Aug 3 Mon
Was Saint Joseph an old man at Our Lady’s Annunciation?
The Gospels do not tell us anything about St. Joseph's age at the time of his betrothal to Mary. He must have been some years older than she was, but not by much. There are many reasons to suppose that Our Lady married a young man.
One of them is that it would be the normal course of events. Of course, this particular young man was endowed with exceptional qualities. It is the apocryphal Gospels that describe for us events that are incredible in the full sense of the word.
They try to fill in the details that the evangelists did not mention with unbridled fantasy. They tell us that Joseph was an ugly widower to offer better safeguards for Mary's virginity. These ideas were accepted by some of the ancient writers, especially St. Epiphanius.
This is also seen in the way St. Joseph is frequently portrayed in paintings and holy cards during the Middle Ages and down through the centuries that followed, including in our own era.
However, the oldest surviving depictions follow a completely different path from this apocryphal image, representing Mary's spouse instead as a young and vigorous man. Traces of those apocryphal accounts only started to appear in the 5th and 6th centuries and subsequently. Various historians and archaeologists have noted this.
Among the mosaics representing St. Joseph, the one in the triumphal arch of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome from the time of Pope Sixtus III is notable. Within the mystery of the life of Christ, where St. Joseph is portrayed, his appearance is young and full of strength. In many of the paintings in which Pope John VI, in the 8th century, decorated the churches, St. Joseph appears young.
On some of the paintings on Christian sarcophagi of the early centuries, St. Joseph wears a workman's overalls and has a strong, manly face.
From the Gospel narratives, we can presume that Mary's spouse was young and full of energy, since more than once he had to pack up his household and move elsewhere, and likewise, had to provide for his family under difficult circumstances. Furthermore, Jesus passed for Joseph's son, according to the flesh, which would not have happened if Joseph had been an elderly man.
St. Josemaría writes,
“I don't agree with the traditional picture of St Joseph as an old man, even though it may have been prompted by a desire to emphasize the perpetual virginity of Mary. I see him as a strong young man, perhaps a few years older than our Lady, but in the prime of his life and work."
“You don't have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love, and the strength and gaiety of youth are no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures."