During the first centuries of the Church’s existence it was only the martyrs who, as we have said, enjoyed religious veneration. It was probably owing to this custom that no cultus was paid even to those personages who had been closely related to our Lord during His earthly life. St Joseph, our Lord’s foster-father, is a striking instance of this law. Although mentioned as a “just” man in Holy Scripture, and the object of occasional eulogies in patristic literature, he received universal public veneration only at a late date. While we possess much information concerning the tombs of the Apostles, and while even the graves of the Old Testament prophets have frequently had attention drawn to them, tradition has nothing to report concerning the death, burial, and relics of St Joseph.
The earliest traces of a direct cultus appears in one of the Coptic calendars[583] published by Seldenius. In this “Joseph the Carpenter” is entered on the 20th July, as also in the somewhat later Synaxarium in Mai,[584] which at latest may belong to the ninth century. The date, 20th July, had no influence upon other churches. The menology of Constantinople does not contain St Joseph’s name, and even the Basilianum only mentions him by the way on the 25th December, in the form of a commemoration. After the Nativity of our Lord, the Magi are first mentioned, and then St Joseph as spouse and protector of the Holy Virgin (ὁ μνήστωρ καὶ φύλαξ τῆς παρθένου). He has no special day of his own.
In the West, an Antiochene martyr called Joseph, otherwise unknown, appears in the so-called martyrology of St Jerome on the 20th March.[585] This cannot refer to the foster-father of Christ on account of the mention of Antioch and the absence of any indication of the saint’s condition, although this transformation has taken place in some martyrologies. With the unmistakeable title of foster-father of our Lord (nutritor Domini), St Joseph appears first in the martyrologies of the tenth century, as in one belonging to Fulda[586] and in others. As these are of private origin, and of merely local importance, it cannot be said that the cultus of St Joseph had therefore become universal. Throughout the whole Middle Ages it remained rather a private devotion, although numerous traces of the esteem in which St Joseph was held, and even of external veneration paid to him by individuals are to be found.[587]
It was through the private devotion of many important or holy members of the Church that the public cultus of St Joseph came into existence. Among these may be named St Bernard, St Gertrude, St Brigid of Sweden, and St Vincent Ferrer. Among the most enthusiastic and influential in this respect was the Chancellor John Gerson, following the lead of his master Peter d’Ailly, and, at a later date, the Abbot Trithemius. In 1400, Gerson composed an office in honour of the Espousals of Joseph with Mary, and urged the Council of Constance to take steps for the spread of the devotion. The way had been already prepared by the Franciscans, especially St Bernardine of Siena, and Bernardine de Bustis, who showed great zeal for the worship of St Joseph.[588]
These attempts resulted in the approval given to the cultus by Sixtus IV.,[589] who inserted St Joseph’s day in the Roman Breviary as a feast with one lection (festum simplex). Under Clement XI. it was changed into a feast with nine lections. Accordingly, at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, the 19th March began to be kept as St Joseph’s day in the Missals and Breviaries of many religious orders, i.e., the Carmelites, Hermits of St Augustine, Premonstratensians, Dominicans, Knights of St John; these were followed by the Benedictines and Jesuits, while the service-books of the Carthusians, Camaldules, Cistercians and Cluniacs of the same period remained without it.[590]
Owing to the fact that later on, several royal personages such as the Emperors Ferdinand III. and Leopold I. of the House of Habsburg, and King Charles II. of Spain, were devoted to the cultus of St Joseph, Gregory XV. raised his festival to the rank of a festival of obligation in 1621. Benedict XIII. inserted his name into the Litany of the Saints, and Pius IX., on the 8th December 1870, conferred upon him the office of Patron of the Universal Church.
Among the Greeks, the parents of Our Lady enjoyed a religious cultus from a comparatively early date, although all that was known of them was derived from the apocryphal Proto-evangelium of James. Joachim and Anne already had their own commemoration on the 9th September in the menology of Constantinople, and Justinian I. is said to have built a church in honour of St Anne in Constantinople.[591] Their names are mentioned by Epiphanius[592] and appear in the oldest Neapolitan Calendar on the 9th September, a circumstance which shows Byzantine influence, for among the Syrians their festival is kept on the 25th July.
In the West, however, their legend was received with considerable reserve, and although Pope Leo III. had their pictures placed in the church of Maria ad Præsepe, no trace of any liturgical commemoration appears in calendars before the Middle Ages. It is no proof that any special cultus was paid to them, that we find them occasionally mentioned in writings and spoken of as saints. It was only in 1378 that Urban VI. authorised the worship of St Anne for the English at their own request. Sixtus IV. especially approved of it,[593] and Gregory XIII., in 1584, appointed the 26th July for her feast. In the fifteenth century she was venerated with special devotion in Germany, the town of Annaberg being named after her.
As regards Joachim, Julius II. is said to have approved of his being commemorated with a special office on the 22nd March. Gregory XII. introduced a new and improved office, and fixed the commemoration for the Sunday within the octave of the Assumption. Leo XIII. raised it to the rank of a feast of the second class.[594]
Baillet has some remarks concerning Our Lady’s parents which are worthy of notice. He thinks that Mary at the time of her espousals to Joseph was an orphan; consequently, since her parents died before the death of the Redeemer, they were considered as belonging to the Old Testament, and were not made the object of a cultus. Whether they were actually named Joachim and Anne is doubtful,[595] for Anna in Hebrew means “Grace,” and Joachim, “Preparation of God.” It is possible that owing to ignorance of their real names, these appellations were chosen for them. The names appear in Epiphanius only at the end of the fourth century.