Some time ago a good friend of mine asked me to write an article touching on the Perpetual Virginity of Saint Joseph and concerning the portrayal of Saint Joseph as an old widower who had children from a previous marriage. This article is the answer to my dear friend’s request, and here in these paragraphs I will address the sources of this portrayal of Saint Joseph and how these said sources measure up to the Church’s teaching on Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity.
The sources which portray Saint Joseph as an old widower who had begotten children from a previous marriage are a group of writings known as the “apocryphal writings” or simply as the Apocrypha, which are a group of non-canonical and pseudo-graphical works written in the early history of the Catholic Church.[1] Three of these writings are pertinent for the purpose of this article, and they are the following: 1) The Protoevangelium of James; 2) The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew; 3) The History of Joseph the Carpenter. It is from these three apocryphal works that all of the information about Saint Joseph being advanced in age with children from a previous marriage originate. For in The Protoevangelium of James, we not only have two admissions from Saint Joseph himself that he himself had sons, but also that he was an old man.[2] The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew gives us even more information than The Protoevangelium of James does, stating that Saint Joseph not only was advanced in years and had children, but that Saint Joseph also had grandsons,[3] and we also learn from The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew the names of Saint Joseph’s sons, and that Joseph also had daughters.[4] Finally, The History of Joseph the Carpenter goes even further than The Protoevangelium of James and The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, relating not only that Saint Joseph was an old man,[5] but even giving the age he died at, a staggering one-hundred eleven years![6] What is more, we not only learn from The History of Joseph the Carpenter that Saint Joseph had sons and daughters and we not only learn the names of his sons, but we also learn the names of his daughters and how many daughters and sons Saint Joseph had, and we even learn that Saint Joseph had a wife before Mary was his wife.[7] Thus, we can see that the Apocrypha are the sources for the aged, widower with children from a prior marriage portrayal of Saint Joseph.
Further, what we can also see from the Apocrypha is that the question of Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity is intimately tied in with the question of his age. For if Saint Joseph was an old man, this means that he would have had sufficient time in his life to marry, have children, raise his children into adulthood, and then live to see his children marry and have their own children. On the other hand, if Saint Joseph was a young man, he would not have the sufficient time to accomplish all these things. Hence, what is essential here in determining whether Saint Joseph was a perpetual virgin or not is determining whether he was an old man or a young man.
To that end, one can show how all of these details related about Saint Joseph in the Apocrypha are false — including Saint Joseph’s advanced age — by showing that the Apocrypha are dubious or doubtful sources of information, and hence are not reliable. Such is the case, since the Apocrypha — including The Protoevangelium of James, The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and The History of Joseph the Carpenter — were rejected by the Church as reliable sources of revelation not only by their exclusion from the canon of the Bible,[8] but also by their direct rejection and explicit condemnation by Pope Innocent I.[9] Since the Church shows her rejection and condemnation of the Apocrypha, including that of The Protoevangelium of James, The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and The History of Joseph the Carpenter, it is logical to conclude that the Church considers these sources to be unreliable sources of information, and hence the details about Saint Joseph relayed in The Protoevangelium of James, The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and The History of Joseph the Carpenter are false and must not be believed, but rather must be rejected and condemned.[10]
The foregoing means that there is no basis for saying that Saint Joseph was an old widower with children and grandchildren — i.e., that he was not a perpetual virgin — since all of the information for this portrayal of Joseph is false due to the unreliability of the sources of this information. This leaves us with accepting the opposite position, viz., that Saint Joseph was a perpetual virgin. Such has been the teaching of the Church through men like Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Jerome of Stridon, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, to such an extent that Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity has the theological grade or note of a sententia probabilior or a “very probable” teaching, as Florent Raymond Bilodeau has observed,[11] and therefore all Catholics must piously believe in Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity.[12] Further, since I noted above that the question of Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity is intimately tied in with the question of his age, and since the teaching of his Perpetual Virginity is a sententia probabilior, it stands to reason that his youth is also a sententia probabilior, and hence all Catholics must also piously believe that he was a young man precisely because he was a perpetual virgin.
