Fontanini 20" St. Joseph with Child Jesus

Fontanini 20" Scale St. Joseph with Child Jesus figure is made with marble-based resin. Showing fatherly love, St. Joseph is looking down at Baby Jesus while holding him in his left arm and also holding lilies in his right hand.

The significance of St. Joseph shown holding a staff with white lilies blossoming from it:

Tradition: When Mary was three years old, she was sent to live in the Temple in Jerusalem. This was to fulfil a promise Mary’s parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, had made to dedicate their child to the service of God because God had ended their barrenness after many years.

According to visions received by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich from Our Lady, this is how St. Joseph was chosen to be the husband of Mary: When Mary was 14, she was to leave the Temple and marry. She had betrothed herself to God and did not want to be married, but she agreed after receiving a revelation from God. Before possible spouses were presented to Mary, a priest had a vision that pointed to the passage in Isaiah, “And here shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse; and a flower shall rise up out of his root” (Is 11:1).

Therefore, messengers were sent to bring all men of the line of David to be presented to Mary in the Temple. Each man was handed a branch and told to inscribe his name on the branch and to hold it during prayer and sacrifice. The branches were then laid on the altar and all were told that the one that blossomed was destined to be married to Mary. None blossomed.

The priests in the Temple looked at the ancestral tables again and found one man that had been overlooked: Joseph. They brought Joseph into the Temple and gave him a branch to hold during prayer and sacrifice. As he was about to lay the branch on the altar, a white flower, like a lily, blossomed from it. Joseph was now recognized as appointed by God to be Mary’s husband.