He was humble, a good father, the "perfect husband" —  and Saint Joseph is also the patron saint for one of the area's largest Roman Catholic Churches.

This morning, St. Joseph's Church on Hooper Avenue celebrated its patron saint with a homily, harpist and continental breakfast, explaining both Joseph's history and the history of St. Joseph's Church.

The 8 a.m. Saint Joseph's Day Mass held at The Catholic Community of St. Joseph's began March 19 with a harpist's rendition of "Amazing Grace" and a prayer noting that God entrusted Jesus into the arms of Joseph, who Rev. John Bambrick described as the Christian diety's "foster father" in his homily.

Bambrick later estimated that 250-275 parishioners were in attendance at the service.

In the short homily, Bambrick said St. Joseph is the patron saint of the whole Catholic church and is particularly beloved among Italians. He joked that his Italian mother and his Irish father tussle over who is the greatest saint, Joseph or Patrick. 

Images of St. Joseph can be found beside those of the Virgin Mary in Catholic Churches throughout the world, Bambrick said, even though Joseph never speaks in the gospel narratives and disappears early in their stories.

"A lot of women would say he is the perfect husband," Bambrick joked in regard to Joseph's silence in the scripture. He said he is often depicted with a staff and lilies to symbolize his virtue and purity as a model husband and father. 

The cross Joseph carried was his humility, the priest said. He didn't wish to put Mary aside, as was allowed by Jewish law and would lead to her death by stoning and also that of her unborn son. 

"St. Joseph may have been the first pro-lifer. He recognized the dignity of every human life," he said.

Joseph's work with wood as a carpenter prefigured the cross that Jesus would carry, said Bambrick. 

After Jesus's birth, Joseph was not worried about what the neighbors might think, but instead demonstrated his humility by taking on a burden that was not his. He took on the will of God, without doubt, the priest concluded.

Bambrick ended his homily by noting that St. Joseph is the patron saint of the 128 year old parish of 7000 and suggested that the saint had been faithful to the congregation. 

"His name is synonymous with this community of faith," he said. "He took up his cross in imitation of his divine son." 

Bambrick thanked parishioner Irene Vargo for crafting the shrine to Saint Joseph at which parishioners knelt to pray afterward. He said the statue came from the high altar of the parish's original sanctuary and its small size reflected the congregation's humble beginnings in what was then Monmouth County. Later, he said the church began with a small group of families meeting in a hotel and then in parishioners' homes before the first building that seated 50 people was built on Main Street. 

Vargo said she modeled the shrine after one she made when she was a congregant at Saint Joseph's Church in Mendam. That shrine was erected on a hill at Assumption College for Sisters and was part of an annual festival that she said would raise in the vicinity of $30,000 a year for the poor and hungry.

After the mass, a continental breakfast was served in the narthex. Amid the bustle, Bambrick explained that the United States is the only country in the world where St. Joseph's Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation, which means Catholics are required to attend mass on that day. He said that in the United States it is a Solemnity, which is the highest level of liturgical celebration.

"St. Joseph's is not a penitential day. That's why we sang the "Gloria" and we had all these other flourishes in the liturgy. ..Normally they don't happen in Lent. The Solemnity interrupts Lent because it is a great day of celebration," said Bambrick.

"In fact St. Joseph is so beloved in the church that he actually has two feasts," Bambrick added. May 1 is the Feast of St. Joseph the worker, which celebrates those who work with their hands because Joseph was a "day laborer," he said.

"In the Scripture, we translate it as carpenter, but it could mean anyone who works with their hands, with wood, with stone, with building, construction. Maybe today we would have said he was a construction worker," he explained. 

Msgr. Matthias Kanyerizi assisted with the mass. Afterwards Kanyerizi said he has been here for more than a year on sabbatical from his position as Vicar General to Rt. Rev. Bishop Paul Ssemogererein of the Kasana-Luweero Diocese of Uganda.

Kanyerizi said the mass for the Feast of St. Joseph is observed exactly the same way in Uganda as it is here, except that it is more boisterous, dancers carrying gifts accompany the processional out of the church, and it is followed by a "soul food" feast that varies by location.