Ergo, understanding the Apocrypha is essential to understanding not only Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity but also his age, and once Catholics understand that the Apocrypha cannot be trusted, then Catholics will also come to see Saint Joseph for who and what he really is: a handsome, young, perpetual virginal father, and therefore the perfect Image of the Virginal Fatherhood of God the Father Himself.[13]
[1] For a complete list of the Apocrypha, see New Advent’s webpage entitled “The Fathers of the Church” under the heading “Apocrypha”: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
[2] The Protoevangelium of James, trans. Alexander Walker from Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886), rev. and ed. for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm, n. 9, emphasis in italics is mine: “But Joseph refused, saying: I have children, and I am an old man, and she [i.e., Mary] is a young girl.”; Ibid., n. 17, emphasis in italics is mine: “And Joseph said: I shall enrol my sons.”
[3] The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, trans. Alexander Walker from Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886), rev. and ed. for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0848.htm, c. 8, emphasis in italics is mine: “Now that was Joseph’s rod; and because he was an old man, he had been cast off, as it were, that he might not receive her, but neither did he himself wish to ask back his rod….Then all the people congratulated the old man, saying: You have been made blessed in your old age, O father Joseph, seeing that God has shown you to be fit to receive Mary…Joseph began bashfully to address them, saying: I am an old man, and have children; why do you hand over to me this infant [i.e., Mary], who is younger than my grandsons?… Joseph answered him: I indeed do not despise the will of God; but I shall be her guardian until I can ascertain concerning the will of God, as to which of my sons can have her as his wife.”
[4] Ibid., c. 41, emphasis in italics is mine: “And on a certain day Joseph called to him his first-born son James.”; Ibid., c. 42, emphasis in italics is mine: “And Joseph having come to a feast with his sons, James, Joseph, and Judah, and Simeon and his two daughters…And when He did not wish to come for refreshment, neither Joseph nor Mary, nor the sons of Joseph, His brothers, came. And, indeed, these brothers, keeping His life as a lamp before their eyes, observed Him, and feared Him.”
[5] The History of Joseph the Carpenter, trans. Alexander Walker from Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886), rev. and ed. for New Advent by Kevin Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0805.htm, intro., emphasis in italics is mine: “The History of the death of our father, the holy old man, Joseph the carpenter.”; Ibid., n. 4, emphasis in italics is mine: “And the lot fell upon the pious old man, righteous Joseph.”; Ibid., n. 7, emphasis in italics is mine: “The old man therefore, righteous Joseph, rose up and took the virgin Mary and came to Bethlehem, because the time of her bringing forth was at hand.”; Ibid., n. 8, emphasis in italics is mine: “But Joseph, that pious old man, was warned of this by a dream.”; Ibid., n. 10, emphasis in italics is mine: “At length, by increasing years, the old man [i.e., Joseph] arrived at a very advanced age.”; Ibid., n. 15, emphasis in italics is mine: “The whole age of my father, therefore, that righteous old man, was one hundred and eleven years, my Father in heaven having so decreed.”; Ibid., n. 18, emphasis in italics is mine: “And my mother, virgin undefiled, rose and came to me, saying: O my beloved son, this pious old man Joseph is now dying.”; Ibid., n. 19, emphasis in italics is mine: “And that blessed old man [i.e., Joseph] raised his head, and kept his eyes fixed on my face.”; Ibid., 22, emphasis in italics is mine: “O Father of all mercy, eye which see, and ear which hear, hearken to my prayers and supplications in behalf of the old man Joseph.”; Ibid., n. 27, emphasis in italics is mine: “Thereafter the chief men of the city came together to the place where the body of the blessed old man Joseph had been laid.”; Ibid., n. 30, emphasis in italics is mine: “Yet that old man Joseph the carpenter was, nevertheless, Your father after the flesh.”
