As after a long and deep night we first discern the white light of dawn, to which the rosy aurora succeeds, ushering in the resplendent sun, even so, after the long and dismal night of error and corruption in the Gentile world, Joseph appeared, like the early dawn, and after Joseph came Mary, who is the celestial aurora, of whom was born Jesus, the true and eternal Sun of Justice. Thus, as the dawn precedes the aurora, and the aurora the sun, so Joseph preceded Mary, and Mary Jesus.
And truly Jesus, the eternal refulgent Sun of Justice, came to illuminate the world, immersed in the thick darkness of false belief and sin, with the light of His doctrines, His examples, and His miracles. “That was the true light,” says the Evangelist, “which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.”1 But before He arose, appeared the glowing and pure aurora, whose roseate light rejoiced heaven and earth, that is, Mary, who in Scripture is compared thereto: “quasi aurora surgens—as the morning rising”2—and this beautiful aurora was to be preceded by the white light of dawn, giving presage to men that the joyful day was at hand; and this was Joseph. Wherefore it was with reason said that this blessed Triad on earth marks the confines between the ancient law and the beginning of the new, even as the dawn, the aurora, and the sunrise mark the passage from night to day. Of the Blessed Virgin St. Thomas Aquinas says that she formed the transition from the Old to the New Law, as the aurora forms the confine between night and day; and of St. Joseph Isolano writes that he stood midway between the Synagogue and the Church, announcing the close of the one and the commencement of the other.3 Whence we may argue that Joseph in point of time was the first sign of light, the first ray which shone upon the earth to give notice that the aurora was about to arise, from which was to emanate that longed-for Sun which was to dispel all darkness and bring in eternal day. Thus Joseph was the herald of Mary and Jesus; and he may be regarded as standing between the Old and the New Covenant. But to which does he belong? Does he belong to the Synagogue or does he belong to the Church?
The question is not a new one, but it may be considered as now resolved. Some doctors were of opinion that Joseph belonged to the Old Law, simply because when he departed this life there as yet existed neither Church, nor priests, nor sacraments, but this is not altogether true; for, if the Church did not exist in its completed form, it existed in its commencement. The Catholic Church, according to St. Athanasius and other Fathers, began to have a visible existence even in the cave of Bethlehem; and Bethlehem, the House of Bread, received Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and then the shepherds and the Magi, who were the first-fruits of the true believers. Jesus was the Author, the Head of the Church, its corner-stone and its foundation-stone; Jesus was the High Priest by excellence; Jesus was the Giver and the Fountain of that grace which He afterwards lodged in the sacraments. Mary was the first in this Church, nay, its Queen; after Mary, Joseph was the first and the most fervent of all the faithful, its first persecuted just one. It is, therefore, generally held by doctors that St. Joseph undoubtedly belongs more to the Catholic Church than to the Synagogue; and Benedict XIV. himself favors this opinion, where, in answer to the doubt proposed, he says that where it is question of origin, birth, and education in youth, Joseph belongs to the Old Testament, but where it is question of faith, spirit, profession, works, ministry, and cooperation in laying the first foundation of the Church itself, he belongs, without doubt, to the New Law.4 For who, indeed, next to Mary, had more faith in the Divine Redeemer and more love for Him? Who had more knowledge of His spirit, and who was more imbued with it from his close and continual association with Him and with His Blessed Mother for thirty years? Who better observed His precepts and counsels? Who better discharged the ministry confided to him? Who, next to Mary, was enabled so immediately and so faithfully to cooperate in the mystery of the Incarnation, and thus, indirectly, in the foundation of the Catholic Church? Indeed, we may well think that, since Joseph saved Jesus from the anger of Herod, in Jesus he saved the whole Church, and from that time therefore merited the title and acquired the right to be the Patron of the same Church. Moreover, the whole Church has always regarded and venerated him as her own, and now more than ever in her sacred rites and feasts she exalts him as her incomparable Protector, her glory, and her defense.5
Another reply, both shorter and more simple, is that Joseph up to the time of his espousals with the Blessed Virgin belonged to the Synagogue, but that after his espousals and the most sacred day of the Incarnation of the Word he belonged incontestably to the Catholic Church; so much so as to be comprised with Jesus and Mary in the order of the Hypostatic Union, which is the highest order in the hierarchy of grace. Thus the seraphic St. Bernardine of Siena tells us that Joseph had in his hands the keys to open the gates of the New Law and to close those of the Law of Moses.6