Here come the Sicilians! Today, the church celebrates St. Joseph the Spouse of Mary. Throughout Sicily and parts of the world with large Sicilian immigrant populations, people will wear red, just as the Irish wear green.
Tables will be set with a statue of St. Joseph and filled with a variety of food in a kind of pot luck dinner. Harkening back to the time when Catholics went without meat throughout Lent, the dishes on the St. Joseph's table are meatless.
The table commemorates a time when through the intercession of St. Joseph the people of Sicily were saved from famine. Fava beans are key ingredients because it was fava beans that saved the people from starving and there are often dishes that involve breadcrumbs, symbolic of the sawdust of a carpenter shop.
However we celebrate today is a day for each of us to turn to St. Joseph in prayer and ask for the same paternal love he showed to Jesus.
