This feast was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 on a very particular day, May 1st. If we look back on the history of "May 1sts", we find that a lot happened that day. I mean, both the Edinburgh-Northampton Treaty, in which England recognizes Scottish independence AND the Act of Union joining those two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain. Not that that's really relevant, but it's interesting. Later though, there are even more events that can be associated with the Feast under discussion. In 1834, the British colonies abolish slavery, in 1886 occurred the Haymakers Riots in Chicago which lead to the eight-hour workday. (Those of us who have read/watched North and South know that the same stuff was happening in England around he same time.) Finally, the Union Labor Life Insurance Company was founded in 1927 by the American Federation of Labor. All these things lead to an awareness of the importance of human labour, and Pope Pius decided there needed to be a feast, and because the Communists were sponsoring "May Day" Workers Celebrations, he thought that it would be a good idea to take May 1st. St. Joseph, being a manual labourer himself, was chosen.
Now, this is all very interesting, but to crown the king, or to frost the cake, or to skim the cream, although that might not mean what I mean, the feast of St. Joseph the worker falls on the first day of the Month of Mary. Wow.
I'm still thinking about Music: the Catholic Listener, and I hope you are too.
--Paul
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