[6] Ibid., intro., emphasis in italics is mine: “His [i.e., Saint Joseph’s] whole life was one hundred and eleven years.”; Ibid., n. 10, emphasis in italics is mine: “His [i.e., Saint Joseph’s] life, then, in all, amounted to one hundred and eleven years, his old age being prolonged to the utmost limit.”; Ibid., n. 15, emphasis in italics is mine: “The whole age of my father, therefore, that righteous old man, was one hundred and eleven years, my Father in heaven having so decreed.”; Ibid., n. 29, emphasis in italics is mine: “Having thus spoken, I embraced the body of my father Joseph, and wept over it; and they opened the door of the tomb, and placed his body in it, near the body of his father Jacob. And at the time when he fell asleep he had fulfilled a hundred and eleven years.”
[7] Ibid., n. 2-3, emphasis in italics is mine: “There was a man whose name was Joseph, sprung from a family of Bethlehem, a town of Judah, and the city of King David…and after the manner of all men, he married a wife. Moreover, he begot for himself sons and daughters, four sons, namely, and two daughters. Now these are their names — Judas, Justus, James, and Simon. The names of the two daughters were Assia and Lydia. At length the wife of righteous Joseph, a woman intent on the divine glory in all her works, departed this life. But Joseph, that righteous man, my father after the flesh, and the spouse of my mother Mary, went away with his sons to his trade, practising the art of a carpenter [n. 2] … Now when righteous Joseph became a widower, my mother Mary, blessed, holy, and pure, was already twelve years old [n. 3].”
[8] Heinrich Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, 43rd ed., ed. Peter Hünermann, Robert Fastiggi, and Anne Englund Nash (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), Synod of ROME, 382: b. Decretum Damasi (Denz. 179-180): “Nunc vero de Scripturis divinis agendum est, quid universalis catholica recipiat Ecclesia et quid vitare debeat. Incipit ordo Veteris Testamenti. Genesis liber unus; Exodus lib. 1; Leviticus lib. 1; Numeri lib. 1; Deuteronomium lib. 1; Iesu Nave lib. 1; Iudicum lib. 1; Ruth lib. 1; Regum libri 4; Paralypomenon [Paralipomenon] libri 2; Psalmi CL [Psalterium] lib. 1; Salamonis [Salomonis] libri 3: Proverbia lib. 1, Ecclesiastes lib. 1, Cantica Canticorum lib. 1; item Sapientia lib. 1, Ecclesiasticus lib. 1. Item ordo Prophetarum. Esaiae liber unus; Hieremiae lib. 1, cum Cinoth id est Lamentationibus suis; Ezechiel[is] lib. 1; Danihel[is] lib. 1; Oseae lib. 1; Amos lib. 1; Micheae lib. 1; Iohel lib. 1; Abdiae lib. 1; Ionae lib. 1; Naum lib. 1; Ambacum [Abbacuc] lib. 1; Sophoniae lib. 1; Aggei lib. 1; Zachariae lib. 1; Malacihel [Malachiae] lib. 1. Item ordo storiarum. Iob liber unus; Tobiae lib. 1; Esdrae [Hesdrae] libri 2; Hester lib. 1; Iudit lib. 1 [-!]; Machabeorum libri 2. Item ordo Scripturarum Novi et aeterni [-!] Testamenti, quem sancta et catholica [Romana] suscipit [et veneratur] Ecclesia. Evangeliorum [libri 4:] secundum Matheum liber unus, sec. Marcum lib. 1, sec. Lucam lib. 1, sec. Iohannem lib. 1. [Item Actuum apostolorum liber unus.] Epistulae Pauli [apostoli] numero 14: ad Romanos [ep.] una, ad Corinthios [ep.] duas, ad Ephesios 1, ad Thessalonicenses 2, ad Galatas 1, ad Philippenses 1, ad Colosenses 1, ad Timotheum 2, ad Titum 1, ad Filimonem [Philemonem] 1, ad Hebreos 1. Item Apocalypsis Iohannis liber 1. Et Actus apostolorum liber 1 [-! vd. supra]. Item epistulae canonicae [can. ep.] numero 7: Petri apostoli epistulae 2, Iacobi apostoli ep. 1, Iohannis apostoli ep. 1, alterius¹ Iohannis presbyteri ep. 2, Iudae zelotis apostoli ep. 1. Explicit canon Novi Testamenti. [Now indeed we must treat of the divine Scriptures, what the universal Catholic Church accepts and what she must avoid. At the beginning, the order of the Old Testament. Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book; Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Joshua, one book; Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; Kings, four books á= two books of Samuel, two books of Kingsñ; Chronicles, two books; 150 Psalms [Psalter], one book; three books of Solomon; Proverbs, one book; Ecclesiastes á= Qohelethñ, one book; Song of Songs, one book; likewise, Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus á= Sirachñ, one book. Likewise, the order of the prophets. Isaiah, one book; Jeremiah, one book, along with the Qinoth, that is, his Lamentations; Ezekiel, one book; Daniel, one book; Hosea, one book; Amos, one book; Micah, one book; Joel, one book; Obadiah, one book; Jonah, one book: Nahum, one book; Habakkuk, one book; Zephaniah, one book; Haggai, one book; Zechariah, one book; Malachi, one book. Likewise, the order of the histories. Job, one book; Tobit, one book; Ezra, two books (one book of Ezra, one book of Nehemiah); Esther, one book; Judith, one book [-!]; of the Maccabees, two books. Likewise, the order of the Scriptures of the New and eternal [-!] Testament, which the holy and catholic [Roman] Church accepts [and venerates]. [Four books] of the Gospels: according to Matthew, one book; according to Mark, one book; according to Luke, one book; according to John, one book. [Likewise, one book of the Acts of the Apostles.] Fourteen letters of [the apostle] Paul: to the Romans, one [letter]; to the Corinthians, two [letters]; to the Ephesians, one; to the Thessalonians, two; to the Galatians, one; to the Philippians, one; to the Colossians, one; to Timothy, two; to Titus, one; to Philemon, one; to the Hebrews, one. Likewise, one book of the Apocalypse of John. And one book of the Acts of the Apostles [-! see above]. Likewise, seven canonical letters: of the apostle Peter, two letters; of the apostle James, one letter; of the apostle John, one letter; of the other John¹ the Presbyter, two letters; of the apostle Jude the Zealot, one letter. End of the canon of the New Testament.]; Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, Siricius, Third Synod of CARTHAGE, August 28, 397 (Denz. 186): “[Placuit,] … ut praeter scripturas canonicas nihil in ecclesia legatur sub nomine divinarum Scripturarum. Sunt autem canonicae scripturae: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium, Iesu[s] Nave, Iudicum, Ruth, Regnorum libri quatuor, Paralipomenon libri duo, Iob, Psalterium Davidicum, Salomonis libri quinque, duodecim libri Prophetarum, Esaias, Ieremias, Daniel, Ezechiel, Tobias, Iudith, Hester, Hesdrae libri duo, Machabaeorum libri duo. Novi autem Testamenti: Evangeliorum libri quatuor, Actus Apostolorum liber unus, Pauli Apostoli epistolae tredecim, eiusdem ad Hebraeos una, Petri duae, Ioannis tres [cf. *180], Iacobi una, Iudae una, Apocalypsis Ioannis. [Additur in quodam cod.:] … ut de confirmando isto canone transmarina Ecclesia consulatur. [[It has been decided] … that, in the Church, nothing should be read except the canonical writings under the name of the “divine Scriptures”. These canonical writings are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings á= two of Samuel, two of Kingsñ, the two books of Chronicles, Job, the Davidic Psalter, the five books of Solomon, the twelve books of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras á= one of Ezra, one