Yesterday was St. Joseph’s Day (March 19), and as I told my compañeras in my Spanish conversation club, I was going to be sitting at the organ at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, playing a Solemn Mass for St. Joseph. Most often, St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) falls in the season of Lent, and this year it falls during Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent. That means that the statues in St. Mark’s were covered with a veil, and even Father Paul mentioned that “St. Joseph is in a bag!”

The congregation sang hymns with words specific to St. Joseph, especially the last hymn: “Hail, holy Joseph.” (I had never ever heard of this hymn before, sung to the tune: ST. CECILIA)

Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Chaste spouse of Mary, hail! Pure as the lily flower in Eden’s peaceful vale.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Who was Christ’as father deemed; Father be thou to those the foster Son redeemed.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Prince of the house of God! May his best graces be By thy sweet hands bestowed.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Comrade of angels, hail! Cheer thou the hearts that faint, And guide the steps that fail.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! GOd’s choice was thou alone; To thee the Word made flesh Was subject as a son.
O Christ’s dear Mother, bless; And bless, ye Saints on high, All meek and simple souls That to Saint Joseph cry.

Father Paul Lillie had suggested that “for this feast, you can really open up the organ as it is not ‘of Lent.'” For the prelude, I played Bach’s “Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658” from the Great Eighteen, and for the postlude,I decided to play Bach’s “Kyrie Gott Vater in Ewigkeit, BWV 669” — the last big Kyrie from the Clavierübung, a big change from previous services in this Lenten season where I forego a postlude and the congregation leaves in silence.

Not only that, for this season I have deliberately chosen registrations on the somber side. Remember that I’ve said that “I give up mixtures for Lent!” (LOL!) But last night, I let ‘er rip, pulling out mixtures AND reeds!

Even though the last time I probably played this piece was in my Clavierübung concerts in 2016, nearly 8 years ago, this was one of the first pieces I studied with Joan Lippincott at Westminster Choir College (in 1972!). Her motto was “Practice means playing perfectly,” and to that end, she asked me to write in ALL of the fingerings, so that each time I practiced the piece, I would use the exact same fingerings every … single … time! After all, if you’re not using the same fingerings, you’re really not practicing the same piece!

But guess what! All those pieces I learned in graduate school are still in my fingers (and in my brain!) That discipline was extremely useful, although I don’t have the luxury of following that method now when I have to learn new music — I simply don’t have time when I need to learn so much music every week!

And so … maybe it was my training, or maybe I was just lucky. I played through “Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit” only twice before performing it for the postlude last night. I have to say it went very well, with no train wrecks or slipups. If you’d like to hear it, I’ve cued up the livestream to start at the beginning of the postlude.

The choir sang a lovely mass setting, “Messa a quattro voci,” by Giovanni Grossi (1615-1684).

I received many comments after the service with people loving Bach that I probably should play his works more often!

In the Catholic countries of Spain, Portugal and Italy, St. Joseph’s Day is Father’s Day. People create St. Joseph’s Day altars, decorated with figurines, medals and votive candles, and dressed with food which are donated to the poor.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about this custom:

One prominent custom is the Saint Joseph’s day altar, which has spread from Sicily to the United States in the 1800s. These altars are typically elaborate; being decorated with figurines, medals, and votive candles. The Saint Joseph’s day altar is divided into three sections, representing the three persons of the Trinity, and has a statue of Joseph at its head. The tables are dressed with food, which are donated to the poor on the solemnity. Upon a typical Saint Joseph’s Day altar, people place flowers, limes, candles, wine, fava beans, specially prepared cakes, breads, and cookies (as well as other meatless dishes), and zeppole. Foods are traditionally served containing bread crumbs to represent saw dust since Joseph was a carpenter. Because the feast occurs during Lent, traditionally no meat was allowed on the celebration table. The altar usually has three tiers, to represent the Trinity.

In Spain, Saint Joseph’s Day is their version of Father’s Day, which is called El Dia del Padre. In some parts of Spain it is celebrated as Falles. They feel that Saint Joseph is a good example of what a father figure should be like, which is why they connect these two days. Since Spain does correlate this day with Father’s Day, it is tradition for children to cook their fathers breakfast or even give small gifts. It is a “meatless affair”, because it occurs during the Lenten season. Some symbols to represent this day include Jesus holding carpenter tools, baby Jesus, and a staff with lilies. A few things to do on this day to celebrate are attending a special church service, visiting different cathedrals, joining Valencia‘s Falla Festival, and exploring the city, museums and art galleries. The Falla Festival runs for 5 days and ends on 19 March in remembrance of Saint Joseph.

Wow, I had no idea that St. Joseph’s Day was such a big deal!