Saint Joseph's Day, Valencia, Spain

Saint Joseph's Day, March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph or Solemnity of Saint Joseph is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a Solemnity in the Roman Catholic Church, and also a feast in the provinces of the Anglican Communion, and a feast or festival in the Lutheran Church. Saint Joseph's Day is the Patronal Feast day for Poland, persons named Joseph, Josephine, etc., for religious orders, schools and parishes bearing his name, and for carpenters. It is also Father's Day in some Catholic countries, mainly Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
March 19 was dedicated to Saint Joseph in several Western calendars by the tenth century, and this custom was established in Rome by 1479. Pope St. Pius V extended its use to the entire Roman Rite by his Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum (July 14, 1570). Since 1969, Episcopal Conferences may, if they wish, transfer it to a date outside Lent.
Between 1870 and 1955, a feast was celebrated in honor of St. Joseph as Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, the latter title having been given to him by Blessed Pope Pius IX. Originally celebrated on the third Sunday after Easter with an octave, after Divino Afflatu of St. Pius X (Reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X), it was moved to the preceding Wednesday. The feast and octave were abolished under Pope Pius XII in 1955, and a new feast day, that of Saint Joseph the Worker (a Double of the First Class), was appointed for 1 May in order to coincide with the celebration of Labour Day (May Day) in many countries. The feast of Ss. Philip and James, which had been celebrated on that date since the sixth century, was moved to 11 May. In the new calendar published in 1969, the feast, which at one time occupied the highest possible rank in the Church calendar, was reduced to an optional Memorial, the lowest rank for a saint's day.