of Nehemiahñ, two books of Maccabees. áThe canonical writingsñ of the New Testament, furthermore áareñ: the four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen Epistles of Paul the apostle, one of the same to the Hebrews, two of Peter, three of John [cf. *180], one of James, one of Jude, and the Revelation of John. [In one codex, it is added:] … that the Church beyond the sea should be consulted for the confirmation of this canon.]”; Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, Council of TRENT, Session 4, April 8, 1546 (Denz. 1501-1502): “Sacrorum vero librorum indicem huic decreto adscribendum censuit, ne cui dubitatio suboriri possit, quinam sint, qui ab ipsa Synodo suscipiuntur. Sunt vero infra scripti. Testamenti Veteris: Quinque Moisis, id est Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium; Iosue, Judicum, Ruth, quatuor Regum, duo Paralipomenon, Esdrae primus et secundus, qui dicitur Nehemias, Tobias, Iudith, Esther, Iob, Psalterium Davidicum centum quinquaginta psalmorum, Parabolae, Ecclesiastes, Canticum Canticorum, Sapientia, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Ieremias cum Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, duodecim Prophetae minores, id est Osea, Ioel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Michaeas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias; duo Machabaeorum primus et secundus. Testamenti Novi: Quatuor Evangelia, secundum Matthaeum, Marcum, Lucam, loannem: Actus Apostolorum a Luca Evangelista conscripti, quatuordecim epistolae Pauli Apostoli, ad Romanos, duae ad Corinthios, ad Galatas, ad Ephesios, ad Philippenses, ad Colossenses, duae ad Thessalonicenses, duae ad Timotheum, ad Titum, ad Philemonem, ad Hebraeos, Petri Apostoli duae, Ioannis Apostoli tres, Iacobi Apostoli una, Iudae Apostoli una, et Apocalypsis Ioannis Apostoli. Si quis autem libros ipsos integros cum omnibus suis partibus, prout in Ecclesia catholica legi consueverunt et in veteri vulgata latina editione habentur, pro sacris et canonicis non susceperit, et traditiones praedictas sciens et prudens contempserit: anathema sit. [This council has thought it proper to insert in this decree a list of the sacred books, so that no doubt may remain as to which books are recognized by the council. They are the following: Old Testament: The five ábooksñ of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four ábooksñ of Kings á= two books of Samuel, two books of Kingsñ, two of Chronicles, the first ábookñ of Ezra, the second ábookñ of Ezra called Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job, the Psalter of David containing 150 psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus á= Sirachñ, Isaiah, Jeremiah with Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, the twelve minor prophets, that is, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi; two ábooksñ of Maccabees, that is, the first and the second. New Testament: The four Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles written by Luke the evangelist; fourteen Epistles of the apostle Paul, that is, to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, Philemon, and the Hebrews; two áEpistlesñ of the apostle Peter, three of the apostle John, one of the apostle James, one of the apostle Jude, and the Revelation of the apostle John. If anyone does not accept all these books in their entirety, with all their parts, as they are being read in the Catholic Church and are contained in the ancient Latin Vulgate editions, as sacred and canonical and knowingly and deliberately rejects the aforesaid traditions, let him be anathema.]”
[9] Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, Innocent I, Letter Consulenti tibi to Bishop Exsuperius of Toulouse, February 20, 405 (Denz. 213), emphasis in bold is mine: “(c. 7) Qui vero libri recipiantur in canone, brevis adnexus ostendit. Haec sunt, quae desiderata moneri voce voluisti: Moysen libri V, id est Genesis Exodi Levitici Numeri Deuteronomii, et Hiesu Nave I, Iudicum 1, Regnorum libri IV, simul et Ruth, Prophetarum libri XVI, Solomonis libri V, Psalterium. Item historiarum: Iob liber I, Tobiae I, Hester I, Iudith 1, Machabeorum II, Hesdrae II, Paralypomenon II. Item Novi Testamenti: Evangeliorum IV, Apostoli Pauli epistulae XIII [XIV], epistulae Iohannis III, epistulae Petri II, [epistula Iudae I], epistula lacobi I, Actus Apostolorum, Apocalypsis Iohannis. Cetera autem, quae vel sub nomine Mathiae sive Iacobi minoris, vel sub nomine Petri et Iohannis, quae a quodam Leucio scripta sunt, [vel sub nomine Andreae, quae a Xenocaride et Leonida philosophis, vel sub nomine Thomae, et si qua sunt alia, non solum repudianda, verum etiam noveris esse damnanda. [(Chap. 7) A brief addition shows what books really are received in the canon. These are the desiderata of which you wished to be informed verbally: Of Moses five books, that is, of Genesis, of Exodus, of Leviticus, of Numbers, of Deuteronomy, and of Joshua one book, of Judges one book, of Kings four books á= two books of Samuel, two books of Kingsñ, and also Ruth, of the prophets sixteen books, of Solomon five books, the Psalms. Likewise of the histories: Job one book, of Tobit one book, Esther one, Judith one, of the Maccabees two, of Esdras two á=Ezra one, Nehemiah oneñ, of Chronicles two books. Likewise of the New Testament: of the Gospels four books, of Paul the apostle thirteen [fourteen] Epistles, of John three Epistles, of Peter two, [an Epistle of Jude), an Epistle of James, the Acts of the Apostles, the Apocalypse of John. Others, however, which were written by a certain Leucius under the name of Matthias or of James the Less, or under the name of Peter and John [or which were written by Xenocharides and Leonidas the philosophers under the name of Andrew), or under the name of Thomas, and if there are any others, you know that they ought not only to be repudiated but also condemned.]” For the online version of Consulenti tibi, see Innocent I, “Letter to Exsuperius, bishop of Toulouse,” Bible Research: Internet Resources for Students of Scripture, online since February 2001, http://www.bible-researcher.com/innocent.html.
[10] While it is true that some of the things related in the Apocrypha such as the Presentation of Mary and the names of her parents are piously believed by Catholics because they are true, nevertheless the reason for which these pious traditions are true is not because they are found in the Apocrypha but rather because they are found in the Church’s Oral Tradition.
[11] Florent Raymond Bilodeau, “The Virginity of Saint Joseph in the Latin Fathers and Medieval Ecclesiastical Writers,” (STL diss., St. Mary’s University, 1957), Conclusion, para. 10, https://osjusa.org/st-joseph/church-fathers/, emphasis in italics is mine: “If we were to characterize the teaching in favor of Joseph’s virginity, perhaps the best note we could give to this doctrine is that it is at least very probable.” One way to translate a sententia probabilior is “very probable,” and since Florent Raymond Bilodeau classifies the doctrine of Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity as having the “note” — i.e., the theological note — of “very probable,” this means that Bilodeau is classifying Saint Joseph’s perpetual virginity as a sententia probabilior.
[12] For an explanation for why one must piously believe in Saint Joseph’s Perpetual Virginity, see Joshua Francis Filipetto, “What We Should Believe About Saint Joseph,” Catholic Insight, September 15, 2022, https://catholicinsight.com/what-we-should-believe-about-saint-joseph/.
[13] Scott Hahn, Joy to the World: How Christ’s Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does) (New York: Image, 2014), 70-71: “Joseph’s vocation is to be an earthly image of Jesus’s heavenly Father. God is more Father than any man on earth, though he fathers without gender, without a body, without sexual organs or a sexual act, and without a spouse. God’s fatherhood is perfect, so we know that fatherhood is not primarily physical, but rather spiritual. The fatherhood of Joseph is spiritual and real, though virginal, just as the fatherhood of God is spiritual and nonphysical. Saint Joseph serves, then, as an icon of God the Father, and even Jesus would have thought of him in that way.” What Scott Hahn is saying in this quote is that Saint Joseph is an image or icon of God the Father through Joseph’s own virginity or virginal fatherhood; in other words, Saint Joseph’s virginity or virginal paternity makes him an image or icon of God the Father, since both Saint Joseph and God the Father are virginal fathers.