Fava Beans and St. Joseph Altars

By Jennifer Gregory Miller ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 28, 2025 | In The Liturgical Year

Even though the Solemnity of St. Joseph was earlier this month, I didn’t want to let another year pass without writing about St. Joseph’s feast day. The whole month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph, so I’m giving myself a grace period.

St. Joseph is everyone’s patron saint. Blessed Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1847 declared St. Joseph the patron of the Universal Church, entrusting “himself and all the faithful to the Patriarch St. Joseph’s most powerful patronage…solemnly declar[ing] him Patron of the Catholic Church.” If that isn’t enough to make you feel a personal connection to St. Joseph, look at the list at CatholicSaints.info of the patronage of St. Joseph. People young and old, from every walk of life and with every need may invoke St. Joseph for his intercession. He is a caring father in heaven to us, just as he was on earth for Jesus.

St. Joseph was silent. Not a word is spoken in the Gospel accounts. He didn’t call attention to himself. But he is a powerful patron in heaven and such a model for us. It is our work to bring more people to know and love St. Joseph. Over the years I have found one of my favorite ways to promote devotion to St. Joseph through the tradition of St. Joseph Altars.

I remember experiencing my first St. Joseph Altar at our parish in Shreveport, Louisiana. I was about fourteen at the time, and it left a lasting impression. I tried finding out any information about St. Joseph Altars. At the time, there was little in publications, only little pamphlets and magazine or newspaper articles, with most information being passed down orally by those who kept the tradition alive.

In 1997, Evann Duplantier opened her Virtual St. Joseph Altar website. She had grown up in south Louisiana and loved the St. Joseph Altar tradition, but when she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, there was no one who practiced or knew of the tradition. She decided that more people should be aware and be able to join in virtually and spiritually in prayer to honor St. Joseph, no matter how far a physical St. Joseph Altar might be from their home. And from her promotion, the Altars are spreading.

2025 is the 27th anniversary of being online. This year her husband sadly passed away on the vigil of St. Joseph. I can imagine that he was in the arms of St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death. It is beautiful that this online St. Joseph Altar community of prayer is now united to pray for Bob Duplantier and all his family.

St. Joseph’s Solemnity (and the Annunciation) stands out during the liturgical season of Lent. In my home and class with my Elementary students, I find it very important to let the children feel the contrast of celebrations of solemnities and feasts versus memorials or optional memorials. We start with Mass where can notice the difference—Mass is longer, with a Gloria and the Creed (but no Alleluia yet) and an extra reading. The priest wears white and/or gold. But what do we differently to point out that celebration in the rest of our day?

Food, of course, is a universal language in celebration. Sharing food together builds community, and having a special treat makes it memorable. It doesn’t always have to be food—this year we had extra time for recess to celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation. But a St. Joseph Altar has a definite food angle.

I’ve mentioned several times that this is my first year as the Elementary catechist at the Catholic Montessori (parochial) school, Siena Academy. This is the year for transitioning from the old to the new, keeping old traditions, introducing new, building new relationships with the staff and children. I proposed the idea of a St. Joseph Altar to the older children, and they eagerly accepted the challenge.

The St. Joseph Altar is originally a Sicilian tradition. From Virtual St. Joseph Altar:

During a terrible famine, the people of Sicily pleaded to St. Joseph, their patron saint, for relief. St. Joseph answered their prayers, 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 Altar is set up in three tiers, representing the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph is placed on the top tier, usually surrounded by flowers, greenery & fruit.…Breads, cakes and cookies, baked in symbolic Christian shapes, are prepared for the Altar. Pastries in the shapes of monstrances, chalices, crosses, doves, lambs, fish, bibles, hearts, wreaths and palms adorn the tiers of the Altar. Symbols of St. Joseph—such as lilies, staffs, sandals, ladders, saws, hammers and nails—are also used. There is symbolism in many of the items on the Altar. Breadcrumbs represent the sawdust of St. Joseph the Carpenter….

The link will give you more details. I shared several books with the children, showed photos of past altars, and they were inspired to make their own. We kept it small for this year, and had a three-pronged approach:

1. Honor St. Joseph: building and decorating the St. Joseph Altar
2. Almsgiving: food drive of non-perishable foods for a local pantry by the Elementary class
3. Food Celebration: There are thirteen children of the Upper Elementary, and they decided to make symbolic food and desserts and surprise the rest of the class with the treats.

It was a beautiful work and celebration! Our pastor (Catholic Culture’s Fr. Jerry Pokorsky) gave permission to use the parish hall, so then the parishioners could enjoy the altar, also. The building up of the three tiers required some extra thought and muscles. Father blessed the St. Joseph Altar and fava beans after Mass on the feast, and a little gift bag of a fava beans and remembrance holy card went home with parishioners and classmates. All the children brought in non-perishable food items, emphasizing protein foods and Italian types of food (tomato sauce, pastas). The weather on St. Joseph’s feast was beautiful, so the food celebration for the class was outdoors. There were iced cookies with symbols and words, St. Joseph cream puffs, Rice Krispie treats, thumbprint cookies in the shape of a cross, graham cracker crumbs for St. Joseph’s sawdust mixed with whipped cream, symbolic cookies made to look like a saw, nails, and lilies. The children enjoyed the day, and have plans for expansion next year.

What helped all the children understand the tradition of the St. Joseph Altar was the new children’s book recently published by Word on Fire, Giovanni and the Fava Beans by Joseph P. Ruli and illustrated by Jaclyn Warren. The storyline is the origin of the St. Joseph Altar—a young boy Giovanni lives in Sicily and is experiencing hunger during a long famine. The only thing that keeps the family and friends alive are the fava beans that are usually used to feed the pigs and cattle.

The story has Giovanni taking some treat, but he becomes contrite when he realizes how others are suffering more than he was, and he shares what he has. And in thanksgiving for surviving the famine through the intercession of St. Joseph, the tradition of St. Joseph Altars began.

It is a lovely book, and captures the children’s imagination. There are so few good picture books for St. Joseph that are more reality based, which makes me happy to have one in my rotation for the feast day.

I would recommend it for ages 5 and older. The child should be transitioning to the reasoning mind and understanding the concept of time.

Of course the St. Joseph Altar is not the only way to celebrate St. Joseph’s feast day, but I have found it such a rich and flexible tradition that can done at home, within small groups or your larger community. We are looking forward to next year’s altar.

St. Joseph, pray for us.