Of Saints, Josephs, and J’s

Statue of St Joseph at St Joseph’s University, courtesy of David Christman (!)

Today, March 19th, is the feast of St Joseph, my namesake. Yes- the “J” stands for Joseph. My father, Joseph S Faranda, wanted to name me Joseph, and my mother, who had successfully avoided the matter with my three older brothers (she didn’t want a “Joseph Jr.”), made him a deal: I would be named Joseph, but go by my (different than his) middle name, Philip.
Being a J. Philip rather than a Joseph P has had its headaches, but in some ways I get to have the best of both worlds.

Today is one of those days. St Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, is the patron saint of many things: fathers, workers, expectant moms, and home buyers and sellers. Being a dad, a rather hard worker, and a real estate broker who has, shall we say, more than a casual familiarity with expectant mothers, I like to observe the significance of the day. 

Incidentally, the reason Joseph is the patron saint of real estate is due to his difficulty in getting a room at the inn for Mary before Christ was born. I’ll add that the tradition of burying a small statue of St Joseph has never worked any miracles for selling my listings, but hard work, good marketing and prudent pricing strategies have done pretty well. 

So, to all you workers, you fellow dads, you expectant moms, and those of you buying or selling a home, have a great feast of St Joseph.