Jofestag

Jofestag

St. Joseph’s Day is a public holiday in 7 cantons and is usually a day off work. Schools and most businesses are closed.

The significance of St. Joseph’s Day in Switzerland is decreasing. In some places, it is still considered a public holiday or a day of rest, but many businesses remain open.

History

In early Christian depictions, Joseph appears as an insignificant figure or sometimes disappears entirely. Whenever he appears in a nativity scene, he is portrayed as thoughtful, skeptical, and sometimes even depressed. Centuries later, St. Joseph became better known as the foster father of the infant Jesus and was depicted as being found cooking soups or offering his trousers to Jesus. He came into focus in biblical depictions when Saint Joseph sought to prove that Jesus was a descendant of David. The Bible tells of an older Joseph who wanted to separate from Mary when he noticed she was pregnant. However, an angel told him of Mary’s divine conception, and the two remained in a virginal marriage. St. Joseph fled to Egypt with Mary and Jesus to escape Herod and returned to Nazareth after Herod’s death. The last time Joseph appeared in the Bible was during Easter when he, along with Mary, journeyed to Jerusalem with the twelve-year-old Jesus. The Bible doesn’t provide much more information about Joseph, and there is no account of his death. Joseph remained a peripheral figure until the 19th century when the Holy Family of Nazareth began to be seen as a model and example.

St. Joseph has been celebrated as a memorial day since the 10th century. The reason for the date falling on March 19 is not definitively documented. Speculation suggests an attempt to replace Minerva, the goddess of craftsmanship, who was celebrated on this day. St. Joseph was officially recognized as a memorial day by Pope Sixtus IV. The Council of Trent also approved the day in the 16th century. The Habsburgs made St. Joseph their patron saint. St. Joseph’s Day became a public holiday when Emperor Ferdinand II carried an image of St. Joseph in a victorious battle against the Palatinate-Bohemian army. St. Joseph has been a feast day on the Roman calendar since 1621. In 1676, Joseph became the principal patron of the Roman Empire, and in 1870, he became the patron saint of the entire Catholic Church. In 1955, Pope Pius XII introduced the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, which runs counter to the social movement of Labor Day on May 1.