Memories of St. Joseph Altars in New Orleans and Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Pic: Montage:

Left: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Baton Rouge," Photo by Keith John Paul Horcasitas, a few years ago - pre-COVID-19.

Right: "Cypress Springs Mercedarian Prayer Center, Baton Rouge," Photo by Keith John Paul Horcasitas, a few years ago - pre-COVID-19.

As Mardi Gras has passed and we are into the season of Lent, we can still find ways to celebrate with family and friends as per the upcoming Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, which is also when the swallows make their annual return to the Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. My wife, Maria, and I look forward to the many traditions and treasures associated with the St. Joseph Altars that certainly brings back so many cherished memories for many of us living in southeast Louisiana.

Even though we both grew up in New Orleans, my family didn't participate as much in the St. Joseph Altars as with Maria's family, who have an Italian family heritage. Her widowed Aunt Rose was a special lady who every year would erect a carefully crafted St. Joseph Altar at her own home no matter what she was dealing with. Despite the struggles she had dealt with for many years of providing direct home care to her invalid husband, Anthony, she continued this tradition of dedication to St. Joseph until she died in 1985.

I was amazed to find then out how much time she had dedicated to preparing all of the various meals and sweets for the altar and how the tradition had begun. The Pasta Milanese non-meat dish and fig cookies were and still are my favorite treats; it is fun to sprinkle a “saw dust” mixture of brown sugar and Italian Seasoning on the Milanese! Aunt Rose educated me about the background to the St. Joseph altar and how it was Sicilian in origin back to the Middle Ages.

During a famine, when food was very scarce and limited to things like fava beans, a livestock feed, the people of Sicily pleaded to St. Joseph, their patron saint, for relief, and the famine ended. In gratitude, they prepared a table with foods they had harvested. After paying homage to St. Joseph, they distributed the food to the less fortunate.

The St. Joseph altar is set up in three tiers, representing the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph is on the top tier surrounded by flowers, greenery, and fruit. No meat is prepared for the altar, since the Feast takes place during Lent. Breads, cakes, and cookies, baked in symbolic Christian shapes, are prepared for the altar. Donations are usually taken at the altars to distribute to varying charities to help the poor.

Petitions of the faithful can be written on pieces of paper and placed in baskets on the Altar along with photos of deceased relatives and friends to be remembered. Usually, people visiting the altar will be given a “goodie bag” containing a napkin, a few cookies, a piece of fruit and perhaps a St. Joseph prayer card or a medal, as well as fava beans that bode for good fortune.

In New Orleans, where Maria belonged to the Elenian Club, an Italian American organization, they used to hold the annual St. Joseph's Altar at the Piazaa de Italia – it was incredible how large the Altar was and how it encompassed so many varied depictions and statues of St. Joseph and the Holy Family.

In Baton Rouge, there are many varied traditional Altars by the “Grandsons of Italy” and other organizations. I usually try to attend the Bishop's Mass that is held every year at St. Joseph's Cathedral on St. Joseph's Day with a meal held after ward. We have been to some recent gatherings locally at other local churches and enjoyed learning other traditions.

St. Joseph's Hospice, which helped my displaced parents from New Orleans who who died in 2006 and had never gotten back to New Orleans after Katrina, also do a nice altar every year. We have also enjoyed helping one that is celebrated every year at Cypress Heights Academy where our youngest child attends. In the past, I recall looking in the Classified Ads of the Advocate to find people who invite anyone to come to view their altars. We went to one of these as a family and it was so neat to share in our devotion to St. Joseph!

Also, Sr. Dulce at the Cypress Springs Mercedarian Prayer Center in Baton Rouge usually has a wonderful St. Joseph Altar with many beautiful dedications to Jesus, Mary & Joseph ... and John Folse usually has some neat fish cuisine contributions on display as well.

While St. Joseph is known as the Patron Saint for the dying and a great intercessor for those looking for employment, he has also been prayed to for help in selling one's home. I have never espoused to the superstition of putting a statue of St. Joseph upside down underground on your property to aid in getting it sold. We did, however, make a donation to the Sisters of St. Joseph in New Orleans before getting a buyer for our house no long before we moved to Baton Rouge!

It is neat to think how a person named Joseph in the both the Old Testament and New Testament were pivotal figures in following God's commands. Joseph, whom God communicated with so powerfully through dreams, helped pave the way for the Jewish people's safety into Egypt. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, was so obedient to God's communications to him per dreams in leading the Holy Family in safety to Egypt. While there is no recorded word attributed to Joseph in the New Testament, like the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words!”

As I have had a special devotion to both Mary and Joseph, I had always wanted to write and record a song for him. Finally, while on my Manresa Retreat in 2000, I wrote this song dedicated to him:

St. Joseph Song / YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKw12jHOcas

Who could have ever dreamed to be
Our Lord Savior's dad on earth
The angel reassured you that the Holy Spirit
Had blessed Mary and the world with New Birth
(Mt. 1: 18 – 25)

Who could have ever dreamed to flee
From Herod to Egypt with the King of Kings
The angel also guided you to Nazareth
To fulfill all that the Prophets did sing
(Mt. 2: 13 – 23)

Chorus:
Faithful partner, chaste and true
Mary’s companion, a carpenter too
Faithful father, Jesus grew
By following your example in what to do
(Mt. 1, 2; Lk. 1, 2)

Who could have ever dreamed at Passover to see
The Son of David in Jerusalem and starting to preach
He wasn’t lost in the Temple but obeyed Our Father’s Call
As He would later do with the Cross to teach
Lk. 2: 41 – 52)