In the year that the Church is dedicating to St Joseph, and thanks to the easing of the local restrictions to deal with the pandemic, there was even greater enthusiasm for and attendance at the  celebrations for the solemnity in the Galilee city of Nazareth.

"From Nazareth we have joined the Pope,” commented Fr. Bruno Varriano, Rector of the Shrine of St Joseph and Superior of the Convent of the Annunciation in Nazareth. "In this year dedicated to St Joseph, we want to bear witness to the world the fatherhood that is revealed in him, that he lived in relation to Jesus and, consequently, to the whole of humanity."

It all started with the Triduum when Holy Masses were celebrated in three different languages  and were streamed live on the social media pages of the Custody. This is how the solemn celebrations of He who – as the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton, says -  “with a father’s heart” welcomed and loved Jesus the Son of God, made flesh by the Virgin Mary through the work of the Holy Spirit to be our Saviour.

The Solemn Entrance of the Custos, Fr Patton, into the church of St Joseph in Nazareth, on Thursday 18 March and the First Vespers afterwards started the celebrations for the solemnity of St Joseph. The Custos received the welcome from the parish priest of Nazareth, Fr. Marwan Di'des, in Arabic. "Our Franciscan tradition loves and worships the figure of St Joseph,” said the Custos in his speech of entrance “you are the fellow-citizens of St Joseph, you are the heirs of St Joseph.  It is important that we all know, like him, how to receive the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus in our lives and in our homes,; that we can grow in our love for them, this way we will also be custodians of one another and of the Church itself."

The celebration of the Vespers was followed by the torch-lit Procession around the Basilica of the Annunciation during which St Joseph’s rosary was recited. The prayer came to an end in the Crypt of Nutrition, thus called because it is precisely here that Jesus lived until he was an adult,  learning his father’s trade.