Modern appraisal The name of Joseph is found almost exclusively in the genealogies and the infancy narratives.

Both are regarded with scepticism by modern scholars, as the genealogies are artificial, (Matthew divides Joseph's ancestors into three sets of fourteen, the number symbolising the name of David and Jesus' Messiahship, while Luke counts 77 ancestors back to Adam, symbolising the forgiveness of sins), and the infancy narratives are legendary ("it is impossible that both birth narratives are accurate and improbable that either one is").The group of scholars making up the Jesus Seminar viewed them as late additions to the Jesus tradition with little historical value). Modern positions on the question of the relationship between Joseph and the ever-Virgin Mary vary. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Joseph's first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and merely betrothed, but never married, to Mary, and that references to Jesus' "brothers" are to children of Joseph and Salome. The position of the Catholic Church, derived from the writings of Saint Jerome, is that Joseph was the husband of Mary, but that references to Jesus' "brothers" should be understood to mean "cousins". In both cases, the church doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity means that Joseph and Mary never had sexual relations. The Protestant churches, following the tenet of Virgin Birth but not that of Perpetual Virginity, hold no strong views on the subject. Died Feast Nazareth, July 20, 18 AD[3](traditional) March 19 - Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (Western Christianity), May 1 - St Joseph the Worker (Roman Catholic Church), The Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord (Eastern Christianity) Attribut Carpenter's square or tools, the infant es Jesus, staff with lily blossoms. Born Bethlehem[1], c.90 BC[2]

Patrona The Universal Church, unborn children, ge fathers, immigrants, workers, against doubt and hesitation, and of a happy death, Vietnam, Philippines. Many others; see