Today, September 12th is the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary.

Some names — like Mary — are so classic that they stand the test of time and are popular in every culture.

This post is dedicated to another one of those names.

It’s especially popular in Italian/Italian-American culture, and in my family.

It belongs to the second greatest Saint of all time and our spiritual father!

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Joseph

Origin and Meaning

• From Ioseph — the Latin form of the Greek Ἰωσήφ — which comes from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף)
• Means “He will add” or “Jehovah increases” (from the root yasaf)

Spelling Variations

• Joseph – English
• Josef – Czech, Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish
• Józef – Polish
• Josip – Croatian
• José – French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Jose – English, Filipino
• Iosif – Greek, Romanian, Russian
• Yousef – Arabic, Persian
• Yusuf – Arabic, Bengali, Indonesian, Pashto, Tajik, Turkish
• Giuseppe – Italian
• Josephine (feminine) – Dutch, English, German
• Josefina (feminine) – Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Information from: behindthename.com

People

• Joseph is the 11th son of the patriarch Jacob (1st with his wife Rachel) in the Old Testament. Because Joseph was born in Jacob’s old age, he was favored. His brothers became envious and sold him into slavery. Joseph gained favor with pharaoh and became a high official in Egypt. When a famine hit, his brothers went to Egypt in search of grain, which Joseph was in charge of. He forgave his repentant brothers, and the family was reconciled. The entire family moved to Egypt and the descendants multiplied vastly. Joseph’s son Ephraim received the blessing from Jacob and became the 12th tribe of Israel, even though he’s the younger son. (Genesis 37–50)
• St. Joseph is the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. He was a carpenter (aka artisan) by trade. His life was hidden and no words spoken by him are recorded in Scripture. According to tradition, he was not previously married and he had a celibate marriage with Mary. St. Joseph has the special class of homage and veneration known as Protodulia which means that he is the Saint venerated right after the Virgin Mary, and before all other saints. He has many titles, including: Guardian of the Redeemer, Patron of the Universal Church, Hope of the Sick and Terror of demons.
• St. Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) is a Canossian religious sister who lived in Italy for many years after being a slave in Sudan. Around age 7, she was abducted by Arab slave traders. She was sold many times and treated with unimaginable cruelty. The trauma made her forget her birth name, so she was named Bakhita which means “lucky or fortunate” in Arabic. In 1885 she was taken to Italy by her owner and temporarily placed under the care of the Canossian Sisters. In 1889 the Italian court ruled that because the British had outlawed slavery in Sudan before Bakhita’s birth, and Italy had never legally recognized slavery, Bakhita was finally free. In 1890 she was baptized with the name Josephine Margaret Fortunata (the Latin translation of Bakhita) and received into the Catholic Church. In 1896 she took vows with the Canossian Sisters and spent the rest of her life in northern Italy. She forgave her captors and even expressed gratitude for them because she came to know Jesus through her time in Italy with the sisters. She had a reputation for sanctity and was the first black woman to be canonized in the modern era (the year 2000).
• St. Giuseppe Moscati (1880-1927) is an Italian physician, medical school professor and pioneer in the field of biochemistry. He regarded his medical practice as a lay apostolate, a ministry to the suffering. His approach was holistic, and he treated both the body and soul. He seemed to have the gift of healing, often diagnosing and treating difficult conditions. He practiced charity, treating the poor without charge. He attended Mass and received Holy Communion daily. He took a vow of chastity and remained single. “The holy physician of Naples” died peacefully at age 46 after making his rounds at the hospital.