Humanities & Social Sciences
October 2015
Saint Joseph, image du Père
by Jean-Paul Dumontier, Jean-François Froger, Jean-Michel Sanchez
Saint Joseph, Image of the Father Up until the end of the Middle Ages, Saint Joseph was not honored by any specific feast, cult, nor publicly recognized devotion. Nevertheless, he received an exceptional mission from God: to be the spouse of the Virgin Mary by maintaining the virtue of chastity and through this, becoming the adopted father of he who would be revealed as the Messiah, Son of God, Jesus. Now, in the human family, the father ultimately obtains his paternity from God, recognized as the “Father”. The Church is a Body established by Christ; the doctrine and devotions of which have become ever clearer throughout the years. At the beginning of the modern era, Saint Joseph left his state of discretion, which he seems to have lived by devotion, despite his role as spouse and father, emphasized in the Gospels, to benefit from the homage of a particular cult, which the Church offers followers of this Saint, who exhibited a paternity bequeathed from God by excellence. Saint Joseph is also the completion of an entire genealogical line, revealing true fatherhood, and stemming from the Old Testament through the patriarch, Jacob, his son Joseph, but also a line of figures like Moses and David. Moreover, the Church proposes the meditation through several other virtues of the saint: model for workers, patron saint of good death, patron saint of the universal Church, etc. These roles and virtues are admirably illustrated by artists who have offered their art to serve faith and who have also largely contributed to making Saint Joseph better known and loved. The exceptional illustrations by Jean-Paul Dumontier complete the historical background by Jean-Michel Sanchez, Doctor of Art History and specialist of sacred art; and anthropological details contributed by Jean-François Froger; their art together lets one reread the Scriptures dealing with feminine-masculine differences, and recognize the human nature of "fatherhood" in the union of “one single flesh”.
