2009 Virtual St. Joseph Altar is Open!

The 2009 Virtual St. Joseph Altar is now open!

Visit the Altar to make your virtual offering, add deceased loved ones to the prayer list, or for special prayer requests visit the message board.

Be sure to visit the Virtual St. Joseph Altar blog.

Because of your continued prayers & support, the Altar gets bigger and better each year!

Thank you for helping to spread devotion to St. Joseph & Viva San Guiseppe!

Lucky Bean

Fava bean (vicia fava) may be served in a frittata or in garlic sauce. When dried, roasted and blessed, it becomes the very popular "lucky bean." Legend has it that you will never be broke as long as you carry one. Some people believe that if you keep one in the pantry, there will always be food in the kitchen.

The legend of the fava bean began during the famine in Sicily, where the bean was used as fodder for cattle. To survive, the farmers prepared them for the table. Hence, they considered themselves lucky to have them. The bean is also a symbol of fertility, since it grows well even in poor, rocky soil. Italians would carry a bean from a good crop to ensure a good crop the following year.

The blessed dried beans are distributed at altars along with pieces of blessed bread

Excerpted from Viva San Giuseppe, A Guide for Saint Joseph Altars
published by the St. Joseph Guild, New Orleans, Louisiana 1985 -- out of print

e-Book Giveaway!

Viva San Giuseppe: A Guide For St. Joseph Altars published by St. Joseph Guild, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1985

With over 40 pages of recipes, stories of faith, Altar background, and history, this little out of print booklet is a handy reference for anyone setting up a St. Joseph Altar.

Enter by leaving a comment below.

This is a downloadable pdf of my own much loved copy of this publication. Depending on your connection, Download can take 5 to 10 minutes.

Winner will be announced here on February 19!

Everyone's Patron

St. Joseph is the patron saint of a wide variety of things and places:

against doubt, against hesitation, bursars, cabinetmakers, carpenters, Church, confectioners, craftsmen, dying people, emigrants, engineers, expectant mothers, families, fathers, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls, laborers, married people, Oblates of Saint Joseph, people in doubt, people who fight Communism, pioneers, pregnant women, protection of the Church, social justice, travelers, unborn children, Universal Church, wheelwrights, workers, and working people

Americas; Austria; diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Belgium; diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi; Bohemia; diocese of Buffalo, New York; Canada; Carinthia; diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming; China; Croatian people (in 1687 by decree of the Croatian parliament) ; Florence, Italy; Korea; diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin; archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky; diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire; Mexico; diocese of Nashville, Tennessee; New France; New World; Peru; diocese of San Jose, California; Sicily; diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Styria, Austria; Turin Italy; Tyrol, Austria; Vatican II; Viet Nam; diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia; and on December 8, 1870, Pope Pius IX proclaimed him the patron of the Universal Church

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Here is a wonderful article on St. Joseph Altars with a couple of beautiful photos.

2009 Altar Opens February 19

The 2009 Virtual St. Joseph Altar will open on February 19. This 2009 Altar marks the tenth anniversary for the Virtual Altar. Spread the word & Viva San Guiseppe!