of Jesus and thus St. Joseph must have had children from a previous marriage. But, we need not make that conjecture. The word "brother" means more than a blood brother, but also cousin. Since Jesus has no blood-brothers the term "brother" is talking about cousins, or the generic brother, as in the brotherhood of man. We know for a fact that Jesus had no blood brothers because if he had a brother he would have given the care of his mother to that brother. Jesus did not do that. He gave the care of his mother to St. John when he was on the Cross. It would have been a violation of Jewish law and custom to give his mother to the care of St. John if he had a blood brother. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

St. Joseph

Anthony

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Question:

I'm very devoted to St. Joseph, Our Lord's foster father and love to read about him.The Greek Orthodox Church and other Orthodox churches believe that St. Joseph was an elderly widower and was the father of several children before he married the Blessed Virgin Mary. I'm assuming that they believe this from the story in the apocryphal Protevangelium of St. James. St. Jerome however, disagreed with this and maintained that St. Joseph was not a widower when he wed the Blessed Virgin. I remember that Father Benedict Groeschel talked about this some months ago during the Sunday Night Prime program on EWTN. Father Groeschel said that the Catholic Church allows Catholics to believe the version they wish...that he was a widower with children or not. Is this true? I always had the impression from what the sisters taught us in grade school and later on that St. Joseph was a young man and a virgin when he married the Blessed Mother. Thanks for your reply Brother and God bless.

Question Answered by

Dear Anthony:

Most likely Joseph was an older man. We know that he was not alive at the time of Jesus' passion. Whether or not he was married before with children, nobody knows. A Catholic is free to hold either theory about St. Joseph.

Some suggest that the reference to "the brothers of Jesus" was a reference to step-brothers of Jesus and thus St. Joseph must have had children from a previous marriage. But, we need not make that conjecture. The word "brother" means more than a blood brother, but also cousin. Since Jesus has no blood-brothers the term "brother" is talking about cousins, or the generic brother, as in the brotherhood of man.

We know for a fact that Jesus had no blood brothers because if he had a brother he would have given the care of his mother to that brother. Jesus did not do that. He gave the care of his mother to St. John when he was on the Cross. It would have been a violation of Jewish law and custom to give his mother to the care of St. John if he had a blood brother